ROIT.
THE HONGKONG
Government Gazette.
Published by Authority.
VICTORIA, SATURDAY, 15TH JULY, 1865.
VOL. XI.
No. 28.
No. 111.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Circular Despatch from the Right Honorable The SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES, transmitting the Judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of the Bishop of Natal, is published for general information.
By Order,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 12th July, 1865.
W. H. ALEXANDER, Acting Colonial Secretary.
CIRCULAR.
DownING STREET, 21st April, 1865.
SIR,-I transmit to you herewith copies of a Judgment which has been recently delivered by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of the Bishop of Natal.
The questions raised by this Judgment are under the careful consideration of Her Majesty's Government, but it has appeared to me desirable that the Ecclesiastical Authorities of the Church of England in all the British Colonies should be in possession of a Copy of the Judgment, which has so important a bearing on the Status of many Colonial Bishops.—I have the bonor to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant,
The Officer Administering the Government of Hongkong,
EDWARD CARDWELL.
Case of the Bishop of Natal.
Judgment of the Lords of the Judicial Committee 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, 1861; delivered 20th March,
1865.
Present:
LORD CHANCELLOR. LORD CRANWORTH.
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, therefore, both ecclesiastical and mporal, must be ascertained 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 the construction of the grants to them contained in the Letters-Patent; for they are the creatures of English law, and Aependent
on that law for their existence, rights, and attributes.
We must treat the parties before us as standing on this foundation, and on no other.
i
The Letters-Patent by which Dr. Gray was appointed Bishop of Cape Town and also Metropolitan, passed the Great Seal the Sth December, 1853. These Letters-Patent recited, among other things, that it had been represented to Her Majesty the Archbishop of Canterbury that the then existing see or diocese of Cape Town was of inconvenient extent, and that for due spiritual care and superintendence of the religions interests of the inhabitants thereof, and for the maintenance of the trine and discipline of the United Church of England and Ireland within the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope and its
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