Chapel - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition chapel

Definition :

Chapel [fr. Chapelle, Fr.]. a building either adjoining to a church, for performing divine service, or separate from the mother-church, where the parish is large, and then called a chapel of ease, for the accommodation of those parishioners who dwell at distance from the parish church. These may be parochial, and have a right to sacraments and burials, and to a distinct minister, by custom, though subject in some respects to the mother-church, 2 Inst. 363.

In an Act of Parliament 'chapel' means a Church of England chapel only, unless word be used as in the (English) Parliamentary Registration Act, 1843 (6 & 7 Vict. c. 18), s. 23, showing that places of worship which do not belong to the Established Church are t be included. In ordinary parlance 'chapel' means a place of worship for dissenters, formerly (and more properly) called a 'meeting-house.'