Requisites before a

licence can be obtained.

In order to which,

(1) He must produce his nomination in form aforesaid. (2) Then it must appear in the next place, that he is in holy orders; of deacon at least, if he is to be licensed to be an assistant curate; and of priest, if he is to be licensed to a perpetual curacy; for by 14 Car. 2, c. 4, s. 10, no person shall be admitted to any benefice or ecclesiastical promotion before he shall be ordained priest; and it is the more necessary in this case, because he is the sole incumbent in the parish; and by the same statute, until he shall be ordained priest, he may not consecrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Which words benefice or promotion do also extend to all chapels of ease which have received the augmentation of Queen Anne's Bounty; for by 1 Geo. 1, stat. 2, c. 10, s. 4 (r), it is expressly declared that they shall from thenceforth, that is, from the time of such augmentation, be perpetual cures and benefices.

And this must appear to the ordinary, either of his own knowledge or by lawful testimony.

Thus by a constitution of Archbishop Reynold, “No person shall be admitted to officiate until proof shall first be made of his lawful ordination" (s).

And by a constitution of Archbishop Arundel," No curate shall be admitted to officiate in any diocese wherein he was not born or ordained, unless he bring with him his letters of orders" (t).

(3) By the same constitution of Archbishop Reynold, "No person shall be admitted to officiate until proof shall first be made of his good life and learning" (u).

And by the aforesaid constitution of Archbishop Arundel, "No curate shall be admitted to officiate in any diocese, wherein he was not born or ordained, unless he bring with him letters commendatory of his diocesan, and also of other bishops in whose dioceses he hath continued for any considerable time; which letters shall be cautious and express with regard to his morals and conversation, and whether he be defamed for any new opinions contrary to the catholic faith or good manners" (x).

And by Can. 48, if the curates remove from one diocese to another, they shall not be by any means admitted to serve, without testimony in writing of the bishop of the diocese or ordinary of the place having episcopal

jurisdiction, from whence they came, of their honesty, ability, and conformity to the ecclesiastical laws of the Church of England.

All which is agreeable to the rule of the ancient canon law, which requires that no clergyman shall be received in another diocese, without letters commendatory from the bishop of the diocese from whence he removed” (y).

(4) He must under the law till quite recently have taken the oath of allegiance and supremacy (z), for by the 1 Eliz. c. 1, s. 10, every person who shall be promoted to any spiritual or ecclesiastical benefice, promotion, dignity, office or ministry, shall, before he take upon him to receive, exercise, supply, or occupy the same, take the said oaths before such person as shall have authority to admit him. But this qualification has been removed by the Promissory Oaths Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 48); and it seems that he does not come within the words of 28 & 29 Vict. c. 122 (a).

(5) But such of the said curates as are admitted to a benefice with cure are to take all the oaths and declarations that are required of persons to be admitted to any benefice by 28 & 29 Vict. c. 122 (b).

(6) By Can. 36 of 1865, modifying Can. 36 of 1603, no person shall be suffered to preach, to catechise, or to be a lecturer, or reader of divinity, in any parish church, chapel, or other place, except he be licensed either by the archbishop or by the bishop of the diocese, or by one of the two universities; and except he shall first subscribe the declaration. of assent to the Thirty-nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer, which is the same as that given in 28 & 29 Vict. c. 122, s. 1.

And by Can. 37, none who hath been licensed to preach, read, lecture, or catechise, and shall afterwards come to reside in another diocese, shall be permitted there to preach, read, lecture, catechise, or administer the sacraments, or to execute any other ecclesiastical function, by what authority soever he be thereunto admitted, unless he first consent and subscribe to the three articles before mentioned, in the presence of the bishop of the diocese wherein he is to preach, read, lecture, catechise, or administer the sacraments as aforesaid.

(y) Gibs. 896. But see Bishop of Exeter v. Marshall, 3 L. R., H. L. 17; infra, Chap. XI., Sect. 5. (z) Contained in 21 & 22 Vict. c. 48. (a) See p. 126, supra, and

Chap. XI., Sect. 7, infra. The act seems only to apply to benefices which are the subject of institution or collation, and to perpetual curacies.

(b) See Chap. XI., Sect. 7, infra.

Requisites before a licence can be ob

tained.

Requisites after licence obtained.

By the 11th article of Archbishop Wake's injunctions it is required, that in licences to be granted to serve any cure, the ordinary shall cause to be inserted, after the mention of the particular cure provided for by such licence, a clause to this effect, or in any other parish within the diocese, to which such curate shall move with the consent of the bishop."

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Also after licence obtained, it seems that they shall take the oath of canonical obedience, if thereunto required. Thus by a constitution of Archbishop Winchelsea, "To curates received to officiate in any church, it ought to be enjoined in virtue of their obedience, that they duly attend on Sundays and holidays and other days when divine service is to be performed; and thereupon we do injoin, that oath shall be administered and made at their admission and we do injoin, that they shall also make oath that they will not injure the rectors, or vicars, and governors of the churches or chapels wherein they shall officiate; but that they will humbly obey them, and give them due reverence" (c).

And thereupon we do injoin that Oath shall be administered.]-But this, not of necessity (says Lindwood), but only if the rector or vicar shall see cause, as if the curate shall show tokens of stubbornness or disobedience (d).

Shall be administered.]—By such rector, vicar, or other governor of the church (e).

And made.]-By the curate at his entrance or admission (f).

Governors of the Churches.]-That is, such as are neither rectors nor vicars; as deans, provosts, masters, wardens, and such like (g).

And give them due reverence.]-In the common instances of subordination and respect; and also in performing the usual services in the public worship of God (h).

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And by another constitution of the same archbishop : Stipendiary priests, who shall celebrate the divine offices, shall not receive any oblations, portions, obventions, perquisites, trentals, or any part thereof, especially oblations for the bodies of the dead when brought to the church to be buried, without licence of the rectors or vicars of the churches where they shall officiate; nor in any manner

carry them away to the prejudice of the rectors or vicars of the churches aforesaid or of their substitutes; lest they incur the sentence of the greater excommunication in that behalf ordained. And the said priests on the Sunday or holiday after their admission, shall swear before the rectors, vicars, or their deputies, during the solemnity of the public worship (or otherwise before the ordinaries of the respective places), looking upon the holy books there. lying open, that they will in no wise do any damage or prejudice to the churches or chapels parochial wherein they perform divine service, or to the rectors or vicars thereof, or to those who represent them, or who have interest therein, as to the oblations, portions, obventions, perquisites, trentals, or other rights whatsoever, or howsoever called; but that as much as in them lieth, they will secure and preserve them from damage in all and singular the premisses. And the said priests shall also specially swear, that they will by no means raise, sustain, or foment hatred, scandal, quarrels, and contentions, between the rector and parishioners; but that as much as in them lieth, they will promote and preserve concord between them. And the said priests shall not presume to celebrate divine service in such churches or chapels until they shall have taken the oath in form aforesaid; provided that the rectors, or vicars, or others aforesaid, shall require them so to be sworn: and if they shall presume to celebrate divine service in the place so forbidden to them contrary to this prohibition, they shall thereby incur irregularity, besides the other penalties which the canons inflict upon the breakers of holy constitutions. And if the aforesaid curates, being so sworn as aforesaid before a competent judge, shall be convicted by lawful proof of having broken their oath; they shall be entirely removed, and as perjured persons shall be interdicted from the celebration of divine offices, until they shall be canonically dispensed withal. And the said rectors or vicars, or their deputies, ought affably to receive the oaths aforesaid; and keep in their churches a written copy of the premisses and other things ordained in that behalf" (i).

Stipendiary Priests.]-This constitution seems to have been intended, not with respect to curates in general, but only such of them as had salaries appointed by particular founders, for praying for the souls of them and their friends or posterity; for such were the stipendiary priests, who officiated in chantries founded and endowed for the purposes aforesaid.

(i) Lindw. 110.

Requisites after licence obtained.

Perquisites.]-Denarios pro requestis: or, as it is afterwards expressed in this constitution, denarios perquisitos: that is, pence given for prayers for departed souls in the offices of the church (k).

On the Sunday or Holiday after their Admission.]By the rector, or vicar, or their deputies (7).

Shall swear before the Rectors, Vicars, or their Deputies.]-By which deputies are meant parish priests, or others whom in their absence they have deputed to be their agents or proctors (m).

Or who have Interest therein.]-As their farmers, or persons who have a right to a certain portion of the obventions (n).

Donative, what.

Origin of donatives.

SECT. 4.-Donees.

A donative is a spiritual preferment, be it church, chapel, or vicarage, which is in the free gift or collation of the patron, without making any presentation to the bishop; and without admission, institution, or induction by any mandate from the bishop or other; but the donee may, by the patron or by any other authorized by the patron, be put into possession (o).

And this right in the donor (together with the exemption of the church from ecclesiastical jurisdiction) seems to have come from the consent of the bishop in some particular cases (p): as when the lord of a manor in a great parish, having his tenants about him at a remote distance from the parish church, did offer to build and endow a church there, provided that it should belong entirely to him and his family, to put in such persons as they should think fit, if they were in holy orders. It is very possible, that the bishops at that time, to encourage such a work, might permit them to enjoy this liberty; which being continued time out of mind, is turned into a prescription. And they are to be distinguished from those called sinecures, and exempt jurisdictions; for sinecures in truth

(k) Johns. Winch.
(1) Lindw. 110.
(m) Ibid. 111.

(n) Ibid.

(0) Deg. p. 1, c. 13; More, 765; Cro. Jac. 63; Yelv. 60.

(p) Whether a church is donative or not, is merely temporal,

and a prohibition to a suit in the ecclesiastical court for pulling down the church, was made absolute; but the plaintiff was ordered to declare. Deschamp and Lee v. Dr. Andrews, Serj. Hill's MSS.