Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/71

 Ch.V.] Head of the Church. 51 By the statute 26 H. 8. c. 1. it is declared that « the King shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only supreme Head on earth of the Church of England, called Anglicana ecclesia; and shall have and enjoy, annexed and united to the imperial Crown of this realm, as well the title and style thereof, as all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits and commodities to the said dignity of supreme Head of the same Church, belonging and appertaining; and that the King shall have full power and authority, from time to time, to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offences, contempts, and enormities whatsoever they be, which by any matter, spiritual authority or jurisdiction, ought or may lawfully be reformed, repressed, ordered, re- dressed, corrected, restrained, or amended, most to the plea- sure of Almighty God, the increase of virtue in Christ's religion, and for the conservation of the peace, unity and tranquillity of this realm ; any usage, custom, foreign laws, foreign authority, prescription or any other thing or things to the contrary thereof notwithstanding («)." It need not be observed that the King cannot alter the established religion either in this country or in any other parts of his dominions. The ecclesiastical law of England is compounded of the civil law, the canon law, the common law, and the statute law {b). Be- fore the Conquest, the King, with the assent of the clergy who were assembled by his writ (c), made constitutions forming the ecclesiastical law ; and after the Conquest, and long before the time of Hen. 8. the right to make canons appertained to the King, through the medium of the Convocations or ecclesias- tical Synods or Parliaments, consisting of the archbishops, the bishops, and the representatives of the different dioceses (c?). By the Act of submission, 25 Hen. 8. c. 19. (after reciting that whereas " the King's humble and obedient subjects, the clergy of the realm of England, have not only acknowledged according to the truth, that the Convocation of the same clergy is, always hath been, and ought to be assembled only by the King's writ ; but also submitting themselves to the King's Majesty, have ia) See also 1 El. c. 1, and the Ca- (A) See Pref. to Burn's Eccl. Law. ^ nons. Burn's Eccles. Law, tit. Supre- (c) 4 Inst. 322. Godolph. Repert. 99. inacy. (of) See 2 Burn, Eccl, Law, 26. E 2 promised