NON-RESIDENCE, the name given in church law to the offense of person holding a spiritual benefice, who absents himself, without legal justification, from the local pre sands within which the duties attached to the benefice are prescribed to be performed. The obligation of residence follows clearly from every principle of law; and, from the constant tendency to relaxation on the part of the clergy, has. been an unfailing subject of legislation, ecclesiastical and civil, from the very earliest times. The council of Nice in 32.5, of Antioch in 332, and of Carthage in 401; the constitutions of the popes from the earliest genuine document of that class, the novels of Justinian, the capitularies of Charlemagne—all speak the saute language, and enforce it by the same penalties. During the medixval period, and especially during the unhappy contest of the western schism,. great abuses prevailed. The whole substance of the legislation of the Roman church on the subject, however, is compressed in the decrees of the council of Trent, which are mainly contained in the decrees of the XXII. and following sessions, "On Reformation." The decrees of the council regard all church dignitaries, and others charged with the cure of souls. Without entering into the details, it will suffice to say that for all the penalty of absence without just cause, and due permission, consists in the forfeiture of revenues, in a proportion partly varying with the nature of the benefice, partly adjusted according to the duration of the absence. For each class, moreover, a certain time is fixed, beyond which, during twelve months, absence cannot be permitted. The duty is
imposed on persons named in the law of reporting to the ecclesiastical superiors cases of prolonged absence. The same legislation has been confirmed by most of the recent con cordats, and is enforced by the civil law of each country. In England the penalties for non-residence are regulated by 1 and 2 Vict. c. 100. Under this act an incumbent absenting himself without the bishop's license for a period exceeding three, and not exceeding six mouths, forfeits one-third of the annual income; if the absence exceed six, and does not exceed eight months, one-half is forfeited; and if it be of the whole year, three-fourths of the income are forfeited. The persons-excused from the obligation of residence by the canon law are sick persons, persons engaged iu teaching the theological sciences'in approved places of study, and canons in immediate attendance upon the bishop (" canoniei a [Akre"), who ought not to exceed two in number. By the act 1 and 2 Vict. c. 100, heads of colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, the wardens of Durham university, and the head-masters of Eton, Westminster, and Winchester schools are generally exempted, and temporary exemptions from residence are recognized in other cases, which it would be tedious to detail. In the Roman Catholic church, besides the gen eral legislation, most of the provincial and d;ocesan statutes contain special provisions on the subject of non-residence.