Church - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: churchChurch
Church, includes any chapel or other building generally used for public Christian worship. (Christian Marriage Act, 1872, s. 3)--The Church of England is a distinct branch of Christ's Church, and is also an institution of the State (see the first clause of Magna Carta), of which the sovereign is the supreme head by Act of Parliament (1 Eliz. c. 1), but in what sense is not agreed. According to Sir Wiliam Anson, the sovereign is head of the Church, 'not for the purpose of discharging and spiritual function, but because the Church is the National Church, and as such is built into the fabric of the State' (Law and Custom of the Constitution). 'The establishment of the Churchby law,' says Lord Selborne, 'consists essentially in the incorporation of the law of the Church into that of the realm, as a branch of the general law of the realm, though limited as to the causes to which, and the persons to whom it applies; in the public recognition of its Courts and Judges, as having proper legal j...
Eastern Church
That portion of the Christian church which prevails in the countries once comprised in the Eastern Roman Empire and the countries converted to Christianity by missionaries from them Its full official title is The Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Eastern Church It became estranged from the Western or Roman Church over the question of papal supremacy and the doctrine of the filioque and a separation begun in the latter part of the 9th century became final in 1054 The Eastern Church consists of twelve thirteen if the Bulgarian Church be included mutually independent churches including among these the Hellenic Church or Church of Greece and the Russian Church using the vernacular or some ancient form of it in divine service and varying in many points of detail but standing in full communion with each other and united as equals in a great federation The highest five authorities are the patriarch of Constantinople or ecumenical patriarch whose position is not one of supremacy but of precedence th...
Russian Church
The established church of the Russian empire up to the revolution of 1917 at which time the ruling Communist party tried to suppress all religious worship The czar was the nominal head of the church but he never claimed the right of deciding questions of theology and dogma It still forms a portion by far the largest of the Orthodox Eastern Church and is governed by the Patriarch and the Holy Synod In 1988 the church with official approval celebrated the 1000 year anniversary of the baptism of Russia After breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 the Russian Church began to regain some its old influence in Russian life and the government turned over some of the confiscated churches back to church control The Russian Church was recognized anew as the official church of Russia with special priveleges by an act of the Russian Duma in 1997 The Metropolitan of Moscow as Patriarch of the church is regarded as the first among equals in order of deference among bishops of the church...
Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland. The authority and jurisdiction of the Pope were abolished in 1567, and since then, except for some intervals of first, Presbytery has been the form of Church Government in Scotland. The Church has independent power to legislate and to adjudicate finally in all matters of doctrine, worship, government, and discipline within itself. Its Supreme Court is the General Assembly, which consists of ministers and elders elected by the Presbyteries, Universities, and the Royal Burghs and by the Church in India. Its sittings are attended by a Lord High Commissioner, representing the King, and it is presided over by a Moderator, who is nominated each year by a selection committee. The tenure of ecclesiastical property and endowments was reorganized by the Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Act, 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5, c. 33), the general effect of which was to transfer all ecclesiastical property and endowments, as well as the responsibility, for their maintenance and c...
Church-rates
Church-rates, tributes by which the expenses of the church are to be defrayed; made by the parishioners at large, that is, by the majority of those present at a vestry summoned for that purpose by the church-wardens, formerly recoverable in the Ecclesiastical Court or, if the arrears did not exceed 10l. and no questions were raised as to the legal liability, before two justices of the peace.Compulsory church-rates were abolished by the Compulsory Church Rate Abolition Act, 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 109), except so far as partly applicable to any secular purpose.The Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure, 1921 (11 & 12 Geo. 5, No. 1), gave to Parochial Church Councils power to levy a voluntary church-rate....
Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure, 1921
Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure, 1921 (English) (11 & 12 Geo. 5 (No. 1)), a measure passed by the National Assembly of the Church of England to amend the law relating to parochial organization of the Church of England. It lays down that the primary duty of Parochial Church Councils is to cooperate with incumbents in the initiation, conduct, and development of church work, both within the parish and outside. Certain powers, duties, and liabilities of the vestry and of the churchwardens are transferred to the Parochial Church Council....
Welsh Church
Welsh Church. The Welsh Church Act, 1914, provided of the disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales and Monmouthshire. Its operation was suspended by the Suspensory Act, 1914, but it came into effect under, and was amended by, the Welsh Church (Temporalities) Act, 1919, as from 31st March, 1920. All ecclesiastical corporations are dissolved and disendowed, but churches, ecclesiastical residences and certain endowments, as well as a million pounds under a scheme of commutation of existing interests, are transferred to a 'representative body' which has been incorporated by Royal Charter. See the above-mentioned Acts and the Welsh Church Rules....
Coptic Church
The native church of Egypt or church of Alexandria which in general organization and doctrines resembles the Roman Catholic Church except that it holds to the Monophysitic doctrine which was condemned a d 451 by the council of Chalcedon and allows its priests to marry The ldquopope and patriarchrdquo has jurisdiction over the Abyssinian Church Since the 7th century the Coptic Church has been so isolated from modifying influences that in many respects it is the most ancient monument of primitive Christian rites and ceremonies But centuries of subjection to Moslem rule have weakened and degraded it...
Church Building Acts (English)
Church Building Acts (English). For the purpose of building and promoting the building of additional churches in populous parishes numerous Acts, commencing with the Church Building Act, 1818 (58 Geo. 3, c. 45), have been passed from time to time. for a list of eighteen of these Acts up to 1869, see the schedule to the New Parishes Acts and Church Building Acts Amendment Act, 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c. 65).In the year 1856 the powers of the Church Building Commissioners were, by 19 & 20 Vict. c. 55, transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, a body incorporated by 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 77. See ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS....
Affairs of the Church
Affairs of the Church. These, including the distribution of offertories and other collections made in any church, were transferred by the (English) Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure, 1921 (11 & 12 Geo. 5), No. 1, to the control of the Parochial Church Council....
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