Presentation, the offering by the patron of a benefice to the ordinary of a person to be instituted to the benefice. It must be in writing (29 Car. 2, c. 3), and is in the nature of letters-missive to the ordinary.
The sovereign, as protector ecclesi', is the patron paramount of all benefices which do not belong to other patrons, and usually presents by letters-patent (26 Hen. 8, c. 1; 1 Eliz. c. 1).
As to other patrons, the right of presentation is sometimes confounded with that of nomination; but presentation is the offering a person to the bishop, while nomination is the offering such a person to the patron. These two rights may co-exist in different persons; thus where an advowson is vested in trustees or mortgagees they have the right of presentation, while the right of nomination is in the cestui que trust, or mortgagors, but the trustees or the mortgagee must judge of the qualification of the nominee, Mirehouse on Advowsons, 136.
A bishop has, by Canon 95 (which abridged the period from two months), 28 days for inquiry before instituting (see INSTITUTION) the clergyman presented by the patron.
All persons seised in fee, in tail or for life, or possessed of a term for years of a manor to which an advowson is appendant, or if an advowson in gross, may present; and his right descends by cause of inheritance, from heir to heir, or passes to a devisee or purchaser, unless the benefice become vacant in the lifetime of the patron, when the void turn devolves upon the personal representative, Mirehouse v. Rennell, (1833) 7 Bli 241, being, indeed, a personal right or interest dis-annexed from the estate in the advowson, and vested in the patron simply as an individual. And where the incumbent is also a patron, if he died seised of the advowson, without having devised it, his heir, not his executor, is entitled to present, because the descent of heir and the fall of the avoidance to the executor happening at the same time, the elder right prevails. If a bishop die, a church being vacant in his lifetime, the Crown exercises its prerogative to present, Co. Litt. 388 a.
Joint-tenants and tenants in common should present jointly; and if co-parceners cannot agree, the eldest sister is entitled to the first turn, the second sister the second turn, et sic de c'teris, every one in turn according to seniority, and this part which the oldest thus takes by virtue of her priority of age is called the enitia pars.
By 7 Anne, c. 18, s. 2, if co-parceners, or joint-tenants, or tenants in common, be seised of an estate of inheritance in the advowson of any church, or vicarage, or other ecclesiastical promotion, and a partition is made between them, to present by turns, every one shall be taken to be seised of his separate part to present in his turn.
An infant at any age may nominate or present, Hearle v. Greenbank, (1749) 3 Atk at p. 710; Arthington v. Coverly, (1733) 2 Abr Cas Eq 518. The position now appears to be doubtful, an advowson or right to fill a church and benefice is now 'land' (Law of Property Act, 1925, s. 205), and previously was an incorporeal hereditament, but if the benefice has become vacant, the nature of the right of presentation is altered: it becomes a personal right or chattel. In the latter case an infant is not incapacitated from owning or exercising the right. See Hals. L.E., tit. 'Eccl. Law.'
A corporation aggregate presents by the corporate name under their common seal.
A patron may present himself, Walsh v. Bishop of Lincoln, (1875) LR 10 CP 518.
The sale of the right of next presentation is invalidated by s. 1 of the Benefices Act, 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 48), which Act also (see BENEFICE) greatly enlarges the powers of the bishop to refuse to institute.
A presentation may be revoked or varied before admission and institution, since it does not vest any right, and does not confer, before institution, any interest whatever.
The right of a Roman Catholic to present devolves upon the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge: see 3 & 4 Jac. 1, c. 5; 1 W. & M. c. 26; 12 Anne, st 2, c. 14; 11 Geo. 2, c. 17, and the mode of exercising this devolved right is regulated by s. 7 of the Benefices Act, 1898; the right of presentation of a person professing the Jewish religion, in right of any office held by him in the gift of the Crown, devolves on the Archbishop of Canterbury (Jews Relief Act, 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. c. 49), s. 4).
See Chit. Stat. tit. 'Church and Clergy'; 1 Br. & Had. Com. 470; Fox v. Bp. of Chester, (1829) 3 Bl NS 123; Tud. L.C. in R.P. see ADVOWSON.
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