PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O. 88
Reference -
885
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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decture that the said Bishop of Natal, and also his successors, having been respectively, by Us, Our heirs and successors, named and appointed, and, by the said Archbishop of Canterbury, canonically ordained and consecrated, according to the form of the United Church of England and Ireland, may perform all the functions peculiar and appropriate to the office of Bishop within the said diocese of Natal. And for a declaration of the spiritual causes and matters in which the aforesaid jurisdiction may be more specially exercised, We do, by these presents, further declare that the aforesaid Bishop of Natal, and his successors, may exercise and enjoy full power and authority, by himself or themselves, or by the Archdeacon or Archdeacons, or the Vicar- General, or other officer or officers hereinafter men- tioned, to give institution to benefices, to grant licences to officiate to all rectors, curates, ministers, and chaplains, of all the churches or chapels, or other places within the said diocese wherein divine service shall be celebrated according to the rites and liturgy of the Church of England, and to visit all
rectors, curates, ministers, and chaplains, and all priests and deacons in holy orders of the United Church of England and Ireland, resident within the said diocese, and also to call before him or them, or before the Archdeacon or Archdeacons, or the Vicar- General, or other officer or officers hereinafter men- tioned, at such competent days, hours, and places, when and so often as to him or them shall seem meet and convenient, the aforesaid rectors, curates, minis- ters, chaplains, priests, and deacons, or any of them, and to inquire as well concerning their morals as their behaviour in their said offices and stations respectively, subject, nevertheless, to such rights of
review and appeal as are hereinafter given and reserved.
→ And for the better accomplishment of the pur- poses aforesaid, We do hereby grant and declare, that the said Bishop of Natal and his successors may found and constitute one or more dignities in his cathedral church, and also one or more Arcb- deaconries within the said diocese; and may collate fit and proper persons to be dignitaries of the said cathedral church, and one or more fit and proper persous to be Archdeacons of the said Archdeaconries respectively Provided always, that such dignitaries
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and Archdeacons shall exercise such jurisdiction only as shall be committed to them by the said Bishop, or his successors ; and the said Bishop, and his suc- cessors, may also, from time to time nominate and appoint fit and proper persons to be respectively the officers hereinafter mentioned-that is to say, to be Vicar-General, Official Principal, Chancellor, or Rural Deans, and Commissaries, either general or special; and may also appoint one or more fit and proper persons to be Registrars and Actuaries: Provided always, that the Dignitaries and Arch- deacons aforesaid shall be subject and subordinate to the said Bishop of Natal and his successors, and hall be assisting to him and them in the exercise of
his and their episcopal jurisdiction and functions."
I have failed to discover any of the functions or powers so enumerated which the Bishop of Natal
is unable to exercise. No Judgment of the Privy Council has deprived him of one of them. The law
as declared by the Privy Council's Judicial Com- mittee leaves all these functions to the Bishop exactly
ns by the law of the Church of England they belong to that office. He may as Bishop visit, he may as Bishop call before him the ministers within his diocese, and he may inquire respecting their morals and behaviour and the doctrines that they preach; but the power which the Letters-Patent seem to intimate an intention of conferring upon the Bishop- namely, the power of enforcing obedience to his orders in the performance of these duties, and the power of removing any obstruction which may
be interposed to prevent his performing any of the functions of a Bishop-this power is not given to him personally, or to any officers of his, or depen- dent on him. Is he therefore left powerless, and can any one with impunity resist his authority? This is not so; but to enforce obedience to his orders, or to remove obstructions interposed to pre- vent his performing his functions, he must have recourse to the civil tribunals which administer the law of the colony, before which tribunals the person who resists the acts of the Bishop may contest the validity or legality of the acts intended to be done
by the Bishop, or of the orders given him.
In other words, the Bishop of Natal can exercise all the duties and functions, and perform all the acts, which belong to a Bishop within the diocese of
0.