CO885-(2-3) — Page 53

CHURCH AFFAIRS (VICTORIA).

RETURN to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 24 May 1855;-for,

A COPY of an ACT to enable the BISHOPS, CLERGY, and LAITY of the UNITED CHURCH of England and IRELAND in Victoria to provide for the REGULATION of the AFFAIRS of the said Church."

Colonial Office, Į

5 June 1855, j

JOHN BALL.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O..

Reference -

885

2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

[Reserved for Her Majesty's Approval.]

VICTORIA.

Anno Decimo Octavo Victoriæ Reginæ.

AN ACT to enable the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the United Church of England and Ireland in Victoria to provide for the Regulation of the Affairs of the said Church. [30 November 1854.]

WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the regulation and management of Preamble. the affairs of the United Church of England and Ireland in Victoria: Be it therefore enacted, by his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor of Victoria, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-

1. It shall be lawful for any bishop of the United Church of England and Assembly may be Ireland in Victoria to convene an assembly of the licensed clergy and the laity convened. of such Church in bis diocese. And the bishop, or in his absence a commissary appointed in writing by him, shall preside in such assembly.

and members of

2. Every regulation, act and resolution of such assembly made by the bishop, Regulations of and the clergy and laity thereat, respecting the affairs of the said Church, Assembly binding including all advowson and right of patronage, shall be binding on every such on bishops, clergy, bishop and his successors, and on the clergy and lay members of the said Church Church. residing within the diocese for which such assembly shall have been convened, and on none other; and on them only so far as such regulation, act, or resolu- tion may concern the position, rights, duties, and liabilities of any minister or member of the said United Church, or any person in communion therewith, in regard of his ministry, membership, or communion, or may concern the advow-. son or right of patronage in or management of the property of the said Church: Provided that no such regulation, act, or resolution shall be valid, except it be made with the concurrence of a majority both of the clergy and of the laity, the votes of the clergy and those of the laity being separately taken, and except it receive the assent of the bishop.

3. It shall be lawful for any such assembly, by any regulation, act or resolu- Assembly may tion as aforesaid, to establish a commission for the trial of all ecclesiastical establish a Com- offences, and also to frame rules for the conduct, management, and mode of

mission. proceeding in and under such commission, and all such rules from time to time to vary, alter and repeal. And such gofumission shall be so constituted as such assembly may deem expedient; provided that no such commnission, nor any person acting thereunder, shall by virtue of this Act have or exercise any juris- diction over persons who are not clergymen of the said United Church of England and Ireland: and provided also that such commission, and the persons acting thereunder, shall report to the bishop within whose diocese any such offence shall occur, their opinion of the matters referred to them, and the penalty which they would recommend to be imposed, which penalty the bishop Shall not have the power to excred.

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