Contents

Introduction

The following description of the responsibilities of Churchwardens has been condensed from “The Parochial Lawyer” by James Shaw, published in 1835.

Mr Shaw’s spellings have been retained.

1. THE NATURE OF THE OFFICE.

CHURCHWARDENS, anciently styled church reeves, or guardians of the church, are:-

officers instituted to superintend the ceremonies of public worship,
to keep in repair and protect the edifice of the church, together with the various utensils, goods, and ornaments appertaining thereto;
to form, propose, and carry into effect parochial regulations;
to suppress profaneness and immorality; and
to become, as occasion may require, the legal representatives of the parish at large.

This office, which is of great antiquity, having its origin in the common law, was originally confined to such matters only as concerned the church, considered materially as an edifice, building, or place of public worship, and to the care of the ecclesiastical property of the parish, over which they exercise a discretionary power for specific purposes. The duty of enquiring into and suppressing all profaneness and immorality within the precincts of the parish was originally entrusted to two persons, annually chosen by the parishioners, as assistants to the churchwardens, who, from their power of inquiring into disorders and offences detrimental to the interests of morality and religion, and of presenting to the next provincial council, or episcopal synod, such offenders, whether consisting of the clergy or the people, as were presentable by the ecclesiastical laws of the land, were called “questmen,” or “synodmen,” which last appellation has been converted, by vulgar use and misapprehension, into the term of “sidesmen.” But great part of the duty of those ancillary officers, who are now almost unknown in church-government, has devolved on the churchwardens; the sphere of whose duty has, since the establishment of overseers of the poor, been considerably enlarged, and is also diverted into various channels by various acts of parliament passed from time to time. Where the office of sidesman still exists, as it does in some parishes, the right of election rests in the minister and parishioners, in the same manner as that of churchwarden, unless there is a special custom to the contrary. And their duty is to assist churchwardens in their inquiries and presentments.

II. THE ELECTION OF CHURCHWARDENS.

1. WHO ARE LIABLE TO SERVE THE OFFICE, AND WHO ARE EXEMPT FROM SERVING IT.

It may be said, generally and broadly, that all persons of good character, and against whom no legal objection or disqualification exists, are liable to be elected to the office, and obliged to discharge its duties and powers in a legal and an efficient manner. And as parishioners may, at their peril, choose and trust whom they think fit, no objection can be made to a person chosen by them, on account of his not having sufficient substance to support the office with respectability, or to indemnify the parish for any misapplication of the parish funds.

And no objection lies against any person, except those professing the Jewish and Roman Catholic religions, on account of any particular faith or religious belief dissenting from the Church of England as established by law; but persons professing such particular faith and religious tenets are eligible to all parish-offices on conforming to the provisions and taking the oaths prescribed by the respective statutes relative to their qualification. And this privilege, except as to offices belonging to the Church of England, extends to Roman Catholics, provided they take and subscribe a defined oath.

Those exempt

But, by the law of the land, there are various grounds on which particular persons are exempt from serving this office, unless they are willing to bear the same, viz:-

1. All peers of the realm, by reason of their dignity.

2. All persons in holy orders, by reason of their order.

3. All members of parliament, and persons in the King’s service in ordinary, by reason of their privilege.

4. All practising barristers and attorneys, and all clerks of the Courts of Chancery, King’s Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, by reason of their attendance in the said courts every term. But it seems that this exemption does not extend to those offices which may be exercised by deputy, as recorder, or the like.

5. Physicians, who are president, fellows, or commons of the Royal College of Physicians, practising in London and its suburbs; and surgeons, free of the Corporation of Surgeons, because of their obligation to attend the sick. And, for the same reason, and according to a liberal interpretation of the statutes, as well as by the ancient custom of the realm, it seems that physicians and surgeons in general are, while in practice, exempt from serving ward offices in all places which have sufficient persons besides to execute such offices.

6. Apothecaries practising within the City of London and seven miles thereof, and free of the Company of Apothecaries; and all other apothecaries practising in any other part of the realm, who have been regularly apprenticed.

7. All teachers and preachers of dissenting congregations, provided they have qualified themselves according to the said statute, by taking the oaths, making and subscribing the declaration, and subscribing the Articles of the Church of England required by the statute. And the privilege is not destroyed, though they carry on secular business or employment at the same time.. And the seventh section of the act extends a like exemption from all parochial offices to all persons dissenting from the Established Church, and scrupling to take the necessary oaths, provided they furnish a sufficient deputy, and that such deputy be approved of by the ordinary¹, and is a parishioner of the parish. The same relief is extended to Roman Catholics.

8. All commissioners, assistant commissioners, or officers of customs, or persons or clerks employed in the collection or management of the revenue of the customs, while so acting or employed.

9. All persons who prosecuted any felon to conviction, were excused from this as well as from all other parochial or ward offices in the parish or ward where the felony was committed; but this exemption has subsequently been abolished.

10. All serjeants, corporals, drummers, and private men in the militia, or in the local militia, personally serving in such force, are exempt from the time of their enrolment until their discharge. And all officers in the army, navy, and marines, on full pay, are entitled to a like exemption.

11. Justices of the peace; aldermen of London; and magistrates of all incorporations, by reason of their magisterial character, for the offices are incompatible, the accounts of the overseer being subject to the control of the justice, and the justice being incapable of joining in making an order of removal from the parish of which he is churchwarden or overseer; besides the appointment of persons of that description to the office would have the effect of making them judges of their own acts, contrary to the known principle of the common law.

12. All outsetters or outliers, that is, persons living out of the parish, although they occupy lands within the parish, by reason that they cannot take notice of absences from the church, or disorders in it, for the due presenting of them.

13. And no alehouse-keeper can be appointed a constable, it seems, as a consequence, that all such persons ought not to serve the office of churchwarden.

14. Visiters [sic] and deputy-visiters of workhouses of united parishes or townships in incorporated districts; all revenue-officers; and coal-meters are also exempted.

So various descriptions of persons are also disqualified, by policy as well as express provision, from holding the office of churchwarden:-

aliens,
Roman Catholics,
Jews,
minors, and
persons convicted of felony.
The matriculated servants of Oxford and Cambridge appear also to be exempt.

And, by virtue of his prerogative, the King may, by writ of privilege, grant an exemption from serving this and all other offices, provided the exemption be not extended so far as to prevent the existence of the offices in any particular place, and that the grant of the exemption is absolutely necessary for the public service.

2. THE TIME AND MODE OF ELECTION; AND WHO ARE ENABLED TO ELECT.

Time of Election.

By the Canon Law, churchwardens are chosen every year, in Easter week, on the day which the minister shall appoint, and give public notice of in the church on the Sunday preceding, unless where there is an immemorial custom for another day.

By custom, the appointment is generally made on Easter Tuesday. The election generally takes place in the church; but it may be proper, to observe that it is not a very decorous act that parish politics and squabbles, with their accompanying animosities and “war of words,” should take place under the roof of that edifice which is designed as the sacred tabernacle to promote “peace and goodwill among men.”

Mode of Election.

The customary mode of choosing churchwardens is, for those in office to return two persons to succeed them; but the legal and regular mode of proceeding in that choice is by show of hands, or poll; and it seems that any other mode of election, contrived for the purpose of concealing for which candidate the electors vote, is illegal. If, after a show of hands, a poll is demanded, the voting by the previous show of hands is so completely nullified that an election, on such show, will not be valid, though the candidate returned by poll be found ineligible.

The time during which the poll for the election of these officers must be kept open depends on custom; but where there is no custom to determine the election at a certain time, then a resolution, by a majority of the electors, that it shall conclude at a given time, reasonable with respect to the numbers that may have to poll, and the distances they may have to come, and of sufficient notoriety, the voters must tender their votes within such time.

Who enabled to Elect.

Generally, by the Canons of the Church, churchwardens are chosen by the joint consent of the minister and the parishioners; but, if they cannot agree, the parishioners may choose one, and the minister the other; and a curate may stand in the place of a minister for this purpose.

In some places the lord of the manor has the right of appointment.

Where the minister and parishioners and other persons, entitled to a joint choice, cannot agree therein, the ordinary of the diocese may admit the presentee of whichever party he thinks proper.

Where the parson or vicar, who has, by custom, a right to choose one churchwarden, is under sentence of deprivation, the right of choosing both churchwardens devolves on the parishioners. But, in order to entitle the parishioners to elect both churchwardens, in the absence of such incapacity on the part of the minister, they must show a custom or common right for the purpose; otherwise the curate has a joint choice.

In the election of churchwardens by the parishioners, the majority of those who meet at the vestry², in pursuance of a written notice given for that purpose, shall bind the rest of the parish. And, even though no written notice of the election should have been given, yet, if it has been held at a known place and time, the election will be valid.

3. SWEARING INTO OFFICE.

The churchwarden or churchwardens having been duly elected, the first thing required of him or them is to take an oath of office before he or they can legally enter on the discharge of his or their official duties.

For this purpose, they must appear at the next visitation, which shall, after their election, be held by the bishop, or the archdeacon, or other ordinary, within whose jurisdiction the parish shall be situate. And, until they are thus sworn, they can do no legal act as churchwardens, nor have they any authority to make or levy any rate, or take any method to reimburse themselves for any money which they may have laid out on account of the church, or for any debt which they may have contracted on the same account; but all acts which they may do of this nature while they are unsworn, are all to their own wrong; and if the parish should refuse to pay or indemnify them for such acts, they have no remedy in law to enforce the payment or indemnification.

And the case is the same should a churchwarden continue in office, on a re-election, without being sworn afresh; for the Canon Law positively forbids any churchwarden to continue in his office above one whole year, except chosen again in like manner as he originally was. The old churchwardens, however, always continue, by virtue of the 188th Canon, in office till their chosen successors are sworn.

As the performance of the duty of the ecclesiastical judge, or spiritual court, in the swearing of churchwardens is merely ministerial, the fact and propriety of the appointment cannot be examined or controlled by such ecclesiastical judge or spiritual court on the ground of its validity, nor have they any power to interfere with or control the election of these officers, or refuse to administer the oath on the ground of poverty, inability, or any other cause; for the parishioners, or other persons in whom the appointment is vested, may appoint whom they think fit; they being the sole judges of what description of persons they think proper to choose as churchwardens. The legality of the votes, and the validity of choosing these officers, is to be decided, like all other customs of the realm, by the courts of common law, and not by the spiritual court.

Form of Oath.

Churchwarden

The churchwarden’s oath of office is administered by the archdeacon or proper ordinary of the diocese, and is in the form following:-

“You shall swear truly and faithfully to execute the office of churchwarden within your parish; and, according to the best of your skill and knowledge, present such things and persons as to your knowledge are presentable by the laws ecclesiastical of this realm. So help you God, and the contents of this book.”

This oath, binds them to be diligent and faithful, not only in making presentments in the manner above directed, but also:-

in the custody and care of the church-goods committed to their charge,
in the well repairing of the church, churchyard, and utensils,
in the well-husbanding of the parish-money levied for this purpose, and the employing of it to the best advantage for the end intended, and
in giving a just and faithful account of all at last.

Sidesmen

The sidesman’s (where such an officer is still in use) oath of office is:-

“You shall swear that you will be assistant to the churchwardens in the execution of their office, so far as by law you are bound. So help you God.”

And if a person properly elected to the office of churchwarden, or chapelwarden, refuses to take the oath in the above general form, he may be excommunicated.

No fee is demandable of churchwardens for the administration of such oath, or for taking their presentments.

The proper tribunal, and the mode of application to compel those persons who ought to choose churchwardens, or, when they are chosen, to admit and swear them in, is to apply, on motion, to the Court of King’s Bench for a writ of mandamus, commanding the parties to do so. And where two sets of churchwardens are returned, as in the case of contested elections, the like application is to be made against the commissary or ordinary; if he admits and swears in churchwardens improperly, he may be required, by an information, in the nature of a quo warranto, to certify to the Court of King’s Bench; on which the right in each case will be tried in action in that court.

III. THE DUTIES, GENERAL INTEREST, AND POWERS OF CHURCHWARDENS.

1. THEIR DUTIES.

The duties of churchwardens are extensive and various; but, generally speaking, they may be considered twofold:

to present whatever is presentable by the ecclesiastical laws of the realm; and,
to keep in repair the edifice of the church and the various articles appertaining to it.

These duties are imposed on them either by the canon or statute law, from the nature of their office: by the former, they are considered as the guardians of the church and of the moral character and public decency of their respective parishes; by the latter, as officers of the parish.

For the better information of the various particulars of which churchwardens have cognizance, and are bound to present, “Articles” (for the most part founded on the Book of Canons, made in the year 1603, and the Rubrics of the Common Prayer) are delivered to them for their direction, according to which they are to make their presentments, and in which is contained the form of oath to be taken prior to the presentment, to the intent that the party may peruse the same, and have a sufficient precedent whereon to frame his presentments, both advisedly and truly.

By virtue of these “Articles,” they are obliged, at the visitations of the ordinary, to make their presentments according to the said “Articles,” of all things presentable by the ecclesiastical law, which relate to the church, to the minister, and to the parishioners; and they may, if they think fit, present oftener as there may be occasion. (The visitation of the bishop is every three years, that of the archdeacon yearly.) They are bound to make these presentments, not only from their own knowledge, and by the advice of the minister and parishioners, but, also, with due circumspection, from common fame; so that if there be a common fame within their parish, that any one

lives incontinently,
is a common swearer, tippler, or gets drunk, or
in any other particulars contained in these “Articles” is a breaker of the laws of the church,

the churchwardens are bound to present him at the next visitation.

And if they omit or refuse to present any of the particulars contained in the “Articles”, they may be proceeded against in the Ecclesiastical Court as wilful breakers of their oath, and in the interim be barred the communion by the minister of the parish. If the churchwardens refuse or neglect to make the necessary presentments, the minister may himself present. But his presentments must be on oath.

They are also bound to present

all such persons as do not come to the parish church, or do not frequent some other assembly for religious worship tolerated by the Act of Toleration.
And they are required to observe who are absent from church, but also
to see and take care that all persons resorting thereto do, in time of divine service and sermon,
- behave themselves orderly,
- soberly, and
- reverently,
- kneeling at the prayers,
- standing at the belief, and
- sitting or standing quietly and attentively at the reading of the scriptures and the preaching of God’s word.
That none walk, talk, or make any noise in the church to disturb the service which is there performing.
That none sit there with their hats on (except they have some infirmity, and then with a cap); or in any other indecent or irreverent manner.
That none contend or quarrel about place, or on any other occasion make broil or brawling there.
That no idle person abides in the church-porch, or churchyard, during divine service or sermon, but that he or she either comes in or departs.
That no excommunicated person come into the church.
Or any other disturbance or indecent behaviour be there permitted; and
that none depart out of the church, unless on a necessary occasion, till the service and sermon be ended.
If boys behave themselves disorderly, or make any disturbance, the churchwardens may chastise them; and
if any person irreverently keeps his hat on, they may take off the same. And they may, moreover, present the offenders at the next visitation.
So, also, by the common law, they may justify the removal of tumultuous persons from the churchyard, to prevent them from disturbing the congregation while the minister is performing the rites of burial.
They are also bound to prevent strange ministers from preaching in the church, unless they are satisfied, by production of their license, that they are in holy orders, and licensed to preach by the bishop of the diocese; and they are to see that every such preacher registers and subscribes his name in a book, to be kept for that purpose, with the day when he preached, and the bishop’s name who granted the license.
As the pulpit is exclusively the right of the parson of the parish, the churchwardens cannot allow any person, though appointed by the bishop, sent of the parson. under the care to preach therein, without the consent of the parson.
And as the church is under the care of the churchwardens, they may refuse to open it at the instance of any person, except the parson, or some one acting under his authority.
If they shut the door against the incumbent, they are punishable in the Spiritual Court.

Churchwardens are also to see:-

that curates are duly licensed and approved of by the bishop for that office.
That the rector, vicar, or curate is not guilty of any irregularity in the performance of divine service, by wilfully altering or omitting any part thereof, or by introducing things therein not sanctioned by law.
That morning and evening prayers are duly and devoutly read on all Sundays: and on all the holy days, morning prayers at least, where a congregation can be collected for the same.
That a sermon is preached at least once every Sunday, and
catechising of youth be performed the other part of the day.
That the sick are duly visited,
the dead buried,
recusants conferred with,
the Sacraments of the Lord’s Supper administered at least thrice every year, and
the Sacrament of baptism as often as there shall be occasion for the same.
That the minister is, according to law, constantly resident in the parish for his due attendance on these duties.
That he does not marry clandestinely; is not guilty of irregular and incontinent living, by frequenting taverns and alehouses, or associating with profligate and loose women, or other excess or irregularity calculated to bring disgrace on his sacred office and to the scandal of all honest and religious people: for the violation of all which particulars they must certify or present to the bishop or his officers.

But as the office of churchwarden is confined to observation and complaint, they cannot interfere with the administration of divine service, or control any irregularity introduced into it by the minister; for this is the immediate province of the minister, subject to the cognizance and discretion of the ordinary.

For the right of directing the service belongs to the minister, e.g.

when the organ shall or shall not play,
when the children shall or shall not chant, and the like.

The only interference to which the churchwardens are entitled for any improper irregularity introduced into the service by the minister, is their right of complaint to the bishop or other ordinary.

If any one, by word or deed, disturbs or abuses any minister in any church or chapel, while in the performance of any of the duties of his ministry, the churchwardens must see that the law is executed on the offender, and collect and levy the penalties.

In “all cases they should repress all indecent interruption of the service and they desert their duty if they do not. And if a case could be imagined, in which even a preacher himself was guilty of any act grossly offensive, even from natural infirmity or from disorderly habits, I will not say that the churchwardens and even private persons might not interpose to preserve the decorum of worship; but that is a case of instant and overbearing necessity that supersedes all ordinary rules. In cases which fall short of such a singular pressure, and can wait the remedy of a proper legal complaint, that is the only mode to be pursued by a churchwarden, if private and decent application to the minister himself shall have failed in preventing what he deems the repetition of an irregularity. At the same time, it is at his own peril if he makes a public complaint, or even a private complaint, in an offensive manner, of that which is no irregularity at all, and is, in truth, nothing more than a misinterpretation of his own.”

The office of churchwarden is an office of observation and complaint, but not of control with respect to divine worship.

And for the due observance of the Lord’s day, churchwardens are to summon, before a magistrate, all persons following any worldly calling, and collect the legal forfeitures, or levy the same by distress and sale of their goods.

And on the said day, they ought frequently to visit all alehouses, taverns, etc. in the time of divine service, and if they find any persons tippling therein, they should proceed against the publicans, and apply the forfeitures to the relief of the poor of the place where the offences are committed. And in all such cases they are, moreover, at the next visitation, to present the offenders. It is part also of churchwardens’ duties, though now almost obsolete in practice, to see that women be churched, that persons do not marry within the prohibited degrees, or without banns or license, etc.

It is the duty of churchwardens to take care that all things are fit and ready for the minister duly to perform divine service, to administer the sacrament, and to perform such other religious ceremonies as are enjoined by the laws of the realm. For which purpose, they are, at the charge of the parish, to provide the Book of Common Prayer, and also a Bible of the largest volume, and a Book of the Homilies.

They are also to provide a font of stone in every church and chapel where baptism is administered.

They are to provide decent and convenient tables for the celebrating the holy communion, and to keep the same in repair, and in time of divine service to cover them with a carpet of silk or other decent stuff, and with a fair linen cloth at the time of ministration

They are also to set up the Ten Commandments at the east end of every church and chapel.

Against the time of every communion, they are, at the charge of the parish, and with the advice and direction of the minister, to provide a sufficient quantity of fine white bread and good and wholesome wine, for the number of the communicants who shall, from time to time, receive that holy office: which wine must be brought to the communion-table in a clean, sweet, standing pot, or stoop of pewter, if not of purer metal.

They are, also, at the expense of the parish, to provide a comely and decent pulpit.

And, they are to observe those who absent themselves from the administration of the holy communion, and to present them at the next visitation. But this last-mentioned particular of their duty has become as dormant as that of presenting the absentees from church.

With a view to the proper distribution of alms, churchwardens are to provide a strong chest, with three keys, of which one is to remain in the custody of the minister, and the two others in that of the churchwardens for the time being. And the keepers of the keys shall, yearly, quarterly, or oftener, as need requireth, take the alms or devotions out of such chest, and distribute the same in the presence of six or more of the chief persons of the parish, to be truly and faithfully delivered to their most poor and needy neighbours.

As the bells are of the appurtenances of the church, they are under the churchwardens’ care, and therefore it belongs to them to govern and regulate their use; and they are to take especial care that they are not rung on superstitious or factious occasions, or at unreasonable times, or on any other times or occasions (except such only for which their ordinary use is ordained) but which shall be allowed by the minister and themselves.
The custody of the keys of the belfry belongs to the churchwardens.

And for the registering and preserving an accurate account of all births, baptisms, and burials within the county, in all parishes or chapelries in England, the churchwardens and chapelwardens shall cause to be provided, by the King’s printer, a book of parchment, or of good and durable paper, at the charge of the parish, wherein shall be written or entered by the rector, vicar, curate, or officiating minister, the day and year of every christening, wedding, and burial; and every such entry shall be numbered progressively from the beginning to the end of each book; the first entry to be distinguished by No. 1; and every such entry shall be divided from the entry next following by a printed line, according to the forms contained in the schedules (A. B. C.) to this act annexed; and every page of such book shall be numbered with progressive numbers, the first page being marked with the No. 1 in the middle of the upper part of such page, and every subsequent page being marked in like manner with progressive numbers, from No. 1 to the end of the book.

And, they are to provide and keep in repair, at the expence of the parish or chapelry, a dry and well painted iron chest, for the safe and secure keeping of such register-books; and such chest is to be kept locked in some secure place within the residence of the rector, vicar, or curate, or other officiating minister, (if resident in the parish,) or in the parish church or chapel.

They are to make fair copies (if duly appointed so to do by the rector, &c.) of all the entries in the register-book, annually at the expiration of two months after every 31st of December, and to have the same verified and signed by the rector, &c, which verification must be attested by the churchwardens or chapelwardens, or by one of them. They are to submit the same, being signed by them or one of them, by post, to the registrar of the diocese within which the church is situated, on or before the 1st of June in every year.

If the rector, etc. neglect or refuse to verify and sign the copies of such register-books within the time required for transmitting the same, the churchwardens or chapelwardens are to certify the default or refusal to the registrar of the diocese.

Churchwardens or chapelwardens are to endorse and sign all letters containing copies of parish registers transmitted to the respective registrars.

If the minister, or churchwardens or chapelwardens, shall be negligent in the performance of any thing herein contained, the bishop or his chancellor may convent them, and proceed against them as contemners of these provisions.

Church Repairs.

As soon as churchwardens are sworn, they are then in the full power of their office.
The first act which they are required to perform is to survey the church, churchyard, and utensils, and having taken an account of what repairs they want, and estimated, as near as they can, the charges which the said repairs may amount to, they are to levy an equal rate on the parishioners for the defraying of it.

For this purpose they may make the ordinary reparations of the fabric of the church, as well as of its ornaments, without obtaining the sanction of the parishioners; for this duty is incumbent on them by virtue of their office, and they are punishable if they neglect it.

But though it is advisable, for the content and satisfaction of the parish, that churchwardens should not enter on any great and expensive repairs without first taking the advice of the parishioners, yet they are not bound to procure the advice or consent of either the minister, parishioners, or ordinary, as to the repairing, amending, or renewing any thing which belongs either to the fabric of the church or the churchyard, or the utensils of the church, but are themselves sole judges of what is needful to be done therein, as being invested with the authority of the ordinary and the whole trust of the parish for that purpose on their first entering into their office. This should serve as a caution to parishes against choosing indiscreet persons to this important trust; for, should such persons choose to enter on any very expensive reparations and amendments, they have full authority to do so, and the expenses honestly and bona fide incurred, must be discharged by the parish, or if such expenses have been paid by the churchwardens out of their own pockets, the money expended by them must be repaid to them by the parish, however improvidently it may have been laid out.

But if churchwardens make any new additions either to the fabric of the church, the churchyard, or the church utensils, without the express consent of the major part of the parishioners duly convened, the parishioners may refuse to allow the disbursements made for the same, and the rates made for such purposes by the churchwardens are null and void.

If the additions are to be made in the interior of the church, (as additional seats, a new gallery, or an organ,) the licence or consent of the ordinary is necessary, as well as the consent of the parish, before such additions can be legally made; and if such previous consent of the parishioners and licence of the ordinary have not been obtained, the churchwardens cannot recover the respective portions of the rate from any parishioners who may refuse to pay the same, although the major part of the parish was consenting to the new erection. But if the additions to be made are not to be in the interior of the church, and are not expressly added thereto for any religious use, but only for the benefit, convenience, or curiosity of the parishioners, as a clock, a dial, chimes, a supernumerary bell, &c. the license of the ordinary is not requisite; it will be sufficient if the major part of the parish be consenting thereto.

Neither is it always necessary that application should be made to the ordinary in the case of every trifling alteration that may be made in the church, as of a pew or sitting, provided that no private rights are infringed on, nor the parishioners incommoded, nor the church disfigured; but the churchwardens may, in such cases, legally adopt the alteration, without applying to the bishop for his consent and permission.

If the addition or alteration is to be made in the chancel, the consent of the incumbent is requisite thereto, as well as that of the parishioners and the ordinary. For, though churchwardens are not charged with the repair of the chancel, they are charged with the supervising thereof, to see that it be not permitted to dilapidate or fall into decay, and, in case it is out of repair, to present the same. The resolution of the vestry, to be entered in the vestry books, may be in the form following:-

At a public vestry of this parish, holden this day in pursuance of public notice for that purpose given, it was resolved that it will be proper to [here describe the specific erections or alterations, and the churchwardens are desired to cause the same to be immediately done.

But though churchwardens are appointed for the repair of the church, their power or authority does not extend to deface or demolish any thing in it; and if there should be any superstitious pictures or paintings in the windows, or on the walls, or elsewhere, which may give just cause of offence, or any thing else, which may either be a hindrance to the due performance of any of the divine offices, or be inconvenient to the parishioners in their attendance on them, the license of the ordinary must be first had, before they can be legally removed.

Monuments, coats of arms, painted in the windows or elsewhere, pennons, hatchments, etc put up in the church for the memory of deceased persons buried there, if regularly set up with the consent of the minister, the pulling of them down again, either by the churchwardens, minister, or ordinary, will subject the intermeddler to an action at the suit of the heir.

But if any of the said other particulars be an incumbrance or any annoyance to the church, or in any way a hindrance or inconvenience to either the minister in performing any of the divine offices, or the parishioners in partaking of them, in this case the ordinary hath power to give his order for their removal, and churchwardens will be justified in executing it. Churchwardens are, when applied to for leave to repair vaults and monuments, bound, as far as their authority extends, to grant such leave, or they will incur the censure of the ecclesiastical court.

If any of the utensils of the church, or any part of its fabric, or any necessary things appurtenant or belonging thereto, or which in their nature are necessary to every church, have, by time or accident, or any other cause whatever, been lost or destroyed, or have fallen into decay and perished, it is the duty of churchwardens to replace and restore the same; and this they are empowered to do without the consent or advice of the parishioners, minister, or ordinary, however long they may have been in such disuse or decay. But where things appurtenant or belonging to the church, or any part of its fabric, which are merely ornamental, have decayed or perished, they cannot be replaced or restored by churchwardens without the previous consent of the parishioners, minister, and ordinary having been obtained for that purpose.

And the duty of churchwardens extends not only to take care that the body of the church be kept in good order and repair and well and sufficiently aired, and to present the dilapidations of the same, and of the parsonage-house; but they are also to take care that the churchyard be well and sufficiently repaired and maintained with walls, rails, or pales, and that it be kept in decent and fitting manner; that it be cleared of all rubbish, muck, thorns, briars, shrubs, and every thing else that may annoy the parishioners when they come into it, or be any hindrance to them in the burying of their dead. That no sinks or gutters be made through it, or anything else be there permitted which may be unbecoming the place; and that the said churchyard be well fenced. A person who has land adjoining to a churchyard, may, by custom, be bound to keep the fences of the churchyard in repair.

They are also to take care that the gates, stiles, and doors leading into the churchyard be kept in due repair and condition, as also the ways or paths leading through it to the church, and that they be broad enough not only for the passage of single persons, but also for the conveyance of a corpse.

As churchwardens are charged with the repairs and custody of the church, so they are also to take the custody and charge of the church-goods, (in respect of which they are a corporation, and capable of of suing and being sued); and they are to repair, amend, and renew them, as often as they shall find them to be impaired or decayed; and in order to charge the parish for them, they need not have its consent nor that of the ordinary.

They are also to take care that the church, with all its chapels, aisles, and parts, be wholly kept for those sacred uses to which they are consecrated; and that no interludes, plays, feasts, banquets, suppers, church-ales, drinkings, musters, markets, fairs, temporal courts, or leets, lay-juries, or any other profane usage, be permitted or allowed therein, or in the churchyard belonging thereto.

Churchwardens should, on no occasion, except for immediate relief of the poor, in their capacity of overseers, when there is no rate, or during an appeal, advance their own money for parochial purposes; but they should take care that such purposes should be provided for by a previous or prospective rate, as a rate cannot legally be imposed subsequently to the application of the money to reimburse themselves.

When churchwardens have any thing to propose to the parishioners, the legal method is, with the consent of the minister, to call a meeting of the parish, which is to be done, as before stated, on the Sunday before, in the parish church, immediately after common prayer, by public notice or proclamation, in the form following:-

“The inhabitants and renters of this parish are desired to take notice that a public vestry will be held on ….. next, the instant, at ….., at ….. o’clock in the afternoon of that day, in order to take into consideration the propriety of erecting an additional gallery in the parish church;”

either in the church after divine service is ended, or else at the church door, as the parishioners come out from the same. And that none may be mistaken as to the time appointed for the said meeting, it is usual, and also proper, that, for half an hour before it begins, one of the church bells be tolled, to give the parishioners notice for their assembling together. And to make the consent of the meeting (the major part of which is requisite to render the act legal) more authentic, it is advisable, that every such parish act be entered in the parish book of accounts in the form following:-

“At a public vestry of this parish, holden this day in pursuance of public notice for that purpose given, it is resolved, that it will be proper to erect a new gallery on the south side of the parish church, and the churchwardens are desired to see the same to be immediately done.”

“The churchwardens shall take care and provide that the churches shall be well and sufficiently repaired, and so, from time to time, kept and maintained; that the windows be well glazed; and that the floors be kept paved, plain and even, all things there in such an orderly and decent sort [without dust, or any thing that may be either noisesome, or unseemly,³] as best becometh the house of God, and is prescribed in a Homily to that effect.”
But it is greatly to be lamented, that this excellent rule, as well as those for the preservation of churchyards from slovenly and indecent appearances, as well as from the unpardonable custom of turning animals in to grass on the herbage, is so often violated, that the appearance and use of either is any thing else than “as best becometh the house of God.”

Church Rate.

Church rates must be made with the consent of the major part of the parish; and, therefore, when churchwardens purpose to make any church rate, they must give public notice in the church of their intention to make the same, and require the attendance of the parishioners, in vestry, in order to make and determine it, in conjunction with them.

No vestry can be legally held until public notice shall have been first given of the holding of the same, and of the special purpose thereof, three days at least before the day appointed for holding such vestry, by publication of such notice in the parish church or chapel on some Sunday, during or immediately after divine service, and by affixing the same, fairly written or printed, on the principal door of such church or chapel. [And the proposal that] one of the church bells be tolled for half an hour before the meeting begins, in order to give the parishioners notice for their assembling together, is not only a proper and decorous act on the behalf of parish officers, but one which tends to conciliate the esteem and confidence of their fellow parishioners, and to exonerate them from wishing to do things in the dark and take others by surprise.

And then whatever rate is made by the consent of the major part of those who assemble at the said meeting, or by the churchwardens alone, (if, on the calling of such meeting, none else appear at it, or if those who are present refuse to make any rate) will be interpreted as made with the content of the whole parish, and will be legal and binding on the same, and when it is confirmed by the archdeacon or other ordinary, authorized for the purpose, it may (if amounting to above £10) be levied by due process of law in the ecclesiastical courts on all such as refuse to pay the same; who, if they feel themselves aggrieved by the inequality of the assessments, may appeal to the same court.

The rate must be assessed upon the tenant, and not on the landlord; and it ought to be assessed on every occupier of land within the parish, though he may reside out of the parish.

Arrears of church-rates above £10 must be recovered in the ecclesiastical court; but for the more easily and speedily recovering of church-rates, or chapel-rates, not exceeding £10, it is enacted that if any one duly rated to a church-rate or chapel-rate, the validity whereof has not been questioned in any ecclesiastical court, shall refuse or neglect to pay the sum at which he is rated, on complaint of the churchwarden or chapelwarden, who ought to receive and collect the same, he may be summoned before a justice of the peace, and, in default of payment, such justice may issue a warrant for levying the same, as also all costs and charges, as well as those of the distress, by distress and sale of the offender’s goods.

And if any Quaker refuse to pay or compound for any church-rates, churchwardens may, on complaint to a justice of the peace, obtain a warrant for levying the same by distress, provided the sum to be levied does not exceed £10.

And the goods and chattels of any person neglecting or refusing to pay any church-rates for the space of seven days after the same shall have been demanded, may be distrained, not only within the district, parish, &c. where the church or chapel is situated, but also within any other district, parish, &c. in the same county, riding, division, or jurisdiction; and if sufficient distress cannot be found thereon, on oath made thereof before one or more justices of the peace for any other county, riding, &c. in which any of the goods or chattels of such person shall be found, they may be distrained and sold in the same manner as if they had been found within the district, parish, &c. for which the rate was made.

But appeals may be respectively made, respecting such assessments either to the ecclesiastical courts or to the next quarter sessions of the peace for the county, according as the rate exceeds or is under £10, and no judgement shall be given, or distress warrant granted until the appeal be determined.

The non-payment of a church-rate does not disqualify a parishioner from voting in vestry.

The Form of a Church Rate for repairing the Church.

We, the churchwardens, overseers of the poor, and parishioners of the parish of ….. in the county of ….. and diocese of …..whose names are hereunto subscribed, do hereby this ….. day of ….. in the year 18 at our vestry meeting for that purpose assembled, rate and tax all and every the inhabitants of the aforesaid parish, hereunder mentioned, for and towards the repairs of the church of the said parish, in the several sums following, viz.

£ s. d.

C. D. for the tenement now in his occupation ………..
E. F. for the lands now held by him in this parish …..
and so on.

G. H. }
I. K. } Churchwardens.

L. M. }
Ν. O. } Overseers.

P.Q. }
R. S. }
T.W. } Parishioners

At all church meetings for making church-rates, all persons have a right to vote who pay church-rates. And the rector or vicar has also a right to be there present and vote, though he may not be charged to the rates. But persons who, on account of poverty, are excused from poor or church-rates, have no right to be present or vote in any affairs relating thereto.

Seats and Pews.

Churchwardens are entrusted not only with the care of the church, but with that also of the seats therein, for the purpose of keeping them in repair, and of seeing that good order be preserved therein, and that no contention be made about priority of place to the disturbance of divine worship.

All seats (except such as are immemorially prescribed for, or for which a faculty has been granted, or where by usage the power is vested in a particular number of the parishioners, or in the vestry and churchwardens) in the body of the church, which are repaired at the charge of the parish, are at the disposal of the churchwardens. Neither the minister nor the vestry has any right whatever to interfere with the churchwardens in seating and arranging the parishioners.

But though churchwardens are invested with the sole power in this particular, the advice of the minister and even sometimes the opinions and wishes of the vestry may be fitly invoked by the churchwardens; and, to a certain extent, may be reasonably deferred to in this matter. And notwithstanding that churchwardens are invested with the office of seating and arranging the parishioners in their several parishes, according to their quality and degree, independent of the interference of the minister and parishioners, yet their power in that respect is in subordination to the approval and control of the ordinary or bishop, who hath the primary right of disposing and ordering this matter in every church of his diocese; for, in this respect, and indeed in every matter relating to seats or pews, the churchwardens are only the officers of the ordinary, and are subject to his control.

And though, by custom, as in London, Norwich, and other large cities and towns, the disposition of seats may be claimed on other principles than those of ordinary church government, as by the churchwardens, or the major part, or any particular number of parishioners, yet, no prescription will exclude the bishop’s authority, as whatever is done by virtue of the custom or usage must be taken to be done by authority derived from the ordinary, either positively granted, or by faculty, or by his tacit permission. The ordinary’s not acting might be that there was no occasion for his intermeddling, but that his non-intervention cannot vest the right in the churchwardens or others.

If there be a want of pews in a church, it is the duty of the churchwardens, if possible, to supply the want. By the general law, and of common right, all the pews in the church are the common property of the parish, and they are for the use, in common, of the parishioners; consequently every person who settles in a parish as a householder has a right to call on the parish for a convenient seat, even though such person should be only an under tenant and not directly rated.

And by virtue of this common lawright, parishioners have a right to a seat in the church without any payment, either as a purchase, or as rent for the same.. And if the churchwardens neglect or refuse to comply with an application for a seat, they may be cited to shew cause, and if they are not able to shew sufficient cause, a monition will be decreed, ordering them to comply, and condemning them in payment of costs.

The parishioners have, indeed, a claim to be seated according to their rank and station, but the churchwardens are not, in providing for this claim, to overlook the claim of all the parishioners to be seated, if sittings can be afforded them. They must, therefore, not accommodate the higher classes beyond their real wants, (that is their rank, extent of property, number of family, and length of inhabitancy in the parish,) to the exclusion of their poorer neighbours, who are equally entitled to accommodation with the rest, though they are not entitled to the same accommodation, supposing the seats to be not all equally convenient.

But churchwardens, in the exercise of their duty of seating parishioners, may vary the distribution of pews from time to time; for a seating by them does not give a permanent and exclusive right; it is not like a faculty, but is liable to alterations, as the circumstances of the parish may require. Where church-room⁴ is abundant, and the population thin, persons of large property and large families may have large pews allotted to them, which afterwards may be taken away or diminished, if circumstances are different, if their families become reduced in number, or the church-room, from increase of population, becomes more wanted. As by the general law of the land, there can be no permanent property in pews, if the family of a person to whom a pew is allotted be reduced from six or seven to one or two, it may, for the accommodation of the parish, though he continues to reside in the same house, be necessary to remove him, or at least to seat some other persons jointly with him; but this is not to be done except in a case of strong necessity.

With respect to pews held by householders dying or leaving the parish, such vacant pews may be allotted to those parishioners who have the best claim to them in point of standing in the parish and general respectability, rather than to those who may succeed as tenants of the houses inhabited by the late occupiers of such vacant pews.

In the execution, however, of their duty in seating parishioners, churchwardens should bear in mind that a person in possession of a pew, whether under an actual seating by former churchwardens, or by their acquiescence, is entitled to a preference, and must not be removed without a just and sufficient cause: if they act capriciously or with partiality they will be restrained, on application made to the ordinary for the purpose, and be compelled to pay the costs of suit.

Churchwardens cannot sell seats, even though they should obtain a faculty from the ordinary for the purpose; for the grant of such faculty is illegal.

Neither can they enforce against a parishioner payment of a proportion of the expense of erecting seats, &c. where they have not previously obtained a faculty from the ordinary for that purpose.

And an offer by the churchwardens that a parishioner may build a pew on condition that he pay the parish for it, is illegal; for every parishioner has a right to a seat in the church without such payment; and all orders for payment of money, either for repairing old or building new pews in a parish church are illegal. In chapels it is different, for they are private property.

[Mr. Shaw includes regulations for churches where pew-rents are legal; a plaque on the north wall of Deopham Church notes that from 1883 all seats “are for the free use of the parishioners according to the law”.]

Sequestration of Benefices.

Another branch of the churchwardens’ office is, (unless the ordinary has confided the trust to other persons,) to have sequestration and care of the benefice during its vacancy, whether the avoidance happen by the death of the incumbent, or otherwise, as in case of dilapidations of the chancel, or of the minister’s house, or for his debts.

For this purpose, as soon as any avoidance or the dilapidations happen, the churchwardens are to apply to the chancellor of the diocese for the sequestration of the profits thereof, and having taken out an instrument for that purpose, under the seal of the office, they are immediately to take the whole benefice under their care, publish the sequestration in the church, in the time of divine service, and manage all the profits and expenses of it for the benefit of the next incumbent. In this capacity they are, according as the season of the year shall require, to plough and sow the glebe, take in the crops, gather in the tithes, thresh out and dress the corn, and dispose of it at the best market they are able. They are to repair the house, make up the fences, pay the tenths, and discharge all other burdens of the living, which shall be due therefrom while it is under their trust, and also to do every thing which may be best for the advantage of the succeeding incumbent. And, principally, they are to take care that, during the vacancy, the church be well and truly served by a curate, approved of by the bishop, and whom they are to pay out of the profits of the benefice.

But in all cases of sequestrations, the sequestrators should take care that they do not meddle with any timber, trees, wood, or underwood, standing upon the glebes of the living, unless it be for necessary repairs. And sequestrators are liable for dilapidations permitted or incurred by them during the time they are in receipt of the profits, &c. of the living.

When sequestrations issue for levying in satisfaction of a debt, churchwardens are to carry the writ into immediate execution, on its receipt.

As soon as the new minister is instituted, the churchwardens or other sequestrators are bound to account to him for the profits of the benefice which they have received during the vacancy; and if he is satisfied with their account, his receipt is sufficient for their indemnification. If he should not be satisfied, he may cite them to render their account before the ordinary, who is authorized to examine the matter, and his decision is final.

Miscellaneous Duties.

There are several other duties incumbent on churchwardens, in respect of the civil government of the kingdom under which they are, in many cases, by act of parliament, made officers for the executing of the law in reference to them: these duties are chiefly as follow:

Jury Lists

Churchwardens and overseers are (unless prevented by sickness) to assist in making out the jury-lists, according to the form delivered to them by the high-constable; and

if they neglect or refuse to make out the same,
or wilfully omit any man’s name who ought not to be omitted,
or take any money or other reward for omitting or inserting any man’s name,
or wilfully insert a wrong description or qualification,
or refuse or neglect to apply for more forms, if wanted,
or refuse or neglect to fix a copy of the list on the doors of the church or chapel on any of the Sundays required,
or refuse to let any inhabitant inspect such list,
or, after notice, refuse or neglect to produce it at the petty sessions,
or to answer questions on oath,
or refuse to allow the justices at petty sessions, or any justice of the peace, on request, to inspect, or to make extracts from the poor’s rate, (such rate being in the custody of the party refusing,)

the party so offending shall, for every such offence, forfeit not exceeding £10, nor less than 40s.
And, for the purpose of enabling churchwardens and overseers to complete their lists, they are authorised to inspect the tax-assessments and the poor’s rate.

Local militia

Churchwardens or overseers may provide volunteers for the quota of the local militia to be raised by any parish, and they are authorized to give a bounty of £2: 2 to each man, and to raise such bounty by a rate approved of in vestry.

Surveyors of the Highways

On the 22nd of September yearly, unless that day be Sunday, and then on the day following, the churchwardens are, with the constables, overseers, surveyors of the highways, and householders assessed to any parochial or public rate, to meet at the church, or where there is no church, at the usual place of public meeting, at eleven o’clock in the forenoon; and the majority at such meeting [shall] make out a list of ten persons, at the least, living in each parish, qualified to serve the office of surveyor of the highways for the new year, on pain of forfeiting 40s. for each default of not making out such lists. They should take care that the accounts of the old surveyor are regularly produced at the end of the year, properly verified.

Tax collection

Churchwardens and overseers must, also, for the security of the parishioners, take care that proper persons are appointed by the commissioners for the affairs of taxes, to collect the several taxes within their parish, and that proper security is given by the persons appointed for the due collection and payment thereof to the receiver-general. And, if the collectors continue in office beyond one year from the time of their appointment, the security must be renewed at the commencement of every year they continue in office.

[There follow in Mr. Shaw’s book requirements relating to coastal parishes and certain London burroughs; these are not included here since Deopham has no coastal boundaries.]

Offences against the Pawnbrokers’ Act

The churchwardens and overseers are bound to prosecute offenders against the Pawnbrokers’ Act, at the expense of the parish.

Checking parish boundaries

The churchwardens, with the minister, the overseers, and parishioners, are to make the perambulations of their respective parishes, by going round the same once a year at least, in order to ascertain and preserve the metes and bounds thereof. The usual time for this purpose is in or about Ascension week. parishioners in their perambulations may, according to their usage or custom, justify going over private lands, and may abate all nuisances in their way.

Unlicensed pedlars

They are, further, to apprehend hawkers and pedlars trading without a license, and receive the penalties on their conviction.

Receiving rates

They are to receive the church and chapel rates.

They are to apprehend and secure lunatics, in obedience to any magistrate’s warrant directed to them.

Etc, etc

IV. PASSING ACCOUNTS BY CHURCHWARDENS.

At the end of their year, or, at the furthest, within one month after its expiration, churchwardens must appear before the ministers and parishioners in vestry, and render their account; and for this purpose they must give notice in the church the Sunday before for a parish-meeting, that all that have paid to the rate may, if they think fit, be present to take an account how the moneys have been expended. At which meeting, the churchwardens having first produced the rates which they have made, and the money which they have received thereon, must give an account how they have expended the sums levied and received by them; and when their accounts have been allowed by the major part of the parishioners then present, they are to be entered in the church book of accounts, which every parish is to have for this purpose, and those who allow the account are to sign it, in proof of their assent to the same; and the balance of money, if any, is to be delivered over with the said book of accounts to the succeeding churchwardens, to be put by them to the account of the next year.

In the admission of the accounts, churchwardens must swear to their truth and justness, and verify them. In general, their oath is admitted to prove the payment of all sums under 40s. unless the same are disputed by the parishioners, or that suspicions are entertained of the fairness of the items, and then vouchers must be produced. With respect to the payment of sums above 40s. receipts or vouchers are always required to be produced, and can in no case be dispensed with. And, if required, it is also necessary that payments of this description should be proved by witnesses, who have subscribed their names to the same in proof of their authenticity.

The exceptions against a churchwarden’s account may be:-

as to the particulars on which the disbursements are made, and
as to the justness and truth of the disbursements themselves.

For if a churchwarden hath of his own head laid out the parish money, where he hath no authority by his office so to do, that is, on new erections, or other such particulars, where the consent of the parish, or license of the ordinary, or both, ought first to be had, the parish may refuse to allow it him in his own accounts; and he may be further punished by the ordinary for contempt put upon his authority herein, if it be in a particular where his license was requisite for the doing of it.

“And although his disbursements be within the limits and power of his office, yet if not fairly stated, there lies a just exception against the account; and if it appears that he hath not dealt justly and fairly with the parish herein, but hath either charged to them more than he hath laid out, or falsely and fraudulently expended more than necessary for by-ends of his own, although there be no remedy against a foolish and indiscreet churchwarden (as is afore observed) yet there is against a false and a knavish one, and such an one shall not only be defalcated all those particulars in his account, where the fraud appears, but may also be further punished by the ordinary as one that hath notoriously broken his trust, and violated the oath of his office by his knavery and falseness herein.

“And it will be a strong argument against churchwardens of their guilt in this particular, if they accept of any entertainment from the workmen they employ, or the persons of whom they buy the materials; or if they make use of any materials of their own, unless they call some principal inhabitants of the parish, and fairly agree with them for the price, before they convert them to the use intended; or if they employ such workmen, or buy the materials of such persons as are in their debt, and set it off by the money they were to pay them, or make use of any other practice, wherein they have a by-end and self-interest of their own, which men are too apt to prefer before the public: And whenever any such fraud is detected, it will be a just reason to condemn that particular in the account in which it is committed, or at least defalcate it to the value of the fraud which shall be discovered in it. And whenever any churchwarden hath his account condemned for any such fraud, he must be condemned too in the charges of the suit which shall be occasioned about it.

At the same time as they pass their accounts of all expenses and disbursements made by them in the course of their year, they must also render a true and faithfull inventory of the church goods and utensils committed to their care and custody on entering into office; and these, when duly examined and found to be correct, are to be delivered over to their successors, together with the balance of money remaining in their hands, together with the keys of the parish-chest, and all documents and papers belonging to the parish; and when they have faithfully discharged themselves of all these particulars, they are then fully acquitted of their office.

If they refuse or neglect to account, they may be presented at the next visitation by the new churchwardens; or any of the parishioners that are interested may, by process, call them to account before the ordinary; or the succeeding churchwardens may have a writ of account of common law. In order that the correctness of their accounts may be ascertained, they are bound, in common with the overseers, to allow an inspection thereof to any parishioner; and if any parishioner be refused such inspection, he may, on stating his special reason, obtain a mandamus from the Court of King’s Bench, ordering the churchwardens to allow the same.

If, on the production of the accounts, the ordinary has reason to be dissatisfied with them, he may, notwithstanding the same have been allowed in vestry, cite the churchwardens before him, and make them produce a further account; and if, on the taking of such second account it should appear that they have disposed of any of the goods or utensils belonging to the parish, though with the consent of the parishioners, in order to defray in part, or in whole, the church rates or other parochial rates or expenses, which ought to be otherwise defrayed by the parish, he may compel the said churchwardens to replace the same at their own expense, or inflict such punishment as he shall deem expedient.

But, although the ecclesiastical court may compel churchwardens to deliver in their accounts, it cannot decide on the propriety of any of the charges. Nor can it call on them to account, if they have passed their accounts at a select committee or vestry, and that such mode of passing their accounts be according to the custom of the parish.

For although that court has exclusive jurisdiction to compel the production of their accounts in the first instance, it has no authority to settle them. Neither have justices of the peace jurisdiction over churchwardens with respect to their accounts as churchwardens.

And besides the duty of passing their accounts, churchwardens, at the Easter visitation, when they go out of office, should take care to make their presentments of every thing which may have been amiss during their year within their parishes, and they must do this before the new churchwardens are sworn; for after the swearing of the new officers, the old ones are out of office, and have no longer power to make presentments of any thing which occurred during their year, but the duty will devolve on their successors; and the old officers are liable to be punished for their neglect or remissness therein.

Churchwardens being in all respects bailiffs, and not mere receivers, are to be allowed their expenses for business done on the account of the parish.

V. REMEDIES AGAINST CHURCHWARDENS.

The usual mode of proceeding against churchwardens for a neglect of their duty is by citing them in the ecclesiastical court, or an action may be brought against them by their successors, or they may be indicted at common law. And if, in the management and expenditure of the parish money or other property, they have acted fraudulently and with a view to their own private emolument and advantage, on complaint to the bishop or other ordinary, and proof thereof, they may, at any time, be removed by the ordinary, and others chosen in their place, who may commence an action at law against them to recover the money fraudulently embezzled.

So, also, if churchwardens, during their office, are going on in an expensive way, the parishioners, may, by applying to the spiritual court, check their proceedings, and, perhaps, under certain circumstances, procure their removal.

But churchwardens are not, as has been before said, amenable for indiscretion or want of judgement in the management of the affairs of the parish, for as Dean Prideaux⁵ observes, “there is no remedy against a foolish and an indiscreet churchwarden:” a remark claiming the most attentive consideration of parishioners in the election of those officers.

Footnotes

The ordinary in the context of this document and Deopham is the bishop. ↩︎
The vestry is a meeting of eligible parishioners, in many senses a forerunner of the present Parochial Church Council (P.C.C.). ↩︎
Mr Shaw omitted the section inside the square brackets in his extract from Canon 88. ↩︎
Church-room is used in this document to refer to space available in the church; it is not a room in the current sense. ↩︎
Dean Prideaux of Norwich was at one time a significant land-owner in Deopham. He eventually sold his estate to the Rev. William Grigson. This is reflected in the Terrar of the Manor Deopham of the Dean & Chapter of Canterbury of 1723 where several of this manor’s fields are recorded as being adjacent to land “late Prideaux’s”. ↩︎

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Date	Change
23/7/25	Note on Dean Prideaux
22/8/24	Published

Deopham History

Churchwardens’ Responsibilities – 1835