Chapter 34

WHEN I say, that an alien is one who is born out of the king's dominions, or allegiance, this also must be understood with some restrictions. The common law indeed stood absolutely so; with only a very few exceptions: so that a particular act of parliament became necessary after the restoration[y], for the naturalization of children of his majesty's English subjects, born in foreign countries during the late troubles. And this maxim of the law proceeded upon a general principle, that every man owes natural allegiance where he is born, and cannot owe two such allegiances, or serve two masters, at once. Yet the children of the king's embassadors born abroad were always held to be natural subjects[z]: for as the father, though in a foreign country, owes not even a local allegiance to the prince to whom he is sent; so, with regard to the son also, he was held (by a kind of _postliminium_) to be born under the king of England's allegiance, represented by his father, the embassador. To encourage also foreign commerce, it was enacted by statute 25 Edw. III. st. 2. that all children born abroad, provided _both_ their parents were at the time of the birth in allegiance to the king, and the mother had passed the seas by her husband's consent, might inherit as if born in England: and accordingly it hath been so adjudged in behalf of merchants[a]. But by several more modern statutes[b] these restrictions are still farther taken off: so that all children, born out of the king's ligeance, whose _fathers_ were natural-born subjects, are now natural-born subjects themselves, to all intents and purposes, without any exception; unless their said fathers were attainted, or banished beyond sea, for high treason; or were then in the service of a prince at enmity with Great Britain.

[Footnote y: Stat. 29 Car. II. c. 6.]

[Footnote z: 7 Rep. 18.]

[Footnote a: Cro. Car. 601. Mar. 91. Jenk. Cent. 3.]

[Footnote b: 7 Ann. c. 5. and 4 Geo. II. c. 21.]

THE children of aliens, born here in England, are, generally speaking, natural-born subjects, and entitled to all the privileges of such. In which the constitution of France differs from ours; for there, by their _jus albinatus_, if a child be born of foreign parents, it is an alien[c].

[Footnote c: Jenk. Cent. 3. cites _treasure françois_, 312.]

A DENIZEN is an alien born, but who has obtained _ex donatione regis_ letters patent to make him an English subject: a high and incommunicable branch of the royal prerogative[d]. A denizen is in a kind of middle state between an alien, and natural-born subject, and partakes of both of them. He may take lands by purchase or devise, which an alien may not; but cannot take by inheritance[e]: for his parent, through whom he must claim, being an alien had no inheritable blood, and therefore could convey none to the son. And, upon a like defect of hereditary blood, the issue of a denizen, born _before_ denization, cannot inherit to him; but his issue born _after_, may[f]. A denizen is not excused[g] from paying the alien's duty, and some other mercantile burthens. And no denizen can be of the privy council, or either house of parliament, or have any office of trust, civil or military, or be capable of any grant from the crown[h].

[Footnote d: 7 Rep. Calvin's case. 25.]

[Footnote e: 11 Rep. 67.]

[Footnote f: Co. Litt. 8. Vaugh. 285.]

[Footnote g: Stat. 22 Hen. VIII. c. 8.]

[Footnote h: Stat. 12 W. III. c. 2.]

NATURALIZATION cannot be performed but by act of parliament: for by this an alien is put in exactly the same state as if he had been born in the king's ligeance; except only that he is incapable, as well as a denizen, of being a member of the privy council, or parliament, &c[i]. No bill for naturalization can be received in either house of parliament, without such disabling clause in it[k]. Neither can any person be naturalized or restored in blood, unless he hath received the sacrament of the Lord's supper within one month before the bringing in of the bill; and unless he also takes the oaths of allegiance and supremacy in the presence of the parliament[l].

[Footnote i: _Ibid._]

[Footnote k: Stat. 1 Geo. I. c. 4.]

[Footnote l: Stat. 7 Jac. I. c. 2.]

THESE are the principal distinctions between aliens, denizens, and natives: distinctions, which endeavors have been frequently used since the commencement of this century to lay almost totally aside, by one general naturalization-act for all foreign protestants. An attempt which was once carried into execution by the statute 7 Ann. c. 5. but this, after three years experience of it, was repealed by the statute 10 Ann. c. 5. except one clause, which was just now mentioned, for naturalizing the children of English parents born abroad. However, every foreign seaman who in time of war serves two years on board an English ship is _ipso facto_ naturalized[m]; and all foreign protestants, and Jews, upon their residing seven years in any of the American colonies, without being absent above two months at a time, are upon taking the oaths naturalized to all intents and purposes, as if they had been born in this kingdom[n]; and therefore are admissible to all such privileges, and no other, as protestants or Jews born in this kingdom are entitled to. What those privileges are[o], was the subject of very high debates about the time of the famous Jew-bill[p]; which enabled all Jews to prefer bills of naturalization in parliament, without receiving the sacrament, as ordained by statute 7 Jac. I. It is not my intention to revive this controversy again; for the act lived only a few months, and was then repealed[q]: therefore peace be now to it's _manes_.

[Footnote m: Stat. 13 Geo. II. c. 3.]

[Footnote n: Stat. 13 Geo. II. c. 7. 20 Geo. II. c. 24. 2 Geo. III. c. 25.]

[Footnote o: A pretty accurate account of the Jews, till their banishment in 8 Edw. I. may be found in Molloy _de jure maritimo_, b. 3. c. 6.]

[Footnote p: Stat. 26 Geo. II. c. 26.]

[Footnote q: Stat. 27 Geo. II. c. 1.]

CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH.

OF THE CLERGY.

THE people, whether aliens, denizens, or natural-born subjects, are divisible into two kinds; the clergy and laity: the clergy, comprehending all persons in holy orders, and in ecclesiastical offices, will be the subject of the following chapter.

THIS venerable body of men, being separate and set apart from the rest of the people, in order to attend the more closely to the service of almighty God, have thereupon large privileges allowed them by our municipal laws: and had formerly much greater, which were abridged at the time of the reformation, on account of the ill use which the popish clergy had endeavoured to make of them. For, the laws having exempted them from almost every personal duty, they attempted a total exemption from every secular tie. But it is observed by sir Edward Coke[a], that, as the overflowing of waters doth many times make the river to lose it's proper chanel, so in times past ecclesiastical persons, seeking to extend their liberties beyond their true bounds, either lost or enjoyed not those which of right belonged to them. The personal exemptions do indeed for the most part continue. A clergyman cannot be compelled to serve on a jury, nor to appear at a court-leet or view of frank pledge; which almost every other person is obliged to do[b]: but, if a layman is summoned on a jury, and before the trial takes orders, he shall notwithstanding appear and be sworn[c]. Neither can he be chosen to any temporal office; as bailiff, reeve, constable, or the like: in regard of his own continual attendance on the sacred function[d]. During his attendance on divine service he is privileged from arrests in civil suits[e]. In cases also of felony, a clerk in orders shall have the benefit of his clergy, without being branded in the hand; and may likewise have it more than once: in both which particulars he is distinguished from a layman[f]. But as they have their privileges, so also they have their disabilities, on account of their spiritual avocations. Clergymen, we have seen[g], are incapable of sitting in the house of commons; and by statute 21 Hen. VIII. c. 13. are not allowed to take any lands or tenements to farm, upon pain of 10_l._ _per_ month, and total avoidance of the lease; nor shall engage in any manner of trade, nor sell any merchandize, under forfeiture of the treble value. Which prohibition is consonant to the canon law.

[Footnote a: 2 Inst. 4.]

[Footnote b: F.N.B. 160. 2 Inst. 4.]

[Footnote c: 4 Leon. 190.]

[Footnote d: Finch. L. 88.]

[Footnote e: Stat. 50 Edw. III. c. 5. 1 Ric. II. c. 16.]

[Footnote f: 2 Inst. 637. Stat. 4 Hen. VII. c. 13. & 1 Edw. VI. c. 12.]

[Footnote g: page 169.]

IN the frame and constitution of ecclesiastical polity there are divers ranks and degrees: which I shall consider in their respective order, merely as they are taken notice of by the secular laws of England; without intermeddling with the canons and constitutions, by which they have bound themselves. And under each division I shall consider, 1. The method of their appointment; 2. Their rights and duties; and 3. The manner wherein their character or office may cease.

I. AN arch-bishop or bishop is elected by the chapter of his cathedral church, by virtue of a licence from the crown. Election was, in very early times, the usual mode of elevation to the episcopal chair throughout all christendom; and this was promiscuously performed by the laity as well as the clergy[h]: till at length, it becoming tumultuous, the emperors and other sovereigns of the respective kingdoms of Europe took the election in some degree into their own hands; by reserving to themselves the right of confirming these elections, and of granting investiture of the temporalties, which now began almost universally to be annexed to this spiritual dignity; without which confirmation and investiture, the elected bishop could neither be consecrated, nor receive any secular profits. This right was acknowleged in the emperor Charlemagne, _A.D._ 773, by pope Hadrian I, and the council of Lateran[i], and universally exercised by other christian princes: but the policy of the court of Rome at the same time began by degrees to exclude the laity from any share in these elections, and to confine them wholly to the clergy, which at length was completely effected; the mere form of election appearing to the people to be a thing of little consequence, while the crown was in possession of an absolute negative, which was almost equivalent to a direct right of nomination. Hence the right of appointing to bishopricks is said to have been in the crown of England[k] (as well as other kingdoms in Europe) even in the Saxon times, because the rights of confirmation and investiture were in effect (though not in form) a right of complete donation[l]. But when, by length of time, the custom of making elections by the clergy only was fully established, the popes began to except to the usual method of granting these investitures, which was _per annulum et baculum_, by the prince's delivering to the prelate a ring, and a pastoral staff or crosier; pretending, that this was an encroachment on the church's authority, and an attempt by these symbols to confer a spiritual jurisdiction: and pope Gregory VII, towards the close of the eleventh century, published a bulle of excommunication against all princes who should dare to confer investitures, and all prelates who should venture to receive them[m]. This was a bold step towards effecting the plan then adopted by the Roman see, of rendering the clergy intirely independent of the civil authority: and long and eager were the contests occasioned by this dispute. But at length when the emperor Henry V agreed to remove all suspicion of encroachment on the spiritual character, by conferring investitures for the future _per sceptrum_ and not _per annulum et baculum_; and when the kings of England and France consented also to alter the form in their kingdoms, and receive only homage from the bishops for their temporalties, instead of investing them by the ring and crosier; the court of Rome found it prudent to suspend for a while it's other pretensions[n].

[Footnote h: _per clerum et populum._ Palm. 25. 2 Roll. Rep. 102. M. Paris. _A.D._ 1095.]

[Footnote i: _Decret._ 1. _dist._ 63. _c._ 22.]

[Footnote k: Palm. 28.]

[Footnote l: "_Nulla electio praelatorum (sunt verba Ingulphi) erat mere libera et canonica; sed omnes dignitates tam episcoporum, quam abbatum, per annulum et baculum regis curia pro sua complacentia conferebat._" _Penes clericos et monachos fuit electio, sed electum a rege postulabant._ Selden. _Jan. Angl._ l. 1. §. 39.]

[Footnote m: _Decret._ 2. _caus._ 16. _qu._ 7. _c._ 12 & 13.]

[Footnote n: Mod. Un. Hist. xxv. 363. xxix. 115.]

THIS concession was obtained from king Henry the first in England, by means of that obstinate and arrogant prelate, arch-bishop Anselm[o]: but king John (about a century afterwards) in order to obtain the protection of the pope against his discontented barons, was prevailed upon to give up by a charter, to all the monasteries and cathedrals in the kingdom, the free right of electing their prelates, whether abbots or bishops: reserving only to the crown the custody of the temporalties during the vacancy; the form of granting a licence to elect, (which is the original of our _conge d'eslire_) on refusal whereof the electors might proceed without it; and the right of approbation afterwards, which was not to be denied without a reasonable and lawful cause[p]. This grant was expressly recognized and confirmed in king John's _magna carta_[q], and was again established by statute 25 Edw. III. st. 6. §. 3.

[Footnote o: M. Paris. _A.D._ 1107.]

[Footnote p: M. Paris. _A.D._ 1214. 1 Rym. _Foed._ 198.]

[Footnote q: _cap._ 1. _edit. Oxon._ 1759.]

BUT by statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 20. the antient right of nomination was, in effect, restored to the crown: it being enacted that, at every future avoidance of a bishoprick, the king may send the dean and chapter his usual licence to proceed to election; which is always to be accompanied with a letter missive from the king, containing the name of the person whom he would have them elect: and, if the dean and chapter delay their election above twelve days, the nomination shall devolve to the king, who may by letters patent appoint such person as he pleases. This election or nomination, if it be of a bishop, must be signified by the king's letters patent to the arch-bishop of the province; if it be of an arch-bishop, to the other arch-bishop and two bishops, or to four bishops; requiring them to confirm, invest, and consecrate the person so elected: which they are bound to perform immediately, without any application to the see of Rome. After which the bishop elect shall sue to the king for his temporalties, shall make oath to the king and none other, and shall take restitution of his secular possessions out of the king's hands only. And if such dean and chapter do not elect in the manner by this act appointed, or if such arch-bishop or bishop do refuse to confirm, invest, and consecrate such bishop elect, they shall incur all the penalties of a _praemunire_.

AN arch-bishop is the chief of the clergy in a whole province; and has the inspection of the bishops of that province, as well as of the inferior clergy, and may deprive them on notorious cause[r]. The arch-bishop has also his own diocese, wherein he exercises episcopal jurisdiction; as in his province he exercises archiepiscopal. As arch-bishop, he, upon receipt of the king's writ, calls the bishops and clergy of his province to meet in convocation: but without the king's writ he cannot assemble them[s]. To him all appeals are made from inferior jurisdictions within his province; and, as an appeal lies from the bishops in person to him in person, so it also lies from the consistory courts of each diocese to his archiepiscopal court. During the vacancy of any see in his province, he is guardian of the spiritualties thereof, as the king is of the temporalties; and he executes all ecclesiastical jurisdiction therein. If an archiepiscopal see be vacant, the dean and chapter are the spiritual guardians, ever since the office of prior of Canterbury was abolished at the reformation[t]. The arch-bishop is entitled to present by lapse to all the ecclesiastical livings in the disposal of his diocesan bishops, if not filled within six months. And the arch-bishop has a customary prerogative, when a bishop is consecrated by him, to name a clerk or chaplain of his own to be provided for by such suffragan bishop; in lieu of which it is now usual for the bishop to make over by deed to the arch-bishop, his executors and assigns, the next presentation of such dignity or benefice in the bishop's disposal within that see, as the arch-bishop himself shall choose; which is therefore called his option[u]: which options are only binding on the bishop himself who grants them, and not his successors. The prerogative itself seems to be derived from the legatine power formerly annexed by the popes to the metropolitan of Canterbury[w]. And we may add, that the papal claim itself (like most others of that encroaching see) was probably set up in imitation of the imperial prerogative called _primae_ or _primariae preces_; whereby the emperor exercises, and hath immemorially exercised[x], a right of naming to the first prebend that becomes vacant after his accession in every church of the empire[y]. A right, that was also exercised by the crown of England in the reign of Edward I[z]; and which probably gave rise to the royal corodies, which were mentioned in a former chapter[a]. It is also the privilege, by custom, of the arch-bishop of Canterbury, to crown the kings and queens of this kingdom. And he hath also by the statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 21. the power of granting dispensations in any case, not contrary to the holy scriptures and the law of God, where the pope used formerly to grant them: which is the foundation of his granting special licences, to marry at any place or time, to hold two livings, and the like: and on this also is founded the right he exercises of conferring degrees, in prejudice of the two universities[b].

[Footnote r: Lord Raym. 541.]

[Footnote s: 4 Inst. 322, 323.]

[Footnote t: 2 Roll. Abr. 223.]

[Footnote u: Cowel's interpr. tit. option.]

[Footnote w: Sherlock of options. 1.]

[Footnote x: Goldast. _constit. imper._ _tom._ 3. _pag._ 406.]

[Footnote y: Dufresne. V. 806. Mod. Un. Hist. xxix. 5.]

[Footnote z: _Rex, &c, salutem. Scribatis episcopo Karl. quod--Roberto de Icard pensionem suam, quam ad preces regis praedicto Roberto concessit, de caetero solvat; et de proxima ecclesia vacatura de collatione praedicti episcopi, quam ipse Robertus acceptaverit, respiciat._ _Brev._ 11 Edw. I. 3 Pryn. 1264.]

[Footnote a: ch. 8. pag. 273.]

[Footnote b: See the bishop of Chester's case. Oxon. 1721.]

THE power and authority of a bishop, besides the administration of certain holy ordinances peculiar to that sacred order, consists principally in inspecting the manners of the people and clergy, and punishing them, in order to reformation, by ecclesiastical censures. To this purpose he has several courts under him, and may visit at pleasure every part of his diocese. His chancellor is appointed to hold his courts for him, and to assist him in matters of ecclesiastical law; who, as well as all other ecclesiastical officers, if lay or married, must be a doctor of the civil law, so created in some university[c]. It is also the business of a bishop to institute and to direct induction to all ecclesiastical livings in his diocese.

[Footnote c: Stat. 37 Hen. VIII. c. 17.]

ARCHBISHOPRICKS and bishopricks may become void by death, deprivation for any very gross and notorious crime, and also by resignation. All resignations must be made to some superior[d]. Therefore a bishop must resign to his metropolitan; but the arch-bishop can resign to none but the king himself.

[Footnote d: Gibs. cod. 822.]

II. A DEAN and chapter are the council of the bishop, to assist him with their advice in affairs of religion, and also in the temporal concerns of his see[e]. When the rest of the clergy were settled in the several parishes of each diocese (as hath formerly[f] been mentioned) these were reserved for the celebration of divine service in the bishop's own cathedral; and the chief of them, who presided over the rest, obtained the name of _decanus_ or dean, being probably at first appointed to superintend _ten_ canons or prebendaries.

[Footnote e: 3 Rep. 75. Co. Litt. 103, 300.]

[Footnote f: pag. 108, 109.]

ALL antient deans are elected by the chapter, by _conge d'eslire_ from the king, and letters missive of recommendation; in the same manner as bishops: but in those chapters, that were founded by Henry VIII out of the spoils of the dissolved monasteries, the deanery is donative, and the installation merely by the king's letters patent[g]. The chapter, consisting of canons or prebendaries, are sometimes appointed by the king, sometimes by the bishop, and sometimes elected by each other.

[Footnote g: Gibs. cod. 173.]

THE dean and chapter are, as was before observed, the nominal electors of a bishop. The bishop is their ordinary and immediate superior; and has, generally speaking, the power of visiting them, and correcting their excesses and enormities. They had also a check on the bishop at common law: for till the statute 32 Hen. VIII. c. 28. his grant or lease would not have bound his successors, unless confirmed by the dean and chapter[h].

[Footnote h: Co. Litt. 103.]

DEANERIES and prebends may become void, like a bishoprick, by death, by deprivation, or by resignation to either the king or the bishop[j]. Also I may here mention, once for all, that if a dean, prebendary, or other spiritual person be made a bishop, all the preferments he was before possessed of are void; and the king may present to them in right of his prerogative royal. But they are not void by the election, but only by the consecration[i].

[Footnote j: Plowd. 498.]

[Footnote i: 2 Roll. Abr. 352. Salk. 137. [Transcriber's Note: Footnotes j and i are in this order in the original.]]

III. AN arch-deacon hath an ecclesiastical jurisdiction, immediately subordinate to the bishop, throughout the whole of his diocese, or in some particular part of it. He is usually appointed by the bishop himself; and hath a kind of episcopal authority, originally derived from the bishop, but now independent and distinct from his[k]. He therefore visits the clergy; and has his separate court for punishment of offenders by spiritual censures, and for hearing all other causes of ecclesiastical cognizance.

[Footnote k: 1 Burn. eccl. law. 68, 69.]

IV. THE rural deans are very antient officers of the church[l], but almost grown out of use; though their deaneries still subsist as an ecclesiastical division of the diocese, or archdeaconry. They seem to have been deputies of the bishop, planted all round his diocese, the better to inspect the conduct of the parochial clergy, and therefore armed with an inferior degree of judicial and coercive authority[m].

[Footnote l: Kennet. par. antiq. 633.]

[Footnote m: Gibs. cod. 972.]

V. THE next, and indeed the most numerous order of men in the system of ecclesiastical polity, are the parsons and vicars of parishes: in treating of whom I shall first mark out the distinction between them; shall next observe the method by which one may become a parson or vicar; shall then briefly touch upon their rights and duties; and shall, lastly, shew how one may cease to be either.