Rector has principal Pew in Chancel. Vicar originally had a Seat there. Right to retain it. Ancient Stalls. country, and have led to much practical inconvenience. (g) And, indeed, the law on this subject is, in some respects, still in an unsatisfactory state. The general rule is, that the Rector is entitled to the principal Pew in the Chancel; but that the Ordinary may grant permission to other persons to have Pews there. (h) The right of a seat in the Chancel was originally inherent in every Vicar. For, before the Reformation, the hours of the Breviary were to be sung or said in the Chancel (not in the body of the Church), by the express words of a Constitution of Archbishop Winchelsea; and this was to be done, not only on Sundays and Festivals, but also on other days, by another Constitution of the same Archbishop; and these hours were to be sung or rehearsed, not by the Vicar alone, but with the consent and assistance of all the Clergymen belonging to the Church, which were the ecclesiastical family of the Vicar. (i) It is evident, therefore, that all Vicars had a right of sitting there before the Reformation, and consequently must retain this right still, unless it appear that they have quitted it. (i) In many Chancels are to be seen the ancient Seats or Stalls, used by the Vicar and his brethren in performing these religious offices, like those which remain in the old Choirs of Cathedral and Collegiate Churches; and hence it is that Cancellus and (g) Fuller v. Lane, 2 Add. 425. (h) Clifford v. Wicks, 1 B. & A. 506. (i) 1 Burns' Eccl. Law, 363; Johns, 243. Chorus (the Chancel and the Choir) are words of the same signification. (k) A Vicar is one who is substituted for the Rector, A Perpetual to serve the Church, the Tithes being in the hands Curate. of a lay Rector; and a Perpetual Curate seems to be a subordinate or secondary Vicar, in fact, stands in the Vicar's place. (1) Seat there. It seems doubtful whether a Perpetual Curate His right to a has a right to a Seat in the Chancel; for they, at common law, were mere Stipendiary Curates, removeable at will, and had no vested rights till long after the time of legal memory. (m) And, in a late case, (m) Dr. Lushington is reported Dr. Lushingto have said:" I should have great difficulty in ton's dictum. assenting to the proposition that the family of a Perpetual Curate have a common law right to Sittings in the Church. A Perpetual Curate, as in the case of the Duke of Portland v. Bingham, (n) may be a mere Stipendiary Curate, the impropriation being in utroque jure, for the Monasteries had cure of souls, and performed the duties of the Church by Stipendiary Curates; and since the suppression of these Monasteries, the Impropriator might have the complete Incumbency. It was not till A.D. 1756 that Lord Hardwicke interfered to protect the rights of the Curates; but these were not common law rights; so that if it be meant that a Curate is to be protected in his title and Sittings for (k) 1 Burns' Eccl. Law, 363; Johns, 243. (1) Doe d. Richardson, v. Thomas, 9 A. & E. 571, 573. (m) See Spry v. Flood, 2 Curt. 358. (n) Duke of Portland v. Bingham, 1 Hag. C. C. 157. Not meant as an opinion. Clergyman's Seats under 58 Geo. III. c. 45. Churchwardens' Pews. Subscribers' Free Seats. his family by common law right, as having existed from the time of Richard I., I confess I should have great difficulty in assenting to such a doctrine." (0) He afterwards said:" I wish it to be distinctly understood that in the observations I have made as to the rights of Perpetual Curates, I have made them only ex majori cautelâ; I do not mean to give any opinion as to what these rights are." (p) Before the consecration of any Church or Chapel under the Church Building Act, 58 Geo. III. c. 45, a Pew sufficient to hold at least six persons is to be set apart in the body or ground-floor of it, near the Pulpit, for the use of the Minister and his family. Also other Seats to contain at least four persons, are to be set apart in some other convenient situation, and not among the Free Seats, for the use of the Ministers' servants; and no Rent is to be paid for of these Sittings. (q) any Proper Pews are to be assigned and provided, in every such Church and Chapel, for the use of the Church or Chapel-wardens. (r) All Subscribers, who are Parishioners to any Church or Chapel built under 58 Geo. III. c. 45, have choice of Pews, at the rates fixed by the Commissioners, in the order of their amount of Subscriptions; and in case of Subscribers to the same amount, then in the order of their Subscriptions. (s) Certain Pews, Sittings, or Benches, to be marked with the words "FREE SEATS," and not be less than (0) Spry v. Flood, 2 Curt. 358. (p) Ibid. 360. (g) 58 Geo. III. c. 45, s. 75. (r) 59 Geo. III. c. 134, s. 30. (s) 58 Geo. III. c. 45, s. 76. one-fifth part of the whole of the Sittings in every such Church or Chapel, any part of the cost of building which may have been defrayed out of Rates, or money raised on their credit, in any Parish or extra parochial Place, are to be appropriated without Rent to the use of the poor for ever. (t) The Church Building Commissioners may, with May be inconsent of the owners, transfer all rights to any Pews creased. in an existing Church, to any Church or Chapel built under the provisions of the Church Building Acts, for the purpose of increasing the number of Free Seats, in the Church from which such rights may be transferred. Every such transfer is to be registered in the Registry of the Diocese, and a duplicate deposited in the chest of the Church or Chapel in which such Pew is so assigned. (u) By the general law, and of common right, all the Pews in the Parish Church are the common property of the Parish, they are for the use in common, of the Parishioners, who are all entitled to be seated, orderly and conveniently, so as best to provide for the general accommodation. (x) Pews the pro Parish. perty of the And every Parishioner has clearly a right to a Seat without Seat in the Church without any payment for it. payment. (y) in Churches. As the Church is a place dedicated and conse- Ordinary's crated to the Service of God, and is common to all authority the inhabitants, it belongs to the Bishop to order it in such manner as the Service of God may best be celebrated, and that there be no contention in the (t) 58 Geo. III. c. 45, s. 75. (y) Walter v. Gunner and Drury, 1 Hag. C. C. 317. In Chapels of Rector's in terest in the Chancel. Ordinary's there. Church, (2) And therefore the authority of the Ordinary (that is of the Bishop or person acting for him (a)) extends primâ facie over all Pews. And as the disposal of Seats in the Mother Church belongs to the Ordinary, he has the same authority as to Seats in a Chapel of Ease belonging to the Mother Church. (b) When the law of England decided that the property of a Rector should bear a proportion of the burden of repairing a Church, that part of it called the Chancel, was probably assigned to him, because nearly the whole of it was required by him and his associates, for the due celebration of Divine Service. From this use of the Chancel or from the Incumbent's duty to repair it, or from both these circumstance together, the notion that he has an especial interest in it probably sprung (c) But although there was for some time a difference power extends of opinion as to whether the Ordinary had the disposal of Seats in the Chancel, (d) it may now be taken for granted that his power extends there. (e) The disposal of With the exception of the chief Pew in the Chancel which belongs to the Rector or Impropriator, and of those Pews which are held by a Faculty or Prescription, the disposal of the Seats primâ facie, apper (z) Per Lord Coke, Corven's case, 12 Rep. 105. (a) Who must have ordinary (b) Lee v. Daniel, 12 Mod. 228. (d) Gibs. Cod. 226; Watson's Clergyman's Law, 394; Ayl. Parerg, 486. (e) Clifford v. Wicks, 1 B. & A. 498; Griffith v. Matthews, 5 T. R. 297; Morgan, v. Curtis, 3 M. & Ry. 389. |