Union of Benefices Act 1860
(23 & 24 Vict.) C A P. CXLII.
[28th August 1860]
'WHEREAS an Act was passed in the Second Year of Her Majesty's Reign, intituled ; and in such Act Provision is contained authorizing the Union by Order of Her Majesty in Council, after such Inquiry and Notice and with such Consent and upon such Certificate as is therein mentioned, of Two or more Benefices, or One or more Benefice or Benefices and One or more Spiritual Sinecure Rectory or Rectories, Vicarage or Vicarages, in the same Parish or contiguous to each other, of which the aggregate Population should not exceed One thousand five hundred Persons, and the aggregate yearly Value should not exceed Five hundred Pounds: And whereas another Act was passed in the Fourteenth Year of Her Majesty's Reign, intituled , by which Act the Provision herein-before referred to was extended so as to be applicable to and for the Union of Benefices, Sinecure Rectories, and Vicarages, in the same Parishes or contiguous to each other, and of which the aggregate Population should not exceed One thousand five hundred Persons, notwithstanding the aggregate yearly Value should exceed Five hundred Pounds: And whereas another Act was passed in the Eighteenth and NineteenthYears of Her Majesty's Reign for making better Provision for the Union of contiguous Benefices, which Act will expire on the Fourteenth Day ofAugust in the present Year: And whereas it is expedient to extend the Provisions of the said Two first-recited Acts, so as to make better Proisvion for the Union of contiguous Benefices in the Metropolis:' Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:
I Contiguous Benefices within the Metropolis as defined by 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120. may be united.
I. After the passing of this Act, Two or more contiguous Benefices within the Metropolis as defined by an Act passed in the Session of Parliament which sat in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Years of the Reign of Her Majesty, intituledAn Act for the better Local Management of the Metropolis , may from Time to Time be united, or a Benefice or contiguous Benefices and One or more Spiritual Sinecure Rectory or Rectories, Vicarage or Vicarages, contiguous to such Benefice or Benefices, and situate in the Metropolis, may from Time to Time be united without regard in any Case to aggregate Population or aggregate yearly Value, and without Limitation as to the same, and every such Union shall be effected in the Manner herein-after provided.
II Interpretation of Terms.
II. The Expression ‘Union of Benefices’ shall throughout this Act (unless there shall be something in the Context repugnant to such Construction) mean such an Union of Two or more contiguous Benefices with one another, or such an Union of a Benefice or Benefices with a Spiritual Sinecure Rectory or Spiritual Sinecure Rectories, Vicarage or Vicarages, as is specified in the preceding Section of this Act; and the Expression ‘united Parish’ shall mean the Parishes which in consequence of an Union of Benefices shall have become united for Ecclesiastical Purposes under this Act.
III Power to Bishops of London or Winchester to issue Commissions.
III. Whenever it shall appear to the Bishop of the Diocese ofLondon or of Winchester , as the Case may be, that an Union of Benefices may with Advantage to the Interests of Religion be effected within his Diocese, he may cause a Commission to be issued under his Hand and Seal, addressed to Five Persons, to be nominated as after mentioned, authorizing and requiring them to inquire into and report upon the Expediency of the proposed Union, and such Commissioners shall and may inquire into all such Matters in anywise affecting such Union or connected therewith as they may deem necessary, and the Commissioners shall make their Return to the Commission within Six Calendar Months from the issuing of the Commission, or within such enlarged Time as the Bishop shall, by Writing under his Hand, from Time to Time direct, and Notice of the issuing of a Commission shall be sent by the Bishop to the Vestry Clerk of each Parish proposed to be united, and Notice thereof shall be published by such Vestry Clerk by affixing it upon the Door of the Parish Church.
IV Commission how to be nominated.
IV. Three of the Commissioners shall be beneficed Clergymen residing within the Diocese, of whom One shall be nominated by the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church ofSaint Paul , and Two by the Bishop of the Diocese, and the remaining Two shall be Lay Members of the Church of England , and shall be nominated to the Bishop by the Corporation of the City of London; and no Commissioner shall be entitled to claim or shall receive any Salary or Payment for performing the Duties imposed on him as such Commissioner.
V The Number to constitute a Quorum, their Powers, and the Return to the Commission.
V. Three of the Commissioners, of whom One shall be a Lay Commissioner, shall constitute a Quorum; and the Commissioners shall have Power at their Discretion to call for the Production before them of any Documents not affecting private Interests which they may deem necessary for the Purposes of the Commission, and the Persons having the Care or Custody of such Documents shall be bound to produce them to the Commissioners upon the Requisition in Writing of any Two Commissioners; and the Commissioners may examine on Oath all Persons desirous or willing to be examined by them touching any Matter relating to the Object of the Commission, and may administer the Oaths necessary for that Purpose, and the Churchwardens of the Parishes proposed to be united shall have Notice of the Sittings of such Commission, and shall be entitled, with their Vestry Clerk, to attend thereat; and the Commissioners shall in their Return to the Commission certify all such Matters and Things as shall appear to them material, together with their Opinion as to the Expediency or otherwise of the proposed Union, and if they, or any Three of them competent to constitute a Quorum, shall deem the Union expedient, shall recommend the Terms on which in their Opinion the same ought to be effected.
VI Disqualification of Commissioners, and the issuing a fresh Commission.
VI. If before the Return to the Commission any Commissioner shall die, or become incapable of acting by Removal from the Diocese or otherwise, the Commission shall continue in full Force, unless there shall not be sufficient Commissioners remaining to constitute a Quorum; and notwithstanding the Death or Disqualification of any One or more of the Commissioners the qualified Commissioners for the Time being shall continue to exercise the Powers given to the Commissioners by this Act until such Vacancy or Vacancies shall have been filled up, but if there shall not be a sufficient Quorum, the Bishop may, either before or after the Time limited for the Return to the Commission, issue a fresh Commission under the Provisions of this Act in lieu of the original Commission, and the Commissioners under such substituted Commission shall have all the Powers of the original Commission, and may adopt the Evidence taken under it.
VII Bishop to prepare and transmit Proposals for a Scheme to Churchwardens and Vestry.
VII. If the Return to the Commission shall recommend an Union, the Bishop shall cause Proposals for a Scheme, based upon the Terms recommended, to be prepared for effecting the Union, which Proposals, with the Consent thereto in Writing of the Patron or Patrons of each of the Benefices affected, shall be transmitted by the Bishop to the Churchwardens of each Parish proposed to be united, in order that the same may be considered by the Inhabitants in Vestry assembled; and all such Proposals shall have especial Regard to the Residence of the Incumbent on the Benefice proposed to be constituted the united Benefice, and shall contain all necessary Provisions conducing to such Residence.
VIII Vestry to notify Assent or Objections and Bishop to transmit final Proposals to Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to prepare Scheme, and certify same to the Queen in Council.
VIII. The Vestry of each Parish shall, by the Vestry Clerk or other Officer, notify to the Bishop, within Two Calendar Months after the Receipt of the Proposals, their Assent or their Objections to or any Suggestions for the Modification of the same, and the Bishop shall give full Consideration to every such Notification of Vestry, and shall make such Alterations in the Proposals as he may think right; and the Bishop shall cause such Proposals, as finally approved by him and assented to by the Patrons, and by the Vestries of the Parishes to be affected thereby, to be transmitted to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners forEngland , who shall thereupon cause to be prepared a Scheme for carrying out the proposed Union, which Scheme may, with the Assent of the Bishop and Patrons, and the Vestries of the Parishes to be affected thereby, embody any Modifications of the Proposals, and shall send Drafts of such proposed Scheme...
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