CASE OF THE BISHOP OF NATAL.
Judgment of the Lords of the Judicial Com- mittee of the Privy Council upon the Petition of the Lord Bishop of Natal, referred to the Judicial Committee by Her Majesty's Order in Council of the 10th June, 1864; delivered 20th March, 1865.
Present:
า
LORD CHANCELLOR. LORD CRANWORTH.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.885
Reference -
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
LORD KINGSDOWN. DEAN OF THE ARCHES.
MASTER OF THE Rolls.
THE Bishop of Natal and the Bishop of Cape Town (who are the parties to this proceeding) are ecclesiastical Persons who have been created Bishops
by the Queen, in the exercise of her authority as Sovereign of this realm and Head of the Established Church.
These Bishops were consecrated under Mandate from the Queen by the Archbishop of Canterbury. in the manner prescribed by the law of England.
They received and hold their dioceses under grants made by the Crown. Their status, there fore, both ecclesiastical and te mporal, must be ascer- tained and defined by the law of England; and. it is plain that their legal existence depends on acts which have no validity or effect, except on the basis of the supremacy of the Crown.
Further, their respective and relative rights and liabilities must be determined by the principles of English law applied to the construction of the grants to them contained in the Letters-Patent; for they are the creatures of English law, and dependent on the law for their existence, rights, and attributes.
B
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