ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES ASSUMPTION ACT (14 and 15 Vict. c. 60). In 1850, a ferment of Protestant zeal was awakened in this country by an edict issued by the court of Rome dividing Great Britain into territorial bishoprics, under an archbishop of Westminster. The brief was immediately followed by a pastoral by the newly appointed archbishop (cardinal Wiseman) "given out of the Flaminian gate." At the commencement of the parliamentary session of 1851, the subject of "papal aggression," and of the measures to be adopted to counteract it, superseded all other topics of interest. It was in these circumstances that lord John Russell introduced the ecclesi astical titles bill. By the act 10 Geo. IV. c. 7, it had been provided that the right and title of archbishops to their respective provinces, of bishops to their sees, and of deans to their deaneries, as well in England as in Ireland, having been settled and established by law, any person other than the person thereto entitled who should assume or use the name, style, or title of archbishop of any province, bishop of any bishopric, or dean of any deanery, in England or Ireland, should for every such offense forfeit £100. By the Roman Catholic party it was alleged that this enactment struck only at the titles to existing provinces and dioceses, and that though the pope could not create an arch bishop of Canterbury, nor could his nominee assume that title without violating the law, there was no prohibition against the creation of an archbishop of Westminster. To meet this allegation, and remove the doubt which existed, the ecclesiastical titles act was passed, its object being to prohibit the assumption of such titles " in respect of any places within the United Kingdom." The penalty of £100 for every contravention
of the act is to be recovered in accordance with the provisions of the former act, or at the suit of any person in one of her majesty's superior courts of law, with the consent of the attorney-general in England, or of the lord advocate in Scotland. The third section saves the episcopal bishops in Scotland from the operation of the act, providing, however, that " nothing herein contained shall be taken to give any right to any such bishop to assume or use any name, style, or title which he is not now by law entitled to assume or use." The passing of the act allayed the fears of the country on the subject of papal aggression; and though its provisions were not very steadily complied with in Ireland, no prosecution under it took place.
The Roman Catholic party having always considered the penal clauses of this act as a grievance, an arrangement was made for the repeal of the act. This was accomplished by the act 34 and 35 Viet. c. 53, which, after declaring that "no ecclesiastical title of honor or dignity derived from any see, province, diocese, or deanery recognized by law, or from any city, town, place, or territory within this realm, can be validly created," and that no "pre-eminence or coercive power can be conferred otherwise than under the authority of her majesty," repeals the ecclesiastical titles assumption act (14 and 15 Vict. c. 60) as inexpedient. The result is, that while no prosecution can now take place for assuming such titles, their assumption is still treated by the law as an illegal act.