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Aston Cantlow v Wallbank: a twenty-year retrospective Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Mark Hill
To mark the passing of two decades since the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords handed down their judgment in the appeal of Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley Parochial Church Council v Wallbank this article considers the enduring impact of the decision in terms of the constitutional position of the Church of England as a national church and analyses the public and private functions which
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Voidable marriages Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Nicholas Mostyn
This article critiques the decision of the Court of Appeal in Re SA (Declaration of Non-Recognition of Marriage) [2023] EWCA Civ 1003. In Re SA the Court of Appeal held that: (1) by operation of section 16 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, a voidable marriage is not void at its inception and is therefore not caught by section 58(5)(a) of the Family Law Act 1986, and (2) the effect of section 16 of
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Man shall not live by bread alone? Freedom of worship, COVID-19 and the Courts Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Marco Galimberti, Tania Pagotto
This article discusses the application of the proportionality test which the Court of Session in Scotland and the European Court of Human Rights carried out when reviewing the limitations to worship and public gatherings imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article concludes that judges should not use the proportionality standard of review as an avenue to circumvent their duty of neutrality towards
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Episcopacy, law and government Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Martin Warner
This Comment, based substantially on a lecture delivered to the Ecclesiastical Law Society on 5 July 2023, will explore how bishops engage with the legislature, comparing the example of Bishop George Bell in the last century with a rather different example in the present century, namely Pope Benedict XVI and his address to members of Parliament in Westminster Hall in 2010. The comparison will, I hope
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VI: Francis Mason (1566/7–1621) Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Norman Doe
During the reign of Elizabeth I the ecclesial and legal ‘revolution’ under Henry VIII, to establish in England a national church under the royal supremacy, was converted into a ‘settlement’. It steered a course between radical puritans and recusant Catholics. Clothed in legal propriety, this settlement was articulated both juristically and theologically by the great Richard Hooker (d. 1600). After
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General Synod of the Church of England Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Edward Dobson
The first item of business at the February group of sessions was to revive the General Synod (Remote Meetings) (Temporary Standings Orders) Measure 2020, which enabled Synod to conduct hybrid meetings. Previously in operation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the standing order had lapsed and was brought back into operation until 5 February 2026.
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Governing Body of the Church in Wales Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Matthew Chinery
The Governing Body of the Church in Wales met twice in 2023, at Venue Cymru in Llandudno on 19–20 April and at the International Conference Centre in Newport on 5–6 September.
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General Synod of the Church of Ireland Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Cate Turner
The Church of Ireland General Synod had been held online in 2021 and in person in 2022. This year – the third meeting of the triennium – the first two days were held in Clayton White's Hotel, Wexford (Friday 12 May and Saturday 13 May) with day 3 taking place remotely on the evening of Tuesday 16 May. (Another evening, Thursday 18 May, had also been set aside for meeting but this was not required.)
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General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2024-01-18 John F Stuart
The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) met from 7 to 9 June 2023. The meeting was held in hybrid format, with most members attending in person and a small number online.
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General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Jason Lingiah
The Assembly met on 20–25 May with the Right Rev'd Sally Foster-Fulton BA BD as Moderator. She is Head of Christian Aid in Scotland and has served as a Parish Minister in the Church of Scotland and in the Presbyterian Church (USA). The Rt Hon Lord Hodge DPSC was re-appointed by His Majesty as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly for a second year. The Church has roughly 284,000 members (2021
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June to September 2023 Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Frank Cranmer
The Bill of Rights Bill was withdrawn on 27 June, signalling what appears to be a major change of policy. After the withdrawal announcement had been made, The Times quoted Dominic Raab as suggesting that ‘All the wrong people will celebrate’ – among whom is your correspondent.
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‘Legalists and Moralists’ in the Historic Portrayal of the Constitution of the Church of England Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-09-05 Norman Doe
The Enabling Act 1919 provided for a new National Church Assembly able to make Measures with the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament. The 1919 Act was without question a constitutional moment with far-reaching effects; and it was about law, not morals: legalists triumphed over moralists. However, it was just one stage in a much longer trajectory of thinking about the constitution of the Church
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Response to ‘“Legalists and Moralists” in the Historic Portrayal of the Constitution of the Church of England’ Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-09-05 Alison Milbank
It is a great challenge to respond as a theologian to Professor Doe's magisterial survey in the article published in the previous pages of this Journal.I was asked to respond to the paper upon which that article is based from a theological perspective as part of the Ecclesiastical Law Society's 2022 day conference. Professor Doe demonstrates how, in the years between Hooker and the Church Assembly
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A Limited Episcopacy? Canon Law and the Ministry of the ‘Episcopal Assistant’ in the Anglican Communion Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-09-05 Bradly S Billings
The theologian Paul Avis, in his handbook for those becoming bishops in the Anglican Communion, makes scarcely any reference throughout the course of the treatise to any distinction between a diocesan and a non-diocesan bishop. At one level this is refreshing, eschewing as it does any notion of a hierarchy within the order of bishops. However, on another level it is somewhat odd, for so much of the
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February to May 2023 Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-09-05 Frank Cranmer
On 21 April, Dominic Raab resigned as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, to be replaced by Alex Chalk KC. On 8 May, The Times reported that the Bill of Rights Bill was to be dropped and that the Ministry of Justice had told its reporters that the new Justice Secretary had been ‘looking carefully’ at the Bill, while another Government source had described the Bill as a ‘complete mess’
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Personnel Files, Confidentiality and the Right to Privacy Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-05-30 Clyde Muropa
This study, which focuses on the Roman Catholic Church, explores the concepts of confidentiality and the right to privacy in contemporary moral and legal thought. The management of church personnel files presents the challenge of observing and maintaining confidentiality and privacy. In most cases, the information contained in personnel files of the clergy, members of religious institutes, and others
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Reclaiming the Blessings of Religious Liberty: Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-05-30 John Witte
Thomas Jefferson once described America's new religious freedom guarantees as a ‘fair’ and ‘novel experiment’.1 These guarantees, set out in the new American state and federal constitutions of 1776 to 1791, defied the millennium-old assumptions inherited from Western Europe: that one form of Christianity must be established in a community and that the state must protect and support it against all other
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The King and the Law of the Church of England Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-04-28 Russell Dewhurst
Charles III acceded to the British throne on 8 September 2022, becoming at the same time Supreme Governor of the Church of England. This article presents an overview of the law relating to the King and the Church of England, and considers the effects of the royal supremacy today.
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The Coronation Oath Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-04-28 Rupert Bursell
Over the past thirty years questions have been raised, and still remain, as to the proper scope of the sovereign's title, Defender of the Faith, in a multi-faith society. Such questions are not only politically important but are legally important, especially as they raise questions affecting the Church of England. Those questions need to be addressed before any suggested changes are actually implemented
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Contested Heritage and the Consistory Courts Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-04-28 Teresa Sutton
This article distinguishes contested heritage on consecrated land from the wider secular contested heritage debate. The evolving property law position on contested heritage and consecrated land is analysed in the context of recent consistory court judgments including the controversial decision concerning the memorial to Tobias Rustat at Jesus College, Cambridge. The current application of the ecclesiastical
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Gerald of Wales (c. 1146–1223): A Canonist Rediscovered Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-04-28 Norman Doe
2023 marks the 800th anniversary of the death of Gerald of Wales. Scholarship to-date has focused on Gerald's extensive non-legal literature. His contribution to canon law has hitherto been neglected. However, Gerald was a canon lawyer of considerable stature. He was a student and teacher of canon law, he administered canon law and defended it against the encroachment of the royal law, and he litigated
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All Roads Lead to New Rome: The Canonical Origins and Status of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches of Ukraine Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-04-28 Paul Babie
This article provides a brief account of the historical origins and canonical status of the three modern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic churches of Ukraine: the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, and the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. It contains four parts. The first briefly recounts the origins of Byzantine Christianity and the fused form of state and church
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What Does the Future Hold for Freedom of Religion and Belief? Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-04-28 Silvio Ferrari
Let me begin with a methodological remark. What I can offer is a European perspective of religious freedom in an intercultural world. The horizon of this ‘Comment’ piece will be global, but the point of view is inevitably European. Only God, if he exists, can have a regard from above: our regard is always from within.
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Strasbourg, Russia and the Right to Same-Sex Marriage Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-04-28 Frank Cranmer
The issue of lack of legal recognition for same-sex partnerships has come before the European Court of Human Rights yet again, but this time before the Grand Chamber.
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October 2022 to January 2023 Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-04-28 Frank Cranmer
In the June to September report, I noted that Boris Johnson had announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party on 7 July and had been replaced as Prime Minister by Liz Truss on 6 September. Little did anyone imagine that she, in turn, would be replaced by Rishi Sunak on 25 October after only 50 days in office and a disastrous mini budget presented by her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, which
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The Definition of an Archdeacon: Legal, Pastoral or Neither? Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-01-05 Clive Hogger
Previous articles in this Journal on the subject of the role of archdeacons have created a dichotomy, between an archdeacon's role as being primarily legal or their role being primarily pastoral. This article examines the development of the role of an archdeacon and explores what was and is actually stated about them in legislation. It becomes clear that a legal definition is insufficient, so various
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Reflections on the Workings of General Synod Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-01-05 Pete Broadbent
This article is based on a paper delivered to the Ecclesiastical Law Society's day conference in 2022. It is a reflection on the workings of General Synod from the perspective of an author who has been a member of Synod for around 36 years. The article examines three discrete themes: (i) the problem of authority in the Church of England, (ii) the shortcomings of Synodical government, and (iii) the
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Response to ‘Reflections on the Workings of General Synod’ Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-01-05 Alison Milbank
There is much to address in responding to such a rich and thoughtful range of reflections as given by Bishop Pete in his article published in the previous pages of this Journal. I was asked to respond to that paper from a theological perspective as part of the Ecclesiastical Law Society's 2022 day conference, and this comment piece has been based substantially on that response. So many areas of theological
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The Case of the Rustat Memorial – Does Duffield Pose all the Right Questions? Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-01-05 Araba Taylor
Two recent decisions of the Consistory Court have dealt with faculties for the removal of what is now called ‘contested heritage’. In Re Rustat Memorial, Jesus College, Cambridge, the faculty sought by Jesus College, Cambridge was refused. In Re St Peter, Dorchester it was granted on terms. As was observed by Ruth Arlow, Chancellor of the Diocese of Salisbury, in the latter case, each such application
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All Mouth and No Trousers? Observations Arising from the Decision on Jurisdiction in Re Evans Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-01-05 Neil Patterson
At the time of writing, work continues on a replacement for the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 (CDM 2003). This comment explores some issues which have arisen in a recent disciplinary case – Re Evans – where, for the first time, the boundaries of the CDM jurisdiction have been considered by the tribunal. I will first identify the salient facts of the Evans case, before moving on to explore the specific
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The 2022 Revision of The Principles of Canon Law Common to the Churches of the Anglican Communion Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-01-05 Russell Dewhurst
At the 2008 Lambeth Conference, The Principles of Canon Law Common to the Churches of the Anglican Communion were launched. For the first time, detailed principles of Anglican canon law were made manifest, the fruit of earlier research by the legal academic Norman Doe. As early as 2002, the Primates of the Communion had recognised that ‘the unwritten law common to the Churches of the Communion and
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General Synod of the Church of Ireland Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-01-05 Cate Turner
The Church of Ireland Synod took place in person from Wednesday 4th to Friday 6th May 2022 in the Spires Conference Centre, Belfast. It was the second meeting of the triennium, but having met by electronic communication technology the previous year it was for many their first experience of General Synod in person.
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General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-01-05 Jason Lingiah
The General Assembly of the Church again met in a ‘blended’ form, based from the Assembly Hall. The Moderator of the General Assembly this year was the Rev'd Dr Iain Greenshields, BD PhD, Minister of Dunfermline St Margaret's, Presbytery of Fife. Last year's Moderator was an Elder, rather than a Minister: Lord Wallace of Tankerness, PC QC FRSE. Lord Hodge, Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the
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General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-01-05 John F Stuart
The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) met from 9 to 11 June 2022. The previous two meetings of the Synod had taken place in virtual form only. The 2022 meeting was in hybrid format, with most members attending in person and a small number joining online.
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Governing Body of the Church in Wales Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-01-05 Matthew Chinery
The Governing Body of the Church in Wales met at the International Conference Centre, Newport on 27–28 April 2022 and 6–7 September 2022. The April session began with the formal notification to the Governing Body of the election of the Most Reverend Andrew John, Bishop of Bangor, as Archbishop of Wales and therefore President of the Governing Body. His inaugural Presidential address called for the
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General Synod of the Church of England Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2023-01-05 Edward Dobson
This report covers the group of sessions held in July 2022. General Synod met in York for the first time since the pandemic between 8 and 12 July 2022.
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Pre-Reformation Roman Canon Law in Post-Reformation English Ecclesiastical Law Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-09-12 Norman Doe
Roman canon law did not cease to have an effect within the Church of England after the Reformation. English ecclesiastical lawyers continued to use pre-Reformation foreign papal law and domestic provincial and legatine law. These lawyers used several ideas to explain its status in pre-Reformation England. They usually held that it continued in force after the Reformation on the basis of section 7 of
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Shared Burial Grounds Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-09-12 David McClean, Penny McClean
Despite the widespread use of cremation, there is once again a shortage of burial space in some parts of the country. Chancellors dealing with petitions for faculties reserving grave spaces are finding that more and more parochial church councils are opposing reservation as they see that the available space is running out. In rural areas it may be possible to persuade a farmer or landowner to part
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Pious Causes: The Boundaries between Charity Law and Ecclesiastical Law Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-09-12 Ian Blaney
Charities increasingly make up the body politic of the Church of England. They include parochial church councils, diocesan boards of finance and national institutions. By April 2024 every chapter of a cathedral will be required to register as a charity. Faithful parishioners put their collection money in gummed envelopes which call for them to add Gift Aid to their donations. Individual churches run
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The Practice and Politics of Establishment Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-09-12 William Fittall
The following words were spoken in the House of Commons 23 years ago: Many people in this country think that it is wrong to have an established Church and that it would be helpful if England followed the example of Scotland and Wales and disestablished its Church, recognising that we are a multicultural, multi-faith society and that no religion or Church should be given pre-eminence over others. Would
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The Peculiar Case of a Royal Peculiar: A Problem of Faculty at the Tower of London Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-09-12 Alfred R J Hawkins
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, less formally known as the Tower of London or simply ‘the Tower’, was the seat of royal power in England for several centuries following its construction by William the Conqueror in 1078. While now a popular tourist attraction, it remains the home of the Crown Jewels, is a working barracks and maintains many ceremonial traditions of state
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Bishop Roger Herft: The Determination of the Episcopal Standards Board of the Anglican Church of Australia Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-09-12 Garth Blake
In December 2021, the Episcopal Standards Board of the Anglican Church of Australia (the Board) was satisfied that Bishop Roger Herft, the former Bishop of Newcastle between 1993 and 2005, was unfit to remain in holy orders and determined that he be deposed from the exercise of holy orders (the Board Determination). This decision is significant because it is the first occasion in the Anglican Communion
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Could the State do Without Marriage Law? Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-04-29 Daniel J Hill
This article argues that marriage is a divine institution that pre-dates the state, and marriages are supernaturally effected by God consequent on the exchange of marital consent by the parties, whether or not the state recognises them as marriages. In fact, taking note of, and legislating about, marriage thus properly conceived is not within the state's remit. Despite this, the law in England and
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50 Years of Safeguarding – 950 Years of Clergy Discipline: Where do we go from here? Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-04-29 Peter Collier
This article is based on an Ecclesiastical Law Society London Lecture delivered on 17 November 2021. It builds on a previous lecture entitled ‘Safeguarding in church and state over the last 50 years: “from Ball and Banks to Beech via Bell”’, which also formed the basis of an article published in this Journal in 2020. That article, among other things, identified a number of significant cases of sexual
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Faith, Freedom and Family: An Introduction to the Work of John Witte Jr Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-04-29 Norman Doe
John Witte Jr is a law and religion scholar of the first order. For decades, as the director of the Emory Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Atlanta, he has played a leading part in the development of the field of law and religion globally. He has written prolifically across a wide range of law and religion subjects. He has nurtured and guided a generation of vibrant scholars who will shape
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Law at the Backbone: The Christian Legal Ecumenism of Norman Doe Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-04-29 John Witte
Welsh jurist and Anglican theologian Norman Doe has pioneered the modern study of comparative ‘Christian law’, analysing the wide variety of internal religious legal systems governing Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches worldwide. For Doe, religious law is the backbone of Christian ecclesiology and ecumenism. Despite the deep theological differences that have long divided Christian churches
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Persecution: Ancient Scourge, Modern Crisis Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-04-29 Philip Mounstephen
Freedom of Religion or Belief (or FoRB), the abuse or loss of which leads to persecution, is both an ancient scourge, and also a profoundly serious modern crisis. It is right that we concern ourselves with the egregious persecution so many of our Christian brothers and sisters the world over experience: and out of love for our neighbour, and respect for the common good, we must extend that concern
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Governing Body of the Church in Wales: 14–15 April 2021 (online), 6 September 2021 (ICC Newport), 8 September 2021 (online) Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-04-29 Matthew Chinery
Depending on how one counts it, the Governing Body of the Church in Wales met either two or three times in 2021. The April session was conducted entirely online, but the September sessions were split between a physical meeting on Monday 6 September and an online meeting on Wednesday 8 September.
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General Synod of the Church of Ireland: September/October 2021 Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-04-29 Cate Turner
The Church of Ireland Synod took place from Thursday 30 September to Saturday 1 October, meeting again by electronic communication technology. Being the first meeting of the triennium, it was for many their first experience of General Synod; yet the online format was a more familiar medium than it had been at the last meeting held in December 2020.
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Institut de Taoïsme Fung Loy Kok c Ville de Montréal Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-04-29 David Willink
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Re St John the Baptist, Bishop Monkton Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-04-29 David Willink
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National Prayers: Special Worship Since the Reformation, Volume 3: Worship for National and Royal Occasions in the United Kingdom, 1871–2016 Philip Williamson, Stephen Taylor, Alasdair Raffe and Natalie Mears (eds) The Boydell Press, Church of England Record Society, Woodbridge, 2020, cxxxviii + 744 (hardback £120), ISBN: 978-1-78327-505-2 Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-04-29 Charlotte Smith
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Colloquium of Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-04-29 Stephen Coleman
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‘Seven whole days’: The Obligation of the Clergy of the Church of England to ‘say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer’ Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-01-03 Russell Dewhurst
All Christians are called to pray. The daily offering of Morning and Evening Prayer is a particular obligation of the clergy of the Church of England, as part of the ‘manner of life of clerks’ laid down in Canon C 26. However, despite the significant time devoted to these prayers by the clergy on a daily basis, there has been little detailed examination of this canonical obligation. This article explores
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The Legal Treatment of Religious Dissent in Western Europe: A Comparative View Ecclesiastical Law Journal Pub Date : 2022-01-03 Rossella Bottoni, Cristiana Cianitto
This article examines the legal treatment of religious dissent from a comparative perspective, by focusing on the legal evolution from intolerance to toleration, and from toleration to emancipation in France, Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom. Historically, in Europe, only people professing the official religion were regarded as full members of the political community. Those who professed another