ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. Courts in which the canon law is admi nistered [CANON LAW], and causes ec clesiastical determined. Coke, in treat, mg of the distinction between temporal and spiritual causes, says :—" And as in temporal causes, the king, by the mouth of his judges in his courts of justice, doth judge and determine the same by the temporal laws of England ; so in causes ecclesiastical and spiritual, as, namely, blasphemy, apostasy from Christianity, heresies, schisms, ordering admissions, institutions of clerks, celebration of di vine service, rights of matrimony, di vorces, general bastardy, subtraction and right of tithes, oblations, obventions, di lapidation, reparation of churches, pro bate of testaments, administration and accounts upon the same, simony, invests, fornication, adulteries, solicitation of chastity, pensions, procurations, appeals in ecclesiastical causes, commutation of penance, and others, (the cognizance whereof belongeth not to the common laws of England.) the same are to be de cided and judged by ecclesiastical judges according to the king's ecclesiastical laws of this realm." In July, 1830, a Commission was ap pointed to inquire into the Practice and Jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts in England and Wales. The Report of the Commissioners, which was presented in 1831, was signed by the archbishop of Canterbury, and three of the bishops, the two chief justices, the chief baron, and several other persons of authority and eminence. This report gives the most correct and authentic account which ex ists of: 1, The nature of the ecclesiasti cal courts. 2, Of the course of proceed ing in ecclesiastical suits ; and 3, The nature of the processes, practice and pleadings of the ecclesiastical courts. The report in question has been almost solely used in the present article with such abridgment and slight alterations, as were necessary to bring it within the requisite space which could be devoted to the subject.
The ordinary ecclesiastical courts are 1. The Provincial Courts, being, in the province of Canterbury, the Court of Arches, or Supreme Court of Appeal, the Prerogative or Testamentary Court, and the Court of Peculiars ; and in the pro vince of York, the Prerogative or Tes tamentary Court, and the ChanceryCourt; 2. the Diocesan Courts, being the consis
torial court of each diocese, exercising general jurisdiction ; the court or courts of one or more commissaries appointed by the bishop, in certain dioceses, to ex ercise general jurisdiction, within pre scribed limits ; and the court or courts of one or more archdeacons, or their offi cials, who exercise general or limited ju risdiction, according to the terms of their patents, or to local custom. 3. There are also Peculiars of various descriptions in most dioceses, and in some they are very numerous : royal, archiepiscopal, episco pal, decanal, sub-decanal, prebendal, rec torial and vicarial ; and there are also some manorial courts, which exercise testamentary jurisdiction.
The Provincial courts of the arch bishop of Canterbury, and the archbishop of York, are independent of each other ; the process of one province does not ran into the other, but is sent by a requi sition from the court of one province to the local authority of the other, for exe cution, when it is necessary. The ap peal from each of the provincial courts lies to the Judicial Committee of Privy Council ; but before the passing of the statute 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 92. the ap peal was to the king, and a commission issued under the Great Seal in each indi vidual case of appeal, to certain persons or delegates, to hear and determine the matter m contest [DELEGATES, COURT the three Archiepiscopal Courts of Canterbury, the Arches Court is the first. [AncRes, COURT oz.] This court exer cises the appellate jurisdiction from each of the diocesan and most of the peculiar courts within the province. It may also take original cognizance of causes by let ters of request, from each of those courts; and it has original jurisdiction, for sub traction of legacy given by wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.