ARCHES, COURT OF, the English ecclesiastical court of appeal of the archbishop of Canterbury, as metropolitan of the province of Canterbury, from all the consistory and commissary courts in the province. It derives its name from its ancient place of judicature, which was in the church of Beata Maria de Ar cubus—St. Mary-le-Bow or St. Mary of the Arches, "by reason of the steeple thereof raised at the top with stone pillars in fashion like a bow bent archwise." This parish was the chief of thirteen locally situated within the diocese of London but exempt from the bishop's jurisdiction, and it was no doubt owing to this circum stance that it was selected originally as the place of judicature for the archbishop's court. The proper designation of the judge is official principal of the Arches court, but by custom he came to be styled the dean of the Arches. The judge of the Arches court was until 1874 appointed by the archbishop of Canterbury by patent which, when confirmed by the dean and chapter of Canterbury, conferred the office for the life of the holder. But by the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 the two archbishops were empowered, subject to the approval of the sovereign by sign manual, from time to time to appoint a practising barrister of ten years' standing, or a person who had been a judge of one of the superior courts (being a member of the Church of England), to be, during good behaviour, a judge for the purpose of exercis ing jurisdiction under that act, and it was enacted (sec. 7) that on a vacancy occurring in the office of official principal of the Arches court the judge should become ex officio such official principal. In this way the late Lord Penzance became dean on the retirement of Sir Robert Phillimore in 1875. Lord Penzance received in 1878 a supplemental patent as dean from Archbishop Tait, but did not otherwise fulfill the conditions observed on the appointment of his predecessors. On Lord Penzance's retirement in 1899, his successor, Sir Arthur Charles, received a patent from the archbishop of Canterbury as official principal of the Arches court, and he took the oaths of office according to the practice before the Public Worship Regulation Act. He was sub sequently and separately appointed judge under that act. Sir A. Charles resigned in 1903 and was succeeded by Sir L. T. Dibdin, who was succeeded in 1934 by Sir Philip Baker-Wilbra ham. The official principal of the Arches court is the only ecclesi astical judge who is empowered to pass a sentence of deprivation against a clerk in holy orders. The appeals from the decisions of the Arches court were formerly made to the king in chancery, but they are now by statute addressed to the king in council, and they are heard before the judicial committee of the privy council. For many years past there has been but little business in the Arches court, mainly owing to the unwillingness of a large number of the clergy to recognize the jurisdiction of what they deny to be any longer a spiritual court, and the consistent use by the bishops of their right of veto in the case of prosecutions under the Public Worship Regulation Act. On the rare occasions when a sitting of the court is necessary, it is held in the library of Lambeth Palace, or at the Church House, Westn'linster.