CHURCH RATES, in England, a tax or assessment laid on the parishioners and occu piers of laud within a parish, by a majority of their own body in vestry assembled, for the purpose of upholding and repairing the fabric of the church and the belfry, the bells, seats, and ornaments, the churchyard fence, and the expenses (other than those of maintaining the minister) incident to the celebration of divine service. The par ishioners are convened for this purpose by the church-wardens (q.v.). The chancel (q.v.) being regarded as belonging peculiarly to the clergy, the expense of maintaining it is laid on the rector or vicar, though custom frequently lays this burden also on the parishioners, as in London and elsewhere.
The C. R. were anciently a charge on the tithes of the parish, which were divided into three portions: one for the structure of the church, one for the poor, and the third for the ministers of the church. This distribution is said to have originated with pope Gregory, who enjoined St. Augustine thus to divide such voluntary offerings as might be made to his missionary church in England. A canon of archbishop J.Elfric in 970, and an act of the Wittenagemote in 1014, in Ethelred's time, have been quoted in proof of the recognition of this rule by our Saxon fathers. It seems to have been their cus tom, also, to devote to the repair of each church a portion of the fines paid for offenses committed within the district attached to it; and every bishop was bound to contribute to the repair of his own church from his own means. A third of the tithes thus ori,gi nally devoted to the repairs of churches, continued to be applied to that purpose under the Normans, down to the middle of the 13th c.; and the manner in which this burden came to be shifted to the parishioners, has been a subject of much discussion among legal antiquaries. Lord, then sir John, Campbell, who published a pamphlet on the subject in 1837, is of opinion that the contributions of the parishioners were at first purely voluntary, and that the custom growing, it at last assumed the form of an obligation, and was enforced by ecclesiastical censures. The care of the fabric of the church, and the due administration of its offices, are laid upon the ministers and the church-wardens con jointly, and the latter may be proceeded against by citation, in the ecclesiastical courts, should they neglect these duties. But there is no legal mode of compelling the parish ioners as a body to provide the rate; and this circumstance has occasioned much diffi culty in imposing the tax in parishes in which dissent is prevalent, and led to many churches falling into a partially ruinous condition. The proper criterion for the amount
of C. R. is a valuation of the property within the parish, grounded on the rent that a tenant would be willing to pay for it. Glebe land, the possessions of the crown in the actual occupation of the sovereign, and places of public worship, are not liable for C.R.; but there is no other exception as regards immovable property, and in some parishes, custom even extends it to stock in trade. It has been often decided in the courts that a retrospective church-rate—i.e., a rate for expenses previously incurred—cannot be validly imposed. Much difficulty has been experienced in recovering the rates imposed by the parish on individuals refusing to pay. Previous to 153 Geo. III. c. 127, the only mode was by suit in the ecclesiastical court. That statute, however, in all cages under empowered the justices of the peace of the county where the church was situated, on complaint of the church-wardens, to inquire into the merits of the case, and order pay ment. Against the decision of the justices, an appeal lies to the quarter-sessions. In 1868. an end was put to all parochial contentions by enacting that no suit or proceeding should thereafter be allowed in any court to enforce or compel payment of a church-rate, except where a local act authorized this rate. But except so far as related to the com pulsory payment of these rates. the church-wardens might, as before, make, assess; receive, and deal with such rates. In each district parish, the inhabitants may treat their own church as if it were their parish church, and make and receive rates for the repair of the same. A body of trustees may now be appointed in each parish to receive con tributions for ecclesiastical purposes in the parish. The result of this act of 31 and 32 V. c. 109, is thus not to abolish C. It., but rather to convert them into voluntary pay ments; allowing, as it does, all faithful adherents of the church to contribute. as before, to the repairs of their own churches. In Scotland the burden of upholding the parish churches is by custom imposed on the heritors of the parish; and where the parish is partly within burgh and partly in the country, the expense must be borne by heritors and proprietors of houses, in proportion to their real rent. See SCOTLAND. CHURCH of see also DISSENTERS, and PARISII. [By an act passed in 1868, the compulsory collection of C. R was abolished, and provision was made for the administration, by a body of church trustees, of such contributions as may be voluntarily agreed to, and of donations and bequests made for ecclesiastical purposes in the parish.]