Ecclesiastical Proctors (Ireland) Act 1814
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1814 c. 68 |
| Year | 1814 |
(54 Geo. 3) C A P. LXVIII.
[17th June 1814]
'WHEREAS it is expedient that Excommunication, together with all Proceedings following thereupon, should 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 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 Proceedingsfollowing thereupon, shall in all cases, save those hereafter to be specified, be discontinued throughout that Part of the United Kingdom ofGreat Britain and Ireland called Ireland ; 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 ally 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 Courts 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 Writ de Contumace Capiendo , in the Form to this Act annexed, shall issue from the Courtof Chancery, directed to the same Persons to whom the Writsde 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, shall extend and be applied to the said Writ de Contumace Capiendo and the Proceedings following thereupon, as if the same were herein particularly repeated 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 Courts 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 Ecclesiastical Courts, not prevented from passing in certain cases, Excommunication.
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 Punishment by Imprisonment.
III. And be it further enacted, 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 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 Proceeding shall be had, and the Party being taken into Custody shall remain therein for the Term so directed, or until he shall be absolved by such Ecclesiastical Court.
IV G. 2. \(I.) c. 12.
'IV. And Whereas in the First Year of KingGeorge the Second, an Act was made and passed in that Part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called Ireland , intituled An Act for the more easy Recovery of Tithes, and other Ecclesiastical Dues of Small Value : which Act was at first temporary, but was by several subsequent Acts of Parliament in Ireland from time to time continued, and was at length made perpetual by an Actof Parliament made and passed inIreland , in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Years of the Reign of His present Majesty, whereby, amongst other things therein enacted, Two or more of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace are authorized and required to hear and determine Complaints concerning Tithes, Offerings, Ecclesiastical Dues or Compositions, substracted or withdrawn, not exceeding Forty Shillings: And Whereas it has become expedient to enlarge such Amount, and also to extend the said Actto all Tithes whatsoever, of a certain limited Amount;' Be it enacted, That such Justices of the Peace shall, from and after the passing of this Act, be authorized and required to hear and determine all Complaints concerning Tithes, Offerings, Ecclesiastical Dues or Compositions, substracted or withdrawn, where the same shall not exceed Ten Pounds in Amount from any One Person, in all such cases, and by all such means, and subject to all such Provisions and Remedies, by Appeal or otherwise, as contained in the said Act of KingGeorge the Second, concerning Tithes, Offerings, Ecclesiastical Dues or Compositions, not exceeding FortyShillings: Provided always nevertheless, that, from and after the passing of this Act, One Justice of the Peace shall be competent to receive the original Complaint, and to summon the Parties to appear...
To continue reading
Request your trial