CHAPTER XIV. THE UNION AND DISUNION OF BENEFICES. SECT. 1.-The Union of Churches and Benefices. THE subject of this chapter divides itself into four parts: Division of SECT. 1.-The Union of Churches and Benefices. The union or consolidation of benefices ought to be Causes of founded upon good and canonical reasons. And the prin- union. cipal reasons assigned by the canon law are, for hospitality, nearness of the places, want of inhabitants, poverty or smallness of the living. Which circumstances are specially inquired into before the union, and (some or all of them, as the case is) are recited in the preamble to the act of union (a). And in such case it has been sometimes said that by the common law of the realm the ordinaries, patrons and incumbents may make a consolidation of the two churches into one (b). And that in such a case the consent of the king is not at all necessary, albeit he has an interest in the churches in the case of lapse. For by the ancient canon law the licence of the pope was not necessary; nor has the licence of the king been judged necessary since the Reformation; inasmuch as unions have been ordinarily made without such licence; however, in some few instances, it may have been desired and obtained for the greater caution (c). The point, (a) Gibs. 920; God. 29. (b) Harman v. Renew, 1 Salk. 165; Hughes, c. 28; Rex v. P. VOL. I. Archbishop of Armagh, Str. 516. Causes of union. Union may be in futuro. Presentation fices. however, seems to be one of some doubt (d); though not now (since 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, s. 20) of much importance. The old statutes enabling unions in certain cases, 37 Hen. 8, c. 21 (e), and 17 Car. 2, c. 3, are, as will be seen, now repealed. By the 4 Will. 3, c. 12, it was enacted, that where one of the churches united by virtue of the said last-mentioned act, was at the time of such union, or shall afterwards be demolished; in such case, as often as the church which is made the church presentative, and to which the union was made, shall be out of repair, or there shall be need of decent ornaments for the performance of divine service therein, the parishioners of the parish whose church shall then be down or demolished, shall bear and pay towards the charges of such repairs and decent ornaments, such share and proportion as the archbishop or bishop that shall make such union shall by the same union direct and appoint; and for want of such direction and appointment, then one third part of such charges of the repairs and decent ornaments which shall be made or provided; and the same shall be rated, taxed, and levied, and in default thereof such process and proceedings shall be made, as if it were for the reparation and finding decent ornaments for their own parish church, if no such union had been made. But if both churches are standing, then the repairs and ornaments shall be provided for, as they were at the common law; that is, by the parishioners of each parish respectively (f). Unions in futuro, as well as in præsenti, were under the old law good. And therefore if two churches were full, and one was duly united to the other in futuro, when either became void, the surviving incumbent might enter upon the void living, without any other title than that which he received from the act of union (g). By the union of two churches, no change is made in the to united bene- advowsons: that is, not only all rights are reserved to the patron or patrons, as before, but the nature of the advowsons continues the same; as, if one be appendant, and the other in gross, and that which is appendant is made the presentative church, and the patron of the church in gross has the first turn, yet shall not the whole advowson (d) Daniell v. Morton, 16 Q. B. (e) For authorities on the 37 and Whitehead v. Wolversham, 1 be in gross, but it shall remain appendant for his turn who was patron of the advowson appendant, and in gross for his turn who was patron of the advowson in gross. Which being so (that is, the advowsons, not only as to the right, but even as to the nature of them, remaining the same as before), it seems to be an unreasonable doubt, whether bishops and other ecclesiastical persons could consent to an union after the statutes 1 Eliz. c. 19, and 13 Eliz. c. 10 (h). In the case of Robinson v. The Marquis of Bristol (i), it was holden by the Exchequer Chamber, reversing the judgment of the Common Pleas, that where two benefices are united, the patronage of the united benefice vesting in the former patrons alternately, it is right in pleading to describe the title of one of the patrons as to a moiety of the advowson of the united benefice, and in conveying to convey the advowson of the former ununited benefice, because the conveyance of this latter carries with it the right to the former. Two churches parochial being united at the common law, Reparations. the reparations remained several as before. Which was the reason why the aforesaid act 4 Will. 3, c. 12, was found necessary to make it otherwise in the churches that had been or should be united in virtue of the statute of 17 Car. 2, c. 3. For before that, the inhabitants, even of a demolished church, were not obliged to contribute to the reparations of the church remaining, to which they were united (k). ments and duties. The payment of first fruits and tenths, as before, are Other payspecially reserved in the aforesaid statutes: and the same, together with all other payments and duties to the bishop, archdeacon, and the like, and even the fees of institution, were under the old law reserved, of course, in perpetual unions, whether within the said statutes or not (1). ties. By the union the two churches are become so much Effect of union one, that a second benefice may be taken by dispensation as to pluraliwithin the statutes of pluralities (m). Where three parish churches had been united by the local act 22 Car. 2, c. 11, it was held that the benefice might be described, in pleading, as one rectory (n). If a church parochial be united to a prebend in a cathe- Church united dral church, and a clerk is collated to the prebend, and to a prebend. after installed in the cathedral, although that the parish (h) Gibs. 920; Wats. c. 16. 15 Jur. 926; 16 Jur. 889. (1) Gibs. 917. (m) Cro. Eliz. 720; Gibs. 920. (n) Wilson v. Van Hildart, 2 B. & P. 394. Church united to a prebend. Union how tried. Union not presumed. A temporary union. church be not in the same diocese with the cathedral, yet the clerk thereby has possession thereof, without any presentation, institution, or induction; because by the union the parish church is become the corps of the prebend (o). After a union was made under the old law, if any question arose concerning the validity thereof; this might not be tried in the temporal, but only in the spiritual court: unless it were such union as is restrained by the aforesaid statutes (p). In the case of The Attorney-General v. St. Cross Hospital (q), the court refused to presume from the circumstances the union of two benefices. In that case it was said that there was no precedent or principle which would authorize the union of the mastership of a hospital with a rectory. In the case of Daniell v. Morton (r), a temporary union union held no of two benefices by the bishop during the incumbency only of the particular clerk, conditioned on the clerk keeping a sufficient curate for the benefice on which he did not reside, was held not to operate as an union, but, if at all, as a dispensation of pluralities; so that the clerk was non-resident under 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, as to the benefice on which he did not actually reside. 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106. Provisions of old acts reenacted and extended. The law as to the union of benefices has undergone a complete alteration from several modern statutes. By 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, s. 15, the acts 37 Hen. 8, c. 21, and 17 Car. 2, c. 3, for uniting churches, are repealed ; and the following new enactments are made: Sect. 16. "Whenever it shall appear to the archbishop of the province, with respect to his own diocese, and whenever it shall be represented to him by the bishop of any diocese, or by the bishops of any two dioceses, that two or more benefices, or that one or more benefice or benefices, and one or more spiritual sinecure rectory or rectories, vicarage or vicarages, in his or their diocese or dioceses, being either in the same parish or contiguous to each other, and of which the aggregate population shall not exceed one thousand five hundred persons, and the aggregate yearly value shall not exceed five hundred pounds (s), may with advantage to the interests of religion be united into one benefice, the said archbishop of the province shall inquire into the circumstances of the case; and if on such inquiry it shall appear to him that such union may be (0) Wats. c. 16. (q) 2 Jur., N. S. 336; 25 L. J., Ch. 202. (r) 16 Q. B. 198; 15 Jur. 699. (s) Repealed; see p. 537. usefully made, and will not be of inconvenient extent, and that the patron or patrons of the said benefices, sinecure rectory or rectories, vicarage or vicarages respectively, is or are consenting thereto, such consent being signified in writing under the hands of such patron or patrons, the said archbishop shall, six weeks before certifying such inquiry and consent to her Majesty as hereinafter directed, cause, with respect to his own diocese, a statement in writing of the facts, and in other cases a copy in writing of the aforesaid representation, to be affixed on or near the principal outer door of the church, or in some public and conspicuous place in each of such benefices, sinecure rectories, or vicarages, with notice to any person or persons interested that he, she, or they may, within such six weeks, show cause in writing under his, her, or their hand or hands to the said archbishop against such union, and if no sufficient cause be shown within such time, the said archbishop shall certify the inquiry and consent aforesaid to her Majesty in council, and thereupon it shall be lawful for her Majesty in council to make and issue an order or orders for uniting such benefices, sinecure rectory or rectories, vicarage or vicarages, into one benefice, with cure of souls, for ecclesiastical purposes only; and it shall be lawful for her Majesty in council to give directions for regulating the course and succession in which the patrons, if there be more than one patron, shall present or nominate to such united benefice from time to time as the same shall become vacant, and for determining, if such united benefice shall be in two dioceses, to which of such dioceses such benefice shall belong; and such order or orders shall be registered in the registry or registries of the diocese or respective dioceses to which such united benefice shall be determined to belong, and to which either or any of the united benefices, sinecure rectories, or vicarages shall have belonged when separate, which order or orders the registrar or registrars of such diocese or respective dioceses, immediately on the receipt thereof, are hereby required to register accordingly; and such order or orders shall thenceforth be binding on all parties whatsoever; and if at the time of the registration of such order or orders all the benefices, sinecure rectories, or vicarages ordered to be united shall not be holden by the same incumbent, then if any of such benefices, sinecure rectories, or vicarages shall at such time be vacant, and if not, then upon every avoidance, until all the said benefices, sinecure rectories, or vicarages but one shall come to be holden by the same incumbent, the patron of the vacant benefice or benefices, |