Accommodation for the Laity.

No Seats allowed before the Reforma

tion.

Ordinary cannot meddle
with temporal rights.. id.
Has no power over Seats in
Private Chapels

Churchwardens may be
cited for not doing their

duty

id.

..........

Permission to erect a Pew id.

away a Seat

id.

........

Must have one allotted to

......

17

IN our Cathedrals, and other ancient ecclesiastical edifices, there seems to have been an entire absence of any fixed and regularly constructed accommodation for the laity, as an essential part of the building. (a)

For, before the time of the Reformation, no Seats were allowed, nor any distinct apartment in the Church assigned to distinct inhabitants, except for some very great persons. (b)

(a) See Johns, 175; Ken'nett's Paroch. Antiqu. 596.

12.

(b) Degges, P. C. part i. ch.

The first Seats permitted to be used were move- The first Seats able forms, for the ease of the Parishioners, to sit were moveable. during those parts of the service, for which kneel

ing or standing were directed by the ritual of the

times. (c)

Incumbent.

These moveable Seats were the property of the Property of the Incumbent, and in all respects at his disposal; and they were frequently bequeathed by Incumbents to their successors, or others, as they thought fit. (d)

The common law-books of an early period men- Few old cases tion but two or three cases upon this subject, and on the subject. those relating to the Chancels and Seats of persons

of great quality. (d)

in later times.

In later times, however, Pews have been usually Pews provided provided, as conducing to more undivided attention, and affording a point of union and mutual good example among individuals of families, so that they are probably an assistance to the devotions of the occupiers. (e)

When the Seats in a Church are reckoned part Fixed Seats of the Fabric, it is upon the supposition that they Fabric. part of the are fixed into the ground. For, if they are loose and moveable, they are not then to be reckoned as parts of the Fabric, but are of the moveable Goods or Utensils of the Church. (f)

been little understood.

The general law, with respect to Pews and Sit- The law has tings in Churches, was, for a long time, little understood; and erroneous notions on this subject are even now current, at least in many parts of the

(c) Jacob v. Dallow, 6 Mod. 231; Tyrr. Prid. 115.

(d) See Johns, 175; Kennett's Paroch. Antiqu. 596.

(e) Jacob v. Dallow, 6 Mod. 231; Tyrr. Prid. 115.

(f) Prid. 32.