nominating ministers to such churches and chapels can be sold under the provisions of the said first herein-before recited act; and it is expedient that such doubts should be removed (1): Be it therefore declared and enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that every right of nomination of every such priest, curate, preacher, or minister, which at the time of the passing of the first herein-before recited act was vested in any municipal corporation, or in any member of such corporation in virtue of his office as such, shall and may be sold, at such time and in such manner as the said commissioners may direct, and shall by such conveyance or assurance as is in the said first-recited act mentioned become vested in the purchaser thereof, his heirs and assigns; and that from and after such sale and assurance every such curacy, preachership, or ministry shall become a benefice presentative within the meaning of the said recited act of the thirty-sixth year of the reign of King George the Third; and every such curate, preacher, or minister, and his successors for ever, shall become and be a body politic and corporate within the meaning of the said recited act of the first year of the reign of King George the First, and shall have perpetual succession, and shall be capable of taking and holding in perpetuity all such lands, tithes, tenements, hereditaments, monies, goods, and chattels as shall be granted unto or purchased for them respectively by the governors of the bounty of Queen Anne, or by other persons contributing with the said governors as benefactors; and every such purchaser, his heirs and assigns, may present to such benefice, from time to time when and as the same shall become vacant, in the same manner to all intents and purposes, as patrons may now present to benefices presentative. (1) By a grant of the 6th of James 1, the tithes &c., of the lordship of Bury St. Edmund's were conveyed to the aldermen and burgesses of that place, subject to the payment of 87. 108. yearly thereout to the curates and ministers of the two parish churches of Bury St. Edmund's, St. Mary's and St. James's. By a subsequent grant of 12 James 1, the king, after stating his expectation that the aldermen and burgesses of Bury St. Edmund's would provide able and fit ministers and preachers of the word, and other officers of the churches aforesaid necessary, at all times to come, granted to the aldermen and burgesses and their successors the whole and entire rectories and vicarages of Bury St. Edmund's, and the said parish churches of St. Mary and St. James, and all rights and patronage of the same, and all the tithes, both greater and less, and all other rights to the same belonging, to be held by them as freely and fully as the late abbot of the monastery [of Bury St. Edmund's] then lately dissolved, or any other his predecessors, had held the same. Under these grants the corporation made no endowment, nor did they give any fixed stipend to the ministers in either of the churches; but two persons were appointed to do the duties in each parish, the one called the preacher or lecturer, the other the curate or reader, the former being remunerated by a salary agreed upon from time to time between himself and the corporation, the latter by the surplice fees and Easter offerings. The office of curate or reader of St. James's. having become vacant before any sale had been effected by the corporation, it was held, that the right of presentation or nomination to such office fell within the provisions of 1 & 2 Vict. c. 31, and consequently that such right, in the case of a vacancy Notwithstanding any before sale, was vested in the bishop of the diocese, under the proviso in 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 139. See Hine v. Reynolds, 2 Scott's New Rep. 394, and S. C. 2 M. & G. 71. It was contended, amongst other points raised in the above case, that though this section made such a curacy as the above saleable, still it was not till after the sale that such curacy was to become a "benefice presentative; " and even assuming it to be within this latter act, it would not be brought within the provisions of the Municipal Act, and the proviso at the end of the 139th section of that act, as to the right of presentation in case of vacancy before sale. On this latter point, Tindal, C. J., in delivering the judgment of the court, observed: "We think the necessary consequence of holding it within the statute of Victoria is to bring it within the 139th section of the Municipal Corporation Act, and we consider the case the same as if the descriptive words of the later statute (1 & 2 Vict. c. 31) had been actually inserted in the 139th section of the former act, and had formed part of that section." II. And be it enacted, that notwithstanding any sale, the pro- such sale and conveyance as aforesaid, every such liable to same corporation, and the property belonging thereto, shall continue liable to the same obligations (if any) perty to be obligations as previous thereto. of providing for and maintaining or contributing to the maintenance of any such priest, curate, preacher, or minister, to which such corporation and property would have been liable if no such sale and conveyance had taken place; and such liability (if any) may be enforced by the same means, at the instance of her Majesty, her heirs or successors, or otherwise, as if the first herein-before recited act had not been passed, and the right of nominating such priest, curate, preacher, or minister had remained vested in such corporation. corporations and endow &c. as here III. Provided always, and be it hereby further Municipal enacted, that nothing in this act or in the said first- may augment recited act contained shall preclude any municipal priestships, corporation seised of any manors, lands, tenements, tofore. or hereditaments, subject to an obligation to nominate and provide any such priest, curate, preacher, or minister, from augmenting and endowing such priestship, curacy, preachership, or ministry, either by the assigning of a competent portion of such manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments to such priest, curate, preacher, or minister, and his successors, or by charging thereon an annual stipend, either in money or in kind, for his and their use and benefit, in as full and ample manner as such corporation might have done before the passing of the said first recited act: Provided always, that no such augmentation or endowment shall be valid without the consent of the lords commissioners of her Majesty's treasury or any three of them. future sales. IV. And be it enacted, that this act shall be Act to apply to previous, deemed and taken to apply as well to sales already present, and made, and to sales now in progress, as also to sales which shall hereafter be made. amended this V. And be it enacted, that this act may be amended Act may be or repealed by any act to be passed in this present session. session of Parliament. 378 STAMP-DUTY ON FREEMEN'S ACT. 1 & 2 VICT. CAP. 35. An Act to repeal the Stamp Duty now paid on WHEREAS the right and privilege of the freemen of the cities and boroughs in England, who have acquired their freedom by birth or servitude, to vote for members to serve in Parliament, have been confirmed by divers statutes; it is expedient that all impediments to the admission of persons entitled to the freedom of corporations should be removed, and that the stamp-duty payable on such admission should be abolished: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal and commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that after the passing of this act no stamp-duty shall be able on admis- chargeable on the admission of any person entitled to take his freedom by birth or servitude in any No stamp duty charge sion of free men in cities or boroughs. up city or borough in England returning a member or members to serve in Parliament. See ante, ss. 2, 3, 4, & 5, of 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76. |