Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/706

* ECCLESIASTICAL CORPORATION. 616 ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES. into corporations aggregate and corporations sole. The former consist of several persons — as, for ex- ample, tlie head and fellows of a college, or the dean and chapter of a cathedral — and are per- petuated py a continuous succession of members. The latter consist of a single person and his suc- cessors in a certain ollicc — as, for example, a bisho]) or rector. By the law of Englaml. the holder of an ecclesiastical benefice is regarded as a corporation. The object of the law in regard- ing the incumbent of a benefice as a corporation sole is to preserve the temporalities vested in him, which would otherwise descend to his natural heirs. The right of a rector or other corporation sole to Church temporalities, although generally spoken of as a freehold in law, is in fact prac- tically nothing more than a tenancy for life. Such a corporation sole is entitled to the full en- joyment of the benefice during his life., but he cannot sell it, and he is even punishable for waste. The corporation for religious purposes, as it has developed in American law. bears little re- semblance to the ecclesiastical corporation of the English law; for while the objects for which they exist are much the same, the American body is purely a civil corporation and subject to the civil tribunals. Of recent .years provisions for the creation of ecclesiastical corporations sole have been introduced into the statutes of several States. See Corporation ; CmL Chircii Law, American. ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. Tribunals having jurisdiction more especially in causes re- lating to religion and to the discipline of reli- gious bodies. Their origin is to be found in the first j'ears of Christianity, when the Christians made every effort to settle their disputes among themselves and to maintain their discipline with- out resorting to the courts presided over by pagan officials. These primitive Christian courts developed around the bishops, who came to take cognizance of all causes, temporal as well as spiritual, among the brethren. Later still cer- tain matters were assigned to them as proper causes for their especial jurisdiction, such as questions of taxation fur the support of religion and matrimonial and testamentary causes. The character and extent of the jurisdiction of ec- clesiastical courts must of necessity depend upon the relation subsisting between a State and the religious bodies within it. See Estadlishments, Ecclesiastical. According to the leading authorities in this matter, no separate ecclesiastical courts existed in England before the Norman Conquest, as all causes, both civil and spiritiial, were heard in the single county court, in which the bishop and the earl sat together. By a charter of William I. .a distinction was made between courts civil and courts ecclesiastical, and authority was given to the bishops to hear ecclesiastical causes according to the canon law. which was imported from the Continent. The extent of the jurisdiction of these ecclesiastical courts became a chronic source of dispute between the English Crown and the See of Rome, until the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome was completely excluded by Henry VIII. The ecclesiastical courts of England now con- sist of the following: The Archdeacon's. Consis- tory. Peculiars. Arches Court, and. in eases of appeal only, the Crown in Council. The Public Worship Regulation Act of 1874 created a new ecclesiastical judgeship, having jurisdiction main- ly of offenses in matters of ritual. In 1S57 the greater part of the ancient jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts was taken away, and it is now vested in the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty divisions of the High Court of Justice. They have, however, still to deal with questions of Church government and discipline. If they in any manner exceed the limits of their jurisdic- tion, they are 'prohibited' by the High Court of Justice. The power of the ecclesiastical courts over the laity is now practically obsolete. The decrees of these courts are enforced by suspension, deprivation, degradation, and by imprisonment under a writ de contumacc capiendo. In the Isle of Man the ecclesiastical courts still have, as they formerly bad in England, jurisdiction in probate and nuitrimonial causes. In .Scotland the chief ecclesiastical courts have been the Gen- eral Assembly, the Commissary Court, and the Court of Teinds. The first is the highest tri- bunal for the consideration of questions of doc- trine and discipline according to the Presbyterian usage of the Estaldished Cluirch. The courts of the American Church bodies are considered under the various denominational titles. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. See Chubch History. ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. Sec Caxox Law. ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES ASSUMP- TION ACT. An act of the Parliament of Great Britain for the protection of the Established Church of England. In the year 1850 an edict was issued by Pope Pius IX., dividing Great Britain into territorial bishoprics under an Arch- bishop of Westminster. This brief was imme- diately followed by a pastoral letter by the newly appointed Archbishop. Cardinal Wiseman. At the commencement of the Parliamentary session of 1851. this was spoken of as a Papal aggression, and the necessary measures to counteract it be- came the chief topics of discussion. It was imdcr these circumstances that Lord John Russell in- troduced the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. By a pre- vious act it had been provided that the right and title of archbishops to their respective provinces, of bishops to their sees, and of deans to their deaneries, as well in England as in Ireland, hav- ing been settled and established by law. any per- son, other than the person thereto entitled, who should assume or use the name, style, or title of archbishop of any province, bishop of any bish- opric, dean of any deanery, in England or Ireland, should for every such olVense forfeit £100. The Roman Catholics claimed that tin's enactment struck only at the titles of existing provinces and dioceses, and that, while the Pope could not create an Archbishop of Canterbury, there was no prohibition against the creation of an .Archbishop of Westminster. To meet this claim and to remove the doubt that existed, the Ecclesiastical Titles Act was passed, its object being to prohibit the assumption of such titles "in respect of any places within the United Kingdom." The Catholics al- W'ays considered the penal clauses of this act to be a grievance, and in time an arrangement was made for its repeal. An act was passed which, afterdeclaring ttiat "no ecclesiastical titleof honor or dignity derived from any see. province, diocese, or deanery recognized by law. or from any city, town, jilace, or territory within this realm, can be validly created." and that no "preeminence or