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of England. But it must be admitted that all these lists of bishops are broken in the early times, and more or less apocryphal (m), especially the British, and there is some doubt as to the exact position and function of the bishops of those days (n). At any rate, the succession of our bishops is as good as that of any church of the West; but the most authentic successions of early bishops are those of the Greek Churches of Antioch (o) and Alexandria (p). There is, however (in the eyes of those who adhere to strict ecclesiastical order) a fatal flaw in the English succession (and, consequently, in English orders), inasmuch as it lacks patriarchal confirmation. Greek and Roman orders are everywhere admitted as valid.

Having, then, inherited this ancient form of church government, dissenters can hardly expect the Church to give it up, and it is difficult to see that dissenters would lose anything by adopting episcopacy. On the other hand, it may very fairly be retorted, Why cannot episcopal and non-episcopal ministers be allowed to hold benefices side by side within the pale of the National Church ?

APPARITOR, a messenger who cites and arrests offenders and executes the decrees of the judges of the Spiritual Courts (7). Apparitors may not act by deputy nor take upon them the office of promoters or informers for the Court. If they become too numerous in any diocese the Archbishop of Canterbury may reduce the number (→). They are entitled to certain fees (s). There is an officer called Apparitor-General of a Province.

APPEAL. The ultimate Court of Appeal, and the sovereign authority under God in all causes relating to the Established Church of England, is the sovereign, the head or

(m) See Macaulay's Essay on "Gladstone and Church and State." (n) See BISHOP, and Dr. Hatch's Bampton Lectures.

(0) See list in Neale's Patriarchate of Antioch.

(p) See Le Quien, 2, 386.

(q) Cowel, cit. Wharton's Law Lexicon.

(r) Can. 138.

(s) See FEES, and Cans. 135 and 136; and a Return of fees made in 1891.

supreme governor of the Church (t), in whom most of the powers of a patriarch are vested. She does not hear appeals in person, but through a committee of her Privy Council, who report thereon to her. The decisions thus arrived at can only be altered by Act of Parliament, as it is the rule that an ultimate Court of Appeal does not reverse its previous decisions (u). In non-established churches, e. g., the Church of Ireland and the Wesleyan Church, disputes are settled according to their particular bye-laws or canons by an agreed authority, usually a synod or presbytery, though recourse to the legislature and law courts is sometimes necessary. The history of appeals in Church matters is as follows:

In very early times all congregations, and later all bishops, were autonomous. Subsequently, the bishops of the great cities, such as Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, and Constantinople, were accorded jurisdiction over the neighbouring bishops, and were given the title of Patriarchs, and great unchristian struggles (which ended in schism) took place between the bishops of the two capitals, Rome and Constantinople, for the position of Universal Patriarch. The British Church formed part of the Patriarchate of Rome, and the Bishop of Rome was for centuries regarded as the head of the Church of England and the final Court of Appeal in matters ecclesiastical. But the unwarrantable interference of the Roman Curia in temporal matters led to the ultimate rupture of these relations.

Henry VIII. was the first king strong enough to carry out the desired reform; he restored to the Crown all the privileges usurped by the Pope, forbad appeals to be carried to Rome, and became really, as by the common law he was already supposed to be, head of the Church (v). These final appeals were then for about 300 years heard by the High Commission

(t) Art. 37, and Can. 1.

(u) See 13 App. Cas. p. 625. And see The Singapore (1866), L. R. 1 P. C. 378. The Privy Council did, however, modify a previous decision in the Ridsdale case under exceptional

circumstances; the point has also arisen in the Bishop of Lincoln's case, the judgment in which will shortly be delivered.

(t) See Com. Dig. tit. Prerogative,

D. 17.

and the Court of Delegates, until in 1834 they were transferred to the Privy Council (x).

The hearing is regulated by the Regula Generales of 15th November, 1876 (y), under which one of the archbishops or the Bishop of London sits as ex officio assessor, and four other bishops attend as assessors. The Privy Council, being a Court of Appeal, will not, except under peculiar circumstances, decide any cause in the first instance; and where it finds that the Court below ought to have inflicted punishment, it will refer back the cause for that purpose (z).

The order of appeal is as follows:-From the Archdeacon's Court to the Consistory (q. v.) or Bishop's Court, thence to the Provincial or Archbishop's Court (a), and finally to the sovereign in Council.

Where an archbishop sits as, or in place of a bishop, there is an appeal to the Provincial Court (b). The mode of appeal differs under various Acts of Parliament; that under the Pluralities Acts is regulated by sect. 111 of the Act of 1838, and security for costs may be exacted. Under this Act an appeal cannot be carried beyond the archbishop, except in one solitary instance, namely, the refusal of the archbishop to grant a dispensation to hold two livings (c). In some cases, as under the Church Discipline and Public Worship Regulation Acts (q. v.), the bishop has a discretion which enables him to prevent an appeal; in fact, converts him into a court of ultimate appeal.

ARCHBISHOP. The title seems to have come into vogue about A.D. 400 to denote the chief ecclesiastic of a province in the Roman Empire. There are now two archbishops in England, Canterbury and York; but in the primitive Church there were three, viz., London, York, and Caerleon (afterwards

(x) 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 92; 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 41; and 6 & 7 Vict. c. 38. (y) L. R. 2 P. D. 384.

(2) Martin v. Mackonochie (1882), L. R. 7 P. D. 94.

(a) See ARCHES.

(b) Reg. v. Dodson (1857), 7 E. & B. 317.

(c) 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, s. 6; Poole v. Bishop of London (1861), 14 Moo. P. C. 288. But see RESIDENCE.

transferred to St. David's) (d). These three sees have been presided over by bishops and archbishops from very early (probably apostolical) times, but Canterbury only dates from about 600 A.D., when it was founded by the Italian missionary Augustin, and it did not obtain the primacy of England till much later, nor the primacy of Wales till about 1147 A.D., when the archbishopric of St. David's was amalgamated with that of Canterbury. St. David's will eventually, no doubt, be restored to its ancient dignity. Lichfield was for a few years in the eighth century the seat of an archbishopric.

The Province of Canterbury comprises altogether 24 dioceses, viz., 20 English dioceses-Canterbury, London, Winchester, Bath and Wells, Chichester, Ely, Exeter, Gloucester and Bristol, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, Norwich, Oxford, Peterborough, Rochester, St. Alban's, Salisbury, Southwell, Truro, Worcester, and the four Welsh dioceses, St. David's, Bangor, Llandaff, and St. Asaph (e). The province of York comprises the 10 dioceses of York, Durham, Carlisle, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Ripon, Sodor and Man, and Wakefield. Up to the year 1470, the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of York extended over Scotland.

There are two archbishops of the Church of Ireland (now disestablished), viz., Armagh and Dublin, but there are none at present in the Protestant Episcopal Church in Scotland or among the colonial prelates.

The duties and privileges of an archbishop over and above those of a bishop are to visit, i.e., inspect, the bishops and the inferior clergy of his province, and to deprive them on notorious cause; to confirm the election of bishops; to consecrate bishops (though this may be done by bishops); to call meetings of Convocation, upon receipt of the sovereign's writ, but not without; to hear appeals from the bishops; when a see is vacant to provide for the ecclesiastical administration of

(d) See Calendar in Prayer Book, "David, Archbishop," also Roger, of Wendover, and Matthew, of Westminster.

(e) There will probably soon be a new Welsh diocese, and new dioceses of Bristol and Birmingham.

the diocese; to present by lapse to livings if the bishop neglects to do so for six months; on the appointment of a new bishop to nominate a chaplain for him, which was formerly commutable by the gift of an "option" (i.e., the next presentation to such benefice in the bishop's gift as the archbishop should choose) (ƒ).

An archbishop sitting alone has jurisdiction to try a bishop for offences against the laws ecclesiastical, and to deprive him; and if he refuses to cite a bishop in respect of such offences, an appeal from such refusal lies to her Majesty in Council (g).

The peculiar privileges of the Archbishop of Canterbury are:-To crown the kings and queens of England, to grant certain licences (q. v.), or dispensations (q. v.), and to confer university degrees (). The Archbishop of York is said to have the privilege of crowning the queen consort and to be her chaplain. His secular authority was taken away in 1836 (i). The two archbishops are quite independent of each other, and are of equal and co-ordinate authority, and alike subject to the crown. The legal decisions of the Archbishop of Canterbury are therefore not binding on the Province of York.

An English archbishop is addressed as "his Grace," and "Most Reverend," and ranks before dukes in the order of precedence. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who is styled Primate of all England, is placed immediately after the Royal Family, the Lord Chancellor next, and then the Archbishop of York (Primate of England). The Archbishops of Armagh (Primate of all Ireland) and Dublin (Primate of Ireland) used to have precedence next after the Archbishop of York; but the Irish prelates who have been consecrated since the disestablishment of their Church in 1871, have no civil rank (k). In all cases ecclesiastical titles assumed by ministers of religion not

(f) 1 Bla. Com. 380, 381. Options were abolished in 1840 by 3 & 4 Vict. c. 113, s. 42.

(g) Bishop of St. David's case (1698), Carthew, 485; Ex parte Read (1888),

L. R. 13 P. D. 221.

(h) 1 Bla. Com. 381. See LAMBETH DEGREES.

(i) 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 87.
(k) See IRELAND, CHURCH OF.

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