Ecclesiastical Courts Act 1813
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1813 c. 127 |
| Year | 1813 |
(53 Geo. 3) C A P. CXXVII.
[12th July 1813]
'WHEREAS it is expedient that Excommunication, together with all Proceedings following thereupon should, saving in certain cases, be discontinued, and that other Proceedings should be substituted in lieu thereof; and that certain other Regulations should be made in the Proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Courts; and that more convenient modes of recovering Tithes and Church Rates in certain cases should be provided;' Be it therefore 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, That, from and after the passing of this Act, Excommunication, together with all Proceedings following thereupon, shall in all cafes, save those hereafter to be specified, be discontinued, throughout that Part of the United Kingdom ofGreat Britain and Ireland called England ; and that in all Causes which according to the Laws of this Realm are cognizable in the Ecclesiastical Courts, when any Person or Persons having been duly cited to appear in any Ecclesiastical Court, or required to comply with the lawful Orders or Decrees, as well final as interlocutory, of any such Court, shall neglect or refuse to appear, or neglect or refuse to pay Obedience to such lawful Orders or Decrees, or when any Person or Persons shall commit a Contempt in the Face of such Court, no Sentence of Excommunication shall be given or pronounced; saving in the particular cases hereafter to be specified; but instead thereof, it shall be lawful for the Judges or Judge who issued out the Citation, or whose lawful Orders or Decrees have not been obeyed, or before whom such Contempt in the Face of the Court shall have been committed, to pronounce such Person or Persons contumacious and in contempt, and within Ten Days to signify the same in the Form to this Act annexed, to His Majesty in Chancery, as hath heretofore been done in signifying Excommunications; and thereupon a Writde Contumace Capiendo , in the Form to this Act annexed, shall issue from the Court of Chancery, directed to the same Persons to whom the Writs de Excommunicato Capiendo have heretofore been directed; and the same shall be returnable in like manner as the Writ de Excommunicato Capiendo hath been by Law returnable heretofore, and shall have the same Force and Effect as the said Writ; and all Rules and Regulations not hereby altered, now by Law applying to the said Writ and the Proceedings following thereupon, and particularly the several Provisions contained in a certain Act passed in the Fifth Year of Queen , intituledAn Act for the due Execution of the Writ de Excommunicate Capiendo, shall extend and be applied to the said Writ de Contumace Capiendo and the Proceedings following thereupon, as if the same were herein particularly repented and enacted; and the proper Officers of the said Court of Chancery are hereby authorized and required to issue such Writ de Contumace Capiendo accordingly; and all Sheriffs, Gaolers and other Officers are hereby authorized and required to execute the same, by taking and detaining the Body of the Person against whom the said Writ shall be directed to be executed; and upon the due Appearance of the Party so cited and not having appeared as aforesaid, or the Obedience of the Party so cited and not having obeyed as aforesaid, or the due Submission of the Party so having committed a Contempt in the Face of the Court, the Judges or Judge of such Ecclesiastical Court shall pronounce such Party absolved from the Contumacy and Contempt aforesaid, and shall forthwith make an Order upon the Sheriff, Gaoler or other Officer in whose Custody he shall be, in the Form to this Act annexed, for discharging such Party out of Custody, and such Sheriff, Gaoler or other Officer shall, on the said Order being shewn to him, so soon as such Party shall have discharged the Costs lawfully incurred by reason of such Custody and Contempt forthwith discharge him.
II In what cases Excommunication shall continue.
II. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall prevent any Ecclesiastical Court from pronouncing or declaring Persons to be Excommunicate in definitive Sentences, or in interlocutory Decrees having the Force and Effect of definitive Sentences, such Sentences or Decrees being pronounced as Spiritual Censures for Offences of Ecclesiastical Cognizance, in the same manner as such Court might lawfully have pronounced or declared the same, had this Act not been passed.
III Proceedings in case of Excommunication.
III. And be it further, That no Person who shall be so pronounced or declared Excommunicate, shall incur any Civil Penalty or Incapacity whatever, in consequence of such Excommunication, save such Imprisonment, not exceeding Six Months, as the Court pronouncing or declaring such Person Excommunicate shall direct, and in such case the said Excommunication, and the Term of such Imprisonment, shall be signified or certified to His Majesty in Chancery, in the same manner as Excommunications have been heretofore signified, and thereupon the Writde Excommunicato Capiendo shall issue, and the usual Proceedings shall be had, and the Party being taken into Custody shall remain therein for the...
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