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Sacrament - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition sacrament

Definition :

Sacrament. In the Church of England there are two sacraments only--Baptism and the Supper of the Lord; Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction are not recognized as sacraments (Art. XXV.). the term 'Sacrament' is commonly used to mean the Holy Communion. Reviling the Sacrament is punishable by fine and imprisonment (1 Edw. 6, c. 1), and administration of the Sacrament in both kinds is enjoined by s. 7 of the same Act, 'excepte necessitie otherwise re-quire,' and the same s. enacts that 'the minister shall not without lawful cause deny the same.' In the Roman Catholic Church the cup is not administered to the laity.

For a clergyman to refuse without lawful cause to administer the sacrament to a parishioner is an offence against the laws ecclesiastical, for which he may be proceeded against under the Church Discipline Act [Jenkins v. Cook, (1876) 1 PD 80]. The Holy Communion cannot be refused to a person because he has married his deceased wife's sister, Thompson v. Dibdin, 1912 AC 533; and see Canon 27 and the ante-Communion Rubrics in the Prayer Book. The reservation of the Sacrament is unlawful, Oxford (Bishop of) v. Henly, 1907 P. 88

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