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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
TC.O.885
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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We must treat the parties before us as standing on this foundation, and on no other.
The Letters-Patent by which Dr. Gray was appointed Bishop of Cape Town and also Metropo- litan, passed the Great Seal ou the 8th December, 1853. These Letters-Patent recited, among other things, that it had "been represented to Her Majesty by the Archbishop of Canterbury that the then exist- ing sec or diocese of Cape Town was of inconvenient extent, and that for the due spiritual care and superintendence of the religious interests of the inhabitants thereof, and for the maintenance of the doctrine and discipline of the United Church of England and Ireland within the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope and its dependencies, and the Island of Saint Helena, it was desirable and expedient that the same should be divided into three (or more) distinct and separate sees or dioceses, to be styled the Bishopric of Cape Town, the Bishopric of Gra- ham's Town, and the Bishopric of Natal—the Bishops of the said several secs of Graham's Town and Natal and their successors to be subject and subor- dinate to the See of Cape Town and to the Bishop thereof and his successors, in the same manuer as any bishop of any see within the Province of Canterbury was under the authority of the Arcbi- episcopal See of that province and the Archbishop of the same; and the Letters-Patent contained the following passages :—
"And we do further will and ordain that the said Right Reverend Father in God, Robert Gray, Bishop of the said See of Cape Town, and his successors the Bishops thereof for the time being, shall be and be deemed and taken to be the Metropolitan Bishop in our Colony of the Cape of Good Hope and its dependencies, and our Island of Saint Helena, subject nevertheless to the general superintendence and revision of the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being, and subordinate to the Archiepiscopal Sec of the Province of Canterbury; and we will and ordain that the said Bishops of Graham's Town and Natul respectively shall be Suffragan Bishops to the said Bishop of Cape Town and his successors. And we will and grant to the said Bishop of Cape Town and his successors full power and authority as Metropolitan of the Cape of Good Hope, and of the Island of Saint Helena, to perform all functions
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peculiar and appropriate to the office of Metropo- litan within the limits of the said Sees of Graham's Town and Natal, and to exercise Metropolitan jurisdiction over the Bishops of the said Sees and their successors, and over all archdeacons, digni- taries, and all other chaplains, ministers, priests,
and deacons in holy orders of the United Church of England and Ireland within the limits of the said dioceses. And we do by these presents give and grant unto the said Bishop of Cape Town aud his successors full power and authority to visit, once in five years, or oftener if occasion shall require, as well the said several Bishops and their successors,
as all dignitaries and other chaplains. ministers, priests, and deacons in holy orders of the United Church of England and Ireland resident in the said dioceses, for correcting and supplying the defects of the said Bishops and their successors, with all and all manner of visitorial jurisdiction, power, and cvercion.
And we do hereby authorize and empower the said Bishop of Cape Town and his successors to inhibit during any such visitation of the said dioceses the exercise of all or of such part or parts
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of the ordinary jurisdiction of the said Bishops or their successors as to him the said Bishop of Cape Town or his successors shall seem expedient, and during the time of such visitation to exercise by himself or themselves, or his or their commissaries, such powers, functions, and jurisdictions in and over the said dioceses as the Bishops thereof might have exercised if they had not been inhibited from exer- cising the same.
"And we do further ordain and declare that if
any person against whom a judgment or decree shall be pronounced by the said Bishops or their successors, or their commissary or commissaries, shall conceive himself to be aggrieved by such sentence, it shall be lawful for such person to appeal to the said Bishop of Cape Town or his successors, pro- vided such appeal be entered within fifteen days after such sentence shall have been pronounced.
"And we do give and grant to the said Bishop of Cape Town and his successors full power and authority Gually to decree and determine the suid appeals.
"And we do further will and ordain that in case
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