In the eighth century, the people began to be admitted into the church-yards, and some princes and distinguish ed persons into the church. The practice, first intro duced into the Romish church by Gregory the Great, was brought into England by Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury, about the year 750 ; and the custom of erecting vaults in chancels, and under the altars, was commenced by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, when he had rebuilt the cathedral there, about 1075.
4•. By the common law of England, the granting of burial within the church is the exclusive privilege of the incumbent ; excepting those cases where of bu rial is prescribed for, as belonging to a manor-house. The church wardens, however, have by custom a fee for every burial there, because the parish' is at the expence of repairing the floor. Watson's Clergyman's Law.
The 68th canon of tne church enjoins, that " no mi nister wall refuse to bury any corpse that is brought to the church, or church-yard, (convenient warning being given Mtn thereof before,) except the party deceased were denounced excommunicated, majori excommunica tione, few some grievous and notorious crime, and no man able to testify of his repentance." Anciently, there were other causes of refusal, particularly in the case of heretics, against whom there was an especial provision in the canon law, that if they continued in their IA they should not enjoy the privilege of Christian burial ; but no instances of its enforcement occur subsequent to the period of the Reformation. Such as had not receiv ed the holy sacrament, at least at Easter, were excluded front Christian burial, by a law of the Lateran c,un 61, which was afterwards adopted by the English church. But all these and other prohibitions are, at this (lay, considered as obsolete, and the deMal of burial is restrained to the excommunicated, the unbaptized, and suicides.
A case occurred lately in England, in which the d•nial of burial was attempted to be enforced against dissenters from toe established courch. The Rev. John Wight 'Wickes, rector of \Vardly-cum-Belton, refused to bury the infant child of two of his parishioners, w Ito is err Cal vinistic Independents, because it had not received Epis copalian baptism. A suit was brought against this cler gyman in the Arches court of Canterbury, for violating the 68th canon above quoted, ill which Sir J. Nicholl, official principal of that court, gave judgment for the plaintiff, chiefly upon the ground, that the church of Eng land had persons, though not baptized in its own forms, yet as validly baptized ; and that it could not mean to t xelude from burial all persons who leave not been baptized according to the forms of its own liturgy, provided the essence of baptism, according to what has been generally received as such among- Christians, bus taken place ; but those only is ho have not been baptized at all by any form which can be recognized as tut initia tion,—a legal and valid initiation into the Christian church. This judgment has given rise to some contro versy ; for the substance and merits of which we must refer our readers to the decision of Sir J. Nicholl, with the reasons for it, published by NIr Gurney ; the Respect ful Examination of the Judgment, Etc. by the Rey. Charles Daubeny, LL.B. archdeacon of Sarum, Bath, 1811 ; and the Review of Archdeacon Daubenp's Examination, in the Edinburgh Christian Instructor for October 1811.
The statute 3uth Car. 11. c. 3. for the encouragement of the woollen manufactures, enacts, that no corpse shall be hurled in any other stuff than what is made of sheep's wool, on pain of forfeiting 51. And an affidavit is to be made of such burying before a magistrate, or the officiat ing minister. Jacob's Law Dicta (z)