Clergy Ordination Act 1804
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1804 c. 43 |
| Year | 1804 |
(44 Geo. 3) C A P. XLIII.
[3d May 1804]
'WHEREAS by the Canons of the Churches heretofore ofEngland and Ireland , now the United Church of England and Ireland , it is ordained, ordered, and directed, that no Bishop shall admit any Person into the sacred Order of a Deacon who is not twenty-three Years old, nor to be a Priest except he be twenty-four Years compleat: And whereas by the Prefaces to the Forms of Ordination of Priests and Deacons, established and used by Authority of several Acts of the Parliaments of England and Ireland respectively, it is directed that none shall be admitted Deacon except he be twenty-three Years of Age, unless he have a Faculty, and that every Man which is to be admitted a Priest shall be full twenty-four Years old: And whereas, in that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland , the aforesaid Rule respecting the Ages of Persons desiring to be admitted into Holy Orders has been sometimes disregarded and rendered of no Effect, to the great Scandal and Detriment of the Church, and to the Prejudice of Religion: For the better Prevention whereof for the future, and also in order that one certain and undoubted Rule and Course of Practice may hereafter prevail and be observed in this Respect in England and Ireland ,' 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 Authorityof the same, That from and after the passing of this Act, no Person shall be admitted a Deacon before he shall have attained the Age of three and twenty Years compleat, and that no Person shall be admitted a Priest before he shall have attained the Age of four and twenty Years compleat: And in case any Person shall, from and after the passing of this Act, be admitted a Deacon before he shall have attained the Age of three and twenty Years compleat, or be admitted a Priest before he shall have attained the Age of four and twenty Years compleat, that then and in every such Case the Admission of every such Person as Deacon or Priest respectively, shall be merely void in Law as if such Admission had not been made, and the Person so admitted shall be wholly incapable of having, holding, or enjoying, or being...
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