CHAPTER IV
LAITY OF THE PARISH
[1]. There is no general law as to the relations between an incumbent and the lay officers of a parish. They vary in ancient and in new ecclesiastical parishes, and in particular places are modified by custom.
[2]. The vestry in an ancient parish consists of the ratepayers who are inhabitants of the parish or who, though not residents therein, are rated for the relief of the poor in respect of the parish, and of occupiers of hereditaments so rated. A meeting of the vestry is called by the incumbent and churchwardens by a notice in print or writing, and signed by the incumbent or a churchwarden or overseer, and affixed on or near the doors of all the churches and chapels in the parish in which the service of the Church is performed, on some Sunday at least three clear days before the meeting is to be held.[133] The incumbent is ex officio chairman of every vestry meeting. In case of his absence, or of there being no incumbent, the members of the vestry present elect one of themselves as chairman. In case of an equality of votes the chairman, as such, has a casting vote in addition to his previous right to vote as a member of the vestry.[134] In the event of a poll being demanded, it is taken by open voting, and the members of the vestry have from one to six votes, according to the amount of their assessment, those assessed at an annual value of under £50 having one vote, and those assessed at £50 and upwards having one vote for every complete £25 of their assessment up to £150; all at or above that figure having six votes and no more. In a new ecclesiastical parish or district a meeting in the nature of a vestry is composed of the same persons as would, if the parish or district were an ancient parish, be entitled to vote in the vestry thereof. But the Vestries Act, 1818,[135] only applies to ancient parishes. Consequently there is no plural voting in the quasi-vestry of a new parish, nor need the notice summoning a vestry meeting be given on a Sunday three clear days before the meeting.[136] But in other respects a vestry or a meeting in the nature of a vestry in a new parish is regulated by the same procedure as in an ancient parish. Since the abolition of compulsory church rates in 1868, and the transfer of their secular duties to other bodies, the functions of these vestries or meetings, whether in old or in new parishes, have been for the most part confined to the election of churchwardens and the approval, or the contrary, of applications for faculties.[137] In some places under a local Act or by the adoption of the Vestries Act, 1831,[138] the functions of the vestry are exercised by a select vestry consisting of a limited number of householders elected by the parishioners.
[3]. With regard to churchwardens, the general law as to their appointment in ancient parishes is declared by the 89th and 90th Canons. They are to be chosen, if possible, by the joint consent of the minister and parishioners. But if these cannot agree upon the choice, the minister is to choose one and the parishioners another. A stipendiary curate being at the time in charge of the cure stands in the place of the incumbent in the choice of churchwardens.[139] The election is to be annual, in Easter week; but the same persons are re-eligible for any number of years. By custom, however, there may be only one churchwarden or more than two; and, as is the case in the City of London, both may by custom be elected by the parishioners, or by the lord of the manor, or one by the incumbent and the other by the outgoing churchwardens. The election ordinarily takes place at the Easter vestry, but an election at another time is valid.[140] The election of both churchwardens is the act of the whole vestry, whether the minister and parishioners agree in their choice, or the minister chooses one and the parishioners the other. In the latter alternative, therefore, the vote of the minister is exhausted in choosing his own warden, and he cannot also vote as a parishioner in the election of the other warden; though if there is an equality of votes in this election, he apparently can, as chairman of the vestry, decide it by a casting vote.[141] In the case of all churches built under the Church Building or New Parishes Acts, except those which have no district attached to them, two churchwardens are to be annually chosen at Eastertide, one by the minister and the other by the persons entitled to attend and vote at a meeting in the nature of a vestry for the parish or district attached to the church.[142] If the church has no district attached to it, the choice of the second warden is vested in the pewrenters, or, if there are no rented pews, the minister selects both wardens.[143] Churchwardens, after their appointment, have no legal right to exercise their office until they have been admitted by the archdeacon at his visitation, or by the bishop or his chancellor during the years of episcopal visitation, when the archdeacon is inhibited and cannot act. Till then, their predecessors remain in office, notwithstanding that their year has expired, and their successors have been appointed.[144]
[4]. The two churchwardens are sometimes distinguished as the parson's or vicar's warden and the people's warden. But there is no legal precedence or seniority between the two, and though chosen differently their duties are identical.[145] These may be enumerated as follows: (a) The care of the fabric of the church, with its ornaments and furniture, and of the churchyard; and the duty of keeping them in proper repair and condition and of adequately insuring against fire so far as funds are in hand for the purpose, except, as regards the chancel, where the rector is liable for its repair.[146] They have no proprietary rights in the church or its fixtures or in the churchyard, but the movable articles in the church, including the bells and bell-ropes, and sums of money given to the church, belong to them as a corporation for that purpose.[147] (b) The seating of the parishioners and other churchgoers in the church, including the chancel, subject, however, as regards the chancel of an old parish church, to the right of the rector, whether spiritual or lay, and his family, to the chief seat, and to his disposal of the other chancel seats if the bishop or churchwardens take no action respecting them. In this duty the churchwardens act as the officers of the bishop, and are subject to his control if any complaint is made against them. Neither the vestry nor the incumbent, nor any individual parishioner, can interfere with their discretion in the matter, except by appealing to the bishop. (c) The provision at the expense of the parish of sacramental bread and wine and a surplice for the minister, as required by Canons 20 and 58. (d) The maintenance of order in the church and churchyard during Divine service. (e) The collection of the money at the offertory, and concurrence with the minister in its disposal to pious and charitable uses. (f) The charge of the church and benefice and of providing for the cure of souls during a vacancy in the living, if, as is usually the case, they are appointed sequestrators, but not otherwise.[148] Churchwardens can neither add to, alter, or remove any part of the church or its fittings without a faculty, nor can they interfere with the clergyman in his ministrations unless his conduct is such as to be riotous, violent, or indecent within the meaning of the Act of 1860 against brawling.[149] The rights and duties of the incumbent on the one hand, and of the churchwardens on the other, in respect of the church and churchyard and the money and property of the Church, are so interlaced, that on many points friction cannot be avoided without that harmonious co-operation which should always exist between them, or, if this is unfortunately impossible, at any rate without mutual forbearance and concession.
[5]. The 90th Canon directs that the minister and parishioners in every parish, if they can agree, shall yearly in Easter week choose two or three or more discreet persons as sidemen (or, as they are now called, sidesmen) to assist the churchwardens in performing the duties of their office. If no agreement is come to, they are to be appointed by the bishop. This Canon only applies to ancient parishes, and therefore sidesmen appointed, as is frequently the case, in new ecclesiastical parishes have, strictly speaking, no legal status. They are, however, frequently treated as if they possessed it, and in these, as well as in ancient parishes, assist the churchwardens in seating the people and taking the collections in church. No practical harm is likely to result from this unless they undertook such a duty as, for instance, the forcible ejection of a person misbehaving in church, in which case their right to do so might be called in question.
[6]. In addition to the churchwardens a body of Church trustees may now be appointed in any parish to accept contributions and hold funds for certain defined ecclesiastical purposes.[150] They are to consist of the incumbent and two householders or owners or occupiers of land in the parish, chosen in the first instance and on the happening of a vacancy, one by the patron and the other by the bishop, the incumbent being chairman. They are a body corporate under the name of the Church Trustees of the parish in which they are appointed, with perpetual succession and a common seal, and power to sue and be sued in their corporate name. As circumstances from time to time require, they may pay over funds in their hands to the churchwardens to be applied to the defined ecclesiastical purposes of the parish generally or to one or more of them specifically, due regard being had to any particular directions of the donors. Funds not so paid over may be invested in government or real securities and accumulated, with a view to the capital or income being applied at a subsequent time. At least once a year the trustees must lay before the vestry all accounts and particulars of their receipts and expenditure during the preceding year, and of the balance of funds in their hands.[151]