New Parishes Measure, 1943
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | measure 1943 No. 1 |
| Year | 1943 |
New Parishes Measure, 1943
(6 & 7 Geo. 6.)
A MEASURE passed by the National Assembly of the Church of England
To consolidate with amendments the New Parishes Acts, 1843 to 1884, to repeal such of the provisions of the Church Building Acts, 1818 to 1884, as authorise the formation of new ecclesiastical districts or as are obsolete, and to re-enact with amendments other provisions of the last mentioned Acts, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[4th February 1943]
Part I.
New Parishes .
Constitution of New Parishes and Districts.
1 Power to constitute new parishes.
(1) The Ecclesiastical Commissioners (in this Measure referred to as ‘the Commissioners’), if satisfied that the spiritual interests of any area in which a consecrated church exists or is intended to be provided would be best served by constituting the area a new parish and that a suitable endowment thereof has been or will be provided, may with the consent of the bishop and subject to compliance with the provisions of this section prepare and submit to His Majesty in Council a scheme constituting the area a new parish as from such date as is hereinafter mentioned.
(2) The date as from which the area is to become a new parish shall be—
( a ) if in the area there exists at the time of the sealing of the scheme a consecrated church approved by the Commissioners as suitable to be the parish church, the date when the Order in Council confirming the scheme comes into operation;
( b ) if there is no such church, the date of the consecration of a church within the area approved by the Commissioners as suitable to be the parish church, or if the church was consecrated before such approval, the date of the approval;
and in the former case the scheme shall designate such existing church as the parish church, and in the latter case the scheme shall provide that until the consecration or approval of such a church the area shall be a separate district for spiritual purposes.
(3) The scheme shall define the area, which may consist of the whole or any part or parts of any one or more ecclesiastical districts or extra-parochial places, and the scheme shall have annexed thereto a map of the area, a copy whereof sealed by the Commissioners shall be filed in the registry of the diocese.
(4) The scheme shall declare the name which the new parish and, if a district is temporarily created, which the district is to bear, and may contain such other incidental and auxiliary provisions (including directions as to the diocese, archdeaconry and rural deanery to which the parish or district is to belong) as appear to the Commissioners necessary or proper.
(5) Before the scheme is settled, copies of a draft thereof in the form in which it is proposed to be settled shall be served on the incumbent, parochial church council and patron of the ecclesiastical district, or each of the incumbents, parochial church councils and patrons of the ecclesiastical districts if more than one, out of which the area in question is to be taken, and consideration shall be given to any objections to or observations on the proposals of the draft scheme which before the expiration of six weeks from the date of such service may be made to the Commissioners by any such incumbent, council or patron:
Provided that no alteration shall be made in the draft to meet any such objection or observation without the consent of the bishop.
2 Dissolution of district if church not provided.
(1) Where an area is by a scheme under section one of this Measure constituted a district but a church therefor approved by the Commissioners as suitable to be the parish church has not been provided and is not in the opinion of the Commissioners likely to be provided within a reasonable time, the Commissioners may, with the consent of the bishop and subject to compliance with the provisions of this section, prepare and submit to His Majesty in Council a scheme dissolving the district and providing for the incorporation of its area in the ecclesiastical district or districts out of which it was taken or in any other ecclesiastical district or districts.
(2) A scheme under this section shall provide for the disposal of any endowments provided for the district with due regard to the rights and interests of the persons by whom they were provided and may contain such other incidental and auxiliary provisions as appear to the Commissioners necessary or proper.
(3) Before a scheme under this section is settled, copies of a draft thereof in the form in which it is proposed to be settled shall be served on every incumbent, parochial church council and patron affected thereby, and consideration shall be given to any objections to or observations on the proposals of the draft scheme which before the expiration of six weeks from the date of such service may be made to the Commissioners by any such incumbent, council or patron:
Provided that no alteration shall be made in the draft to meet any such objection or observation without the consent of the bishop.
(4) If at the time of confirmation of the scheme any person is minister of the district, the scheme shall not come into operation until he has ceased to be such minister.
(5) The scheme shall have annexed thereto a map showing every alteration of boundaries proposed to be effected by the scheme, and a copy of the map sealed by the Commissioners shall be filed in the registry of the diocese.
3 Provisions applicable to district.
Where an area is by a scheme under section one of this Measure constituted a district until the date when a church has been consecrated or approved, the following provisions shall have effect during that interval:—
(1) A minister nominated by the patron of the district may be licensed thereto by the bishop and shall be styled ‘The minister of ’ according to the name of the district declared by the scheme:
(2) The minister shall have power to perform within the district all such offices, services and pastoral duties as may be specified in the bishop's licence, or any further licence of the bishop which may be issued on a building being licensed as hereinafter mentioned, independently of the incumbent of any ecclesiastical district any part of which is included in the area to which the scheme relates, and shall so far as may be authorised by the bishop's licence have the cure of souls in the district:
Provided that until the first minister is so licensed nothing in the scheme shall affect the pastoral supervision of the inhabitants of any part of any ecclesiastical district which is included in such area as aforesaid:
(3) The bishop may license any building in the district which he may consider proper for the purpose of the performance of divine service:
Provided that—
( a ) nothing in this Measure shall authorise the bishop to include in such licence the solemnization of marriages;
( b ) the fee for such a licence shall be one pound and no more, payable to the secretary of the bishop:
(4) The minister shall in all respects be subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop and archdeacon in whose diocese and archdeaconry the district is situated:
(5) The minister shall only be removable from his office for the like reasons and in the same manner as a perpetual curate is by law removable:
(6) The minister shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid with power to hold without licence in mortmain any property granted to him by way of endowment of the benefice:
(7) The constitution of the district shall not affect any right of publishing banns, solemnizing marriages or performing burials in any church, or of receiving any fees in respect thereof, or any right of marriage or burial in any church or burial ground, or any right to occupy any seat in any church being a right which would have existed had the district not been so constituted:
(8) When on the consecration or approval of a church in the district the district becomes a new parish, the licence of such building as aforesaid shall become void, and the minister of the district shall without any further process or form of law become the incumbent of the new parish, but nothing in such change of status or title shall affect his corporate capacity.
4 Provisions applicable to new parish.
On the area defined by the scheme becoming a new parish, whether immediately on the coming into operation of the Order in Council confirming the scheme or on the date of the consecration or approval by the Commissioners of a church in the area, the following provisions shall have effect:—
(1) The church designated by the scheme or the church so consecrated or approved (as the case may be) shall be the parish church, and it shall be lawful to publish banns, solemnize marriages and perform other ecclesiastical offices therein:
(2) The new parish shall be a perpetual curacy and a benefice with cure of souls to all intents and purposes, and shall be known as ‘The parish of ’ according to the name of the parish declared in the scheme, and the person (if any) who immediately before the church became the parish church was the incumbent thereof (otherwise than by virtue of his incumbency of an ecclesiastical district out of which the new parish was formed) or was the minister of the district shall become the first incumbent of the benefice and shall have power to hold without licence...
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