Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Act 1925
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1925 c. 33 |
| Year | 1925 |
Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Act, 1925.
(15 & 16 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 33.
An Act to amend the law relating to Teinds and to the Stipends of Ministers of the Church of Scotland, and the tenure of the Property and Endowments of that Church, and for purposes connected therewith.
[28th May 1925]
Be it enacted by the King'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:—
Part I.
Stipend and Teind.
1 Stipend to be payable only in money.
1. Subject to the provisions of this Act, every stipend which in any way or to any extent depends upon fluctuations in the price of victual (hereinafter in this Act referred to as ‘victual stipend’) shall cease so to depend, and shall be payable only in money at the standard value thereof as hereinafter defined.
The substitution of the standard value of a victual stipend for the value thereof according to the present law and practice is hereinafter in this Act referred to as the ‘standardisation’ of the stipend and the expressions ‘standardised’ and ‘date of standardisation’ have corresponding meanings.
2 Standard value of victual stipend.
(1) The value in money of victual stipend shall for each county in Scotland be determined by adding to the former county average value of the different kinds of victual in which such stipends are localled an increase of five per centum of that average value, and for the purposes of this section the former county average value of any kind of victual shall be deemed to be the average value of that kind of victual for that county for the fifty years 1873 to 1922, as ascertained—
(a ) In the case of the kinds of victual mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act, by reference to the values set out therein, or where for any county the value of any such kind of victual is not so set out, then by reference to the value of such other kind of victual for that county or to the value of the same kind of victual for such other county or counties as the Court of Session may select, and by Act of Sederunt prescribe, as being most suitable in the circumstances of the case; and
(b ) In the case of any kind of victual not mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act, in accordance with the provisions set out in the Second Schedule to this Act.
(2) In the application of the foregoing provisions of this section to a particular parish, regard shall be had to any special method of calculation of stipend customary in that parish (including calculation of a stipend localled in Bear by reference to the fiars price for first or second Barley) and the sheriff may give such instructions to the Clerk of Teinds as he may deem to be necessary or proper for this purpose upon application made to him by any minister or presbytery or heritor concerned at any time before the expiry of six months after the date of standardisation. If no such application is then made in respect of any parish, this subsection shall not have effect with respect to that parish. Intimation of any such application shall be made to such persons as the sheriff may appoint. The decision of the sheriff shall be final unless an appeal therefrom shall be taken to the Lord Ordinary by the applicant or by any person appearing in the application in manner provided by the Ecclesiastical Buildings and Glebes (Scotland) Act, 1868 , with respect to appeals from the sheriff to the Lord Ordinary under that Act, and the provisions of that Act relating to such appeals shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to appeals under this subsection, and the clerk to the process in appeals under this subsection shall be the Clerk of Teinds.
(3) The value in money of any victual stipend, as the same may be determined under subsection (1) of this section subject to any variation under subsection (2) thereof along with the value of any money stipend is in this Act referred to as the ‘standard value’ of that stipend.
3 Date of standardisation of stipend.
3. The date of standardisation of a stipend shall be the term of Martinmas which shall first occur not less than six months after the date when the benefice becomes actually vacant or is deemed to have become vacant by election or by notification as hereinafter provided. In the case of a benefice which is actually vacant at the passing of this Act the date of standardisation shall be the term of Martinmas, nineteen hundred and twenty-five.
The words ‘becomes actually vacant’ shall not include the occasion where a minister is succeeded by an assistant and successor appointed to him before the passing of this Act, but shall include the occasion where a minister is succeeded by an assistant and successor appointed to him after such passing.
4 Standardisation by election.
4. Any minister who at the passing of this Act is entitled to a victual stipend may elect that the stipend shall be standardised, and if he so elects he shall intimate his election in writing in the form set forth in the Third Schedule to this Act or in a similar form to the heritors to the clerk of the presbytery and to the General Trustees, and in such case the benefice shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to have become vacant by election at the date of the said intimation.
Where at the passing of this Act an assistant and successor has been appointed to a minister entitled to a victual stipend, either the minister or the assistant and successor with the consent of the assistant and successor or of the minister (as the case may be), or failing such consent with the authority of the presbytery may elect and intimate his election as aforesaid.
5 Standardisation by notification.
(1) It shall be lawful for the General Trustees to intimate in writing to the minister of any parish who is entitled to victual stipend and to the clerk of the presbytery and to the heritors that the victual stipend is to be standardised and in such case the benefice shall for the purposes of this Act, but subject as hereinafter in this section provided, be deemed to have become vacant by notification at the date of the said intimation: Provided that the General Trustees before making such intimation shall have given to the minister an undertaking that (notwithstanding such standardisation) the amount of his stipend according to the present law and practice will continue to be paid to him by the General Trustees until he ceases to be minister of the parish and that the right (if any) of his widow or other representatives to Ann will, in the event of his death, be satisfied, and the obligations contained in any such undertaking shall be duly fulfilled by the General Trustees, who shall be indemnified by the General Assembly to such extent (if any) as may be necessary having regard to the amount of money at the disposal of the Trustees for that purpose: Provided always that if at any time during the currency of such an undertaking the minister intimates to the General Trustees in terms of the section of this Act relating to standardisation by election, his election that his stipend should be standardised, such intimation shall have effect as in that section provided and the undertaking shall cease to operate.
(2) In the application of the foregoing subsection to a benefice where an assistant and successor has been appointed to the minister before the passing of this Act, the word ‘minister’ shall include and refer to that assistant and successor as well as the minister: Provided that the undertaking to be given by the General Trustees to the assistant and successor shall include his interest in the stipend so long as he remains assistant and successor as well as after he succeeds the minister should that event occur, but shall not include any right with respect to Ann.
6 Collegiate charges.
6. With respect to a parish where separate benefices exist and both the ministers are entitled to victual stipend, except where in such parish there are no surplus teinds, the foregoing provisions of this Act shall have effect subject to the following modification, namely, that neither of the benefices shall be deemed to be or to become actually vacant or to have become vacant by election or notification, unless the other benefice was actually vacant at the passing of this Act, or shall thereafter have become actually vacant or been deemed to have become vacant by election or notification.
7 Vesting of standardised stipend.
7. Any stipend which has been standardised under the provisions of this Aa shall as on and from the date of standardisation vest de die in diem in the minister entitled thereto without prejudice to the payment of any stipend vested in him or in any former incumbent of the benefice according to the present law and practice and subject to the satisfaction of any claim for Ann on the part of the widow or other representatives of a deceased incumbent: Provided that in the...
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