CHAP. X.
But what course shall be pursued with the Clerk, the Parson of the Church, who has declared in Court, that he held the living upon his[137] Presentation? In the King’s Court, indeed, nothing farther is to be done in the matter, unless as it concerns the Advowson between the two Patrons.
But the Patron, who has recently recovered the Right of Advowson, shall proceed against the Clerk in the Ecclesiastical Court before the Bishop or his Official, under these restrictions—if, at the time of Presentation, the Person presenting such Clerk was considered to be the Patron, then, the Church shall continue to be held by the Clerk, during the remainder of his life. For, upon this subject, a Statute has been passed in the Reign of the present King, concerning those Clerks who have obtained Livings upon the Presentation of such Patrons as have, in time of war, violently intruded themselves into Ecclesiastical Advowsons; and by such Statute it is provided, that Clerks thus presented shall not lose their Churches during their lives. Thus is the question above proposed, resolved. But, after the decease of Clerks so presented, the Presentations of the Churches shall return to the rightful Patrons.