Incumbents Resignation Act 1871
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1871 c. 44 |
| Year | 1871 |
Incumbents Resignation Act, 1871
(34 & 35 Vict.) CHAP. 44.
An Act to enable Clergymen permanently incapacitated by illness to resign their Benefices with provision of Pensions.
[13th July 1871]
Be it 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:
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as ‘TheIncumbents Resignation Act, 1871.’
2 Definition of terms.
2. Except where otherwise controlled by the context, the following terms shall in this Act have the following meanings; (namely,)
The term ‘benefice’ shall comprehend all rectories with cure of souls, vicarages, new vicarages, perpetual curacies, donatives, endowed public chapels, parochial chapelries, and chapelries with or without districts annexed or belonging to them:
The term ‘bishop’ shall, with reference to any benefice, mean the bishop or archbishop for the time being within whose diocese such benefice is locally situate, and during the vacancy of any episcopal see the term ‘bishop’ shall mean the archbishop of the province in which such see is comprehended:
The term ‘patron’ shall, with reference to any benefice, mean the person or persons or corporation who, in case such benefice were vacant, would be entitled to present thereto; but if the right to present to such benefice shall be vested in different persons or corporations, whether jointly or by way of alternate presentations, the term patron shall (unless the context requires otherwise) comprehend both or all such different persons or corporations in whom such right of joint or alternate presentations shall for the time being be vested; and as regards the patrons referred to in sections 126, 127, and 128 of the Act first and second Vict., chapter one hundred and six, the actions of or towards such patrons required by this Act shall be performed in the manner stated in such sections 126, 127, and 128, as if the said sections were here repeated and made applicable to the provisions of this Act.
3 Limitation of Act.
3. The provisions of this Act shall apply only to those parts of Her Majesty's dominions called England and Wales and the Channel Islands.
4 Exemption from penalties by 31 Eliz. c. 6., 12 Anne, st. 2. c. 12., &c.
4. The sum assigned as a pension to a retiring incumbent under this Act shall not be deemed a pension, sum of money, or benefit within the meaning of the thirty-first Elizabeth, chapter six, or the twelfth Anne, statute two, chapter twelve, or any other Act.
5 How the provisions of the Act are to be put into exercise.
5. On a representation being made to the bishop in the form contained in Schedule A. to this Act, by the incumbent of any benefice, provided he has been the incumbent of such benefice for seven years continuously, that he desires, on the ground that he is incapacitated by permanent mental or bodily infirmity from the due performance of his duties, to retire from his benefice under the provisions of this Act, in that case it shall be lawful for the bishop, if he see fit, to cause a commission to be issued under his hand and seal, addressed to five persons, to be nominated as herein-after mentioned, authorising and requiring them to inquire into and report to him upon the truth of the ground alleged, and upon the expediency of the resignation of the said incumbent; and it shall be lawful for such Commissionersto inquire into and report upon all such matters in anywise affecting such resignation, or connected therewith, as they may deem necessary; and the Commissioners shall make their return to the commission within three months from the issuing of the commission, or within such enlarged time as the bishop shall, by writing under his hand and seal, from time to time direct.
6 Who are to be Commissioners.
6. One of the five Commissioners shall be the archdeacon of an archdeaconry or the rural dean of a rural deanery of the diocese wherein the benefice is situate, as the bishop may determine; one other of the Commissioners shall be an incumbent of the same diocese, nominated by the incumbent wishing to retire; one other of the Commissioners shall be an incumbent of the same diocese, nominated by the bishop; one other of the Commissioners shall be a magistrate being in the commission of the peace for the county wherein the benefice is situate, and a member of the Established Church of England, nominated by the person who has presided as chairman of the last preceding quarter sessions for the county or division of the county, or, if there be no such person, then by the lord lieutenant of the county; and the remaining Commissioner shall be nominated by the patron, or, in the case of alternate patronage, jointly by both or all of the patrons, or in case of difference by the patron entitled to the next presentation.
7 Notice of intention to issue commission.
7. Notice of the intention to issue such commission shall be delivered or sent by the bishop to the incumbent, patron, chairman of quarter sessions, or lord lieutenant of the county, as the case may be, and the churchwardens of any such benefice respectively; and such commission shall not issue until the expiration of one...
To continue reading
Request your trial