SESSION, KIRK, is the lowest judicatory in the system of the Church of Scotland, having jurisdiction only over a single parish. There is, or ought to be, a kirk session in every parish, composed of the minister, who IS ex ()lei', moderator or chairman, and of the lay elders, who must be at the least two in number. The moderator has only a casting vote. Meetings of the kirk session may be called at any time by the minister ; but they are commonly held at stated intervals, and it is not unusual for the session to meet on the Sunday after service. It would rather appear from the First Book of Discipline' that the nomination or election of elders was originally in the congre gation ; but the modern practice is for the session to supply vacancies in, and to make additions to, its number by its own selection, only submitting the names to the congregation, that any objections may be made and inquired into by it ; and in cases where there happens to be no session in existence, one is appointed by the presbytery. In some of the largest town parishes there are as many as fifty or sixty elders ; but in most cases the number does not exceed five or six. In country parishes the elders, or at least those of them who do the duties of the office, are commonly respectable tradesmen, shopkeepers, or mechanics, although persons of higher station occasionally get themselves appointed, principally with a view to qualifying themselves for seats in the General Assembly or the other church courts. The law however is, that an elder must be resident in the parish at least six weeks in the year. Ile is elected for life, or so long as he remains qualified to hold the office. Every kirk session is represented by an elder both in the presbytery and the synod ; the same member being deputed to both courts, and holding his commission for six months. The elders sent to the Assembly, like the other members of that supreme court (except the representatives of the royal burghs and the universities), are nominated by the presbytery. The kirk session may be regarded as the council of the minister, who, strictly speaking, is scarcely authorised to perform any act in the administration of the spiritual affairs of the parish, beyond officiating in the services of the kirk, without the concurrence of his elders. In practice, however, the
clergyman very rarely encounters any opposition in the kirk session. The ordinary business of the session is to exercise spiritual discipline within the parish, by inquiring into scandals, and punishing delin quencies, which is dune by suspension from the benefit of church ordinances, by public or private rebuke, and by pecuniary fines (exacted of course, like submission to the other penalties, only as the price of restoration to communion with the church, for the session has no power to force any person even to appear on its summons). The evidence in all cases that come before the session (at least after the inquiry has fairly commenced) is taken upon oath, and is, or ought to be, carefully recorded by the session-clerk, who is a paid officer, not necessarily a member of the court. There is in most cases an appeal from the judgment of the kirk session to the presbytery ; and some graver offences can only be tried by the presbytery even in the first instance. The distribution of the ordinary collections made at the church door for the support of the poor, is also in the hands of the kirk session ; and the management of all other funds and assessments allotted to the same purpose is conjointly in that body and in the heritors or landed proprietors of the parish. In the non-established Presbyterian bodies the lay-members of the kirk-session are appointed by the direct vote, or with the consent of the members of the congre gation. The duty of the session, of which the minister is moderator, is to attend to the spiritual discipline of the body, and to care for the poor. A body of managers is generally chosen at an annual business meeting of the members of the congregation, whose duty is to transact the secular business, such as collecting seat-rents, paying the minister's stipend, &c. In the Free Church of Scotland, deacons are usually appointed, who in conjunction with the elders, constitute the deacons' court , for the management of the secular affairs of the congregation.
(Principal Hill's View of the Constitution of the Church. of Scotland ; Dr. Alexander Hill's Practice in the several Judicatories of the Church of Scotland.)