The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-12 00:00:00

PRIVY COUNCIL.-(THIS DAY.)

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sat to-day
in the Council Chamber, Whitehall. The Lords present were
the Lord President, the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord Chief
Justice of England, the Chancellor of the Duchfof Lancas-
ter, the Vice-Chancellor of England, and the Judge of the
Admiralty Court. The Attorney and Solicitor-General also
sat with their Lordships as assessors.

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION OF THE PROVOST OF

ETON COLLEGE.

The arguments in this part-heard case were resumed this
morning. The case came before their Lordships upon a pe-
tition presented to her Majesty, by the Provost and Fellows
of the College Royal of Eton, against a scheme proposed to
her Majesty with respect to the C 'liege by the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners of England. The following are the more im-
portant facts of the case :
" The College Royal of the Blessed Mary of Eten, otherwise
called 'The Kyng's College cf our Ladye of Eton besyde
Wyndsore,' was founded by Henry VI., in 1440, and by
him incorporated and endowed, and invested with many
privileges, by letters patent and charter incorporated into
and confirmed by Act of Parliament, the 20th of Henry VI.
The perpetual advowson of the parish church of Eton was
purchased by the King, and granted to the college in
frankalmoin, and the church was changed into a collegiate
church, and appropriated, united, and annexed to and in-
corporated with the college, with the consent of the then
Bishop of the diocese (Lincoln), in 1443. At the request of
the King, the college was expressly exempted from the
jurisdiction of the archdeaconry of Bucks, and the archi-
diaconal jurisdiction within the parish and colle&iate church
of Eton was conferred upon the provost and his successors
by the Bishop of Lincoln, with the consent of the Arch-
deacon, to whom an indemnity was assigned of 22ss6d. per
annum, charged upon an estate belogging to the college,
which has ever since been regularly paid. In 1445 or 1446
a body of statutes was granted by the King to the college,
and all collegiate persons are sworn to obey these statutes.
One of these statutes (49th), "Of the Metropolitan Visita-
tion of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the ordinary Visi-
tation of the .Bishop of Lincoln," contains the following
passage :—" Also, we have it much at heart that all and sin-
gular the ordinances and statutes of our said Royal College
by us made and to be made may for ever be fully and
efficfently observed, and all the property of the same faith-
fully preserved and discreetly controlled, and we firmly
hope that the most Reverend Father in Christ the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, the Metropolitan of the said college,
the Rev. Father in Christ the Bishop of Lincoln, the
Diocesan of the same, who, for the time being, as they
' ought to be the visitors and ordinaries of our said college
( sicut dicti nostri Colleyii Visateres et Ordinarii esse debebutd)
so they will be favourable conservators and chief protectors
of the same college, and of all and singular persons and
possessions spiritual and temporal, and of the rights,
liberties, and privileges of the same, and especially of
our statutes and ordinances aforesaid; on account of which
our singular confidence in them, we have not cared to make
oar said college exempt from the same (non curavimus exemp-
tunz facere ab eisdem) by the authority of the Apostolic See ; '
and it wills that the Archbishop, as often as he shall visit
_ .

the diocese of Lincoln as metropolitical, by himself, or his
(suos), and the Bishop of Lincoln, when they shall have been
required by the Provost, Vice. Provost, Bursars, or Fellows,
also without requisition, every three years, when he
should ordinarily visit his cathedral church and diocese,
shall once freely come to the college by themselves or their
commissaries (except the Provost of Eaton), and others
named in the statute, and shall call together the Fellows
and other persons of the college ; " which same most reve-
rend and reverend fathers and such theiecommizearies afore-
said, by force of this, our present ordinance and statute, we
will more fully to have power of inquiry most rigidly concern-
ing all and singular the articles contained in our ordinances
and statutes by the Provost, &c.; also, if it befit under the
oath of the same to be administered to them to speak the
full and ;simple truth (to wit), if our ordinances and statutes
aforesaid had been duly executed and also observed by all of
them," &c. ; " and concerning any excess?s, negligences,
crimes, and faults whatsoever of our said royal college, ac-
cording to the full force, form and effect of the ordinances
and statutes fur the correction and punishment thereof,"
&c. In short, this statute confers the most ample
visitatorial powers upon the Archbishop of Canterbury
and the Bishop of Lincoln, extending to deprivation ;
but expressly takes away from them, " any other
power in our said college, as over the persons of the same, or
to other matters than those contained in our present statute,
and our other statutes and ordinances,;or that they may be
able, or that any of them can, by reason of the jurisdiction
which he or they have in the same, or over any of the persons
thereof, cite, or Cause to be cited, summon, or cause to be
summoned, out of the said college, the Provost, or any fellow,
or any other collegiate person, whatsoever in the same; but
we, as much as is in us, entirely deprive them, and each of
them, of such power by force of this our present statute
( sed potestatem hujusmodi eis et wrung cultibet prcesentis
stututi nosti i vigore in quantum in nobis est adimimus amni
motto). The Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1446, by deed under
seal, accepted, ratified, and approved all these statutes,
especially the 49th, as did also the Bishop of Lincoln
By virtue of the premises, the Provost and college had
claimed and exercised exclusive and peculiar ecclesiastical
jurisdiction within the parish of Eton. The Bishop of Lin-
coln (within which diocese Eton was localy situate) never
exercised, or attempted to exercise, any diocesan jurisdic-
tion in the parish or collegiate church of' Eton. Marriage
licenses are granted by the Provost, and no churchwardens
have ever been elected or appointed by the parish, which
has been wholly exempted from church-rates, repairs and
other expenses, ordinarily the subject of a church-rate,
Having been defrayed by
the college. The visitatorial
power has been constantly exercised by the Bishops of Lin-
coln, and occasionally by the Archbishops of Canterbury.
which created the body
pTohl
iAcctan6dancod
"c:th7e7, Ecclesiastical Commis-
r7poWraitleli,amcaliVed.,
sioners for England," enacted (sec. 10) that the Commis-
sioners shall from time to time prepare and lay before his
Majesty in Council such schemes as shall appear to them
best adapted to carry into effect the recommendations
therein mentioned, and shall prepare such measures as may
appear necessary for that purpose, and they are empowered '
to propose in any such scheme, " that all parishes,
churches, or chapelries, which are locally situate in any
diocese,
but subject to any peculiar jurisdiction other than
the jurisdiction of the bishop
of the diocese in which the
same are locally situate, shall be only subject to the
.jurisdic-
tion of the bishop of the diocese within which such
churches, or chapelries are locally situated." juiparishes,
the Commissioners proposed to her Majesty, with t3:11e1837, con-
sent of the Bishop of Lincoln, that upon the first avoidance
of the see of Oxford, the county of Bucks (forming the arch-
deaconry of Fucks), then part of the dioeese of Lincoln, should
be detached therefroll, and annexed to the see of Oxford.
'his scheme teas ratified by her Majesty, and in November,
1845, the see of Oxford becoming void by the translation
of the then Bishop of Bath and Wells, the county of
Bucks became parcel of the see of Oxford. Meanwhile
the Ecclesiaticat Commissioners, in August, 1845,
h Ist of
pro-
posed to her Majesty, inter alia,
that
aces locally situate
January, 1846, all parishes and pl after
ye
within the diocese of Lincoln, and all churches and chapels,
and the whole clergy and others of her Majesty's subjects
locally situate within the limits of such parishes and places,
should, notwithstanding ary peculiar jurisdiction or exemp-
tion from jurisdiction they might claim, be subject to the
jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese within which they
I were locally situate, and to no other eclesiastical jurisdiction
whatever. This scheme was likewise ratified by her

Majesty. The county of Bucks having, by. its transfer to
the seo of Oxford, in November, 1845, ceased to form part
of the diocese of Lincoln, when_ he aforegolno scheme took

effect (Ist of January, 1846), it had no operation upon the '
peculiar or exempt jurisdictions in that county. On the
29th of April last the Commissioners laid before her Ma-
jesty another scheme, proposing that all parishes and places
locally situate within the diocese of Oxford, and all churches
and chapels and the whole clergy and others, ber Majesty's
subjects, locally situate within such parishes and places shall,
notwithstanding any peculiar or other ecclesiastical jurisdic-
tion or exemption claimed by them, be subject only to the
jurisdiction and authority of the Bishop of Oxford; " pro-
vided that nothing herein contained shall deprive the colle-
giate church and parish of Eton of their present exemption,
if any, from the jurisdiction of the Archdeacon of Bucking-
ham." The Provost and fellows of Etbn objected to this scheme
on several grounds Because, Eton being a royal foun-
dation, and having hitherto enjoyed an exemption from
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, no evil consequences have arisen
'therefrom ; on the contrary, the ecclesiastical state of the
parish and college is in all respects satisfactory. 2. Because
no particular or peculiar benefit or advantage has been sug-
gested as likely to accrue to the college, parish, or diocese,
fi onvthe abolition of this peculiar jurisdiction. 3. Because
the immediate and necessary consequence would be to plane
the Bishop of Lii:co!n, as visitor, the I'rovcst, fellows, and
collegiate clerks, and the Bishop of Oxford, as ordinary,
in collision ; and to render the Provost, fellows, and all
collegiate persons amenable in the same capacity, to two
different and possibly conflicting tribunals. 4. Because the
charter, privileges, and statutes of the college having been
lawfully granted, confirmed and recognised, and found
highly beneficial, it is unjust in principle, and impolitic in
practice, to interfere in the manner proposed without urgent
cause, or proposed advantage, or charge made against the
college. The Commissioners, cn the other hand, say that the
exemption from episcopal jurisdiction, claimed by the college,
does not appear to them to have at any time in fact ex-
isted ; that the parish of Eton, and the site of the Royal
College, were, at the date of the foundation of the college,
and continued to be till November last, within the diocese
of Lincoln, the Bishops of which see having been, under the
statutes of the college, ordinary visitors, filled the twofold
character of diocesan and visitor, which had given rise to
the supposition of an exemption from episcopal jurisdiction ;
whereas the episcopal authority could not merge in the
visitatorial authority ; and there is no evidence of any act of
a Bishop of Lincoln, by which the collegiate church of Eton
was exempted from the diocesan authority, whilst confirma-
tion and other rites performed there by Bishops of Lincoln
could only have been performed by them as ordinaries of the
diocese. But should the petitioners be able to establish the
exemption they claimed, then the Commissioners submit that
that exemption ought not to be continued. one of the objects
of the Act of Gth and 7th William IV., c. 77, being to put an
end to such anomalies. If, therefore, the collegiate church
and parish of Eton are not exempt from episcopal jurisdic-
tion, they are not affected by the scheme; and if they are
exempt, that church and parish will under the proposed
scheme be placed under the episcopal jurisdiction of the
bishop in whose diocese they are locally situate, according to
the spirit and intent of the Act.
Mr. BETIIELL resumed his arguments to day in behalf of
the petitioners, and the case appears likely to occupy several
days.

SECONDARIES'.-(THIS DAY.)
(Before Mr. Secondary POTTER.)
ASSA U LT. NEYLAND V. PEARSON.

This was an action to recover damages for an assault. Mr.
Ry land appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Sergeant Jones for
the defendant, who suffered judgment to go by default.
The facts of the case, as elicited from the plaintiff's wit-
nesses, were these : —The plaintiff is a dealer in Bass's Indian
ales, and the defendant a licensed victualler, keeping the
Mitre, in Chancery-lane. On the 6th of July last the
plaintiff took six dozen of ale, and charged it at six
shillings a dozen, which the defendant objected to, and
said that it was agreed when the dozen was sent as a
sample that it should be only ss. 6d. per dozen, and he
would not pay any more, and plaintiff might take it away
again, on which plaintiff called him a d—d humbug, &c., &c.,
and said he would not do so. Defendant told him not to
repeat the offensive words, which, however, he did, and
defendant then went round the corner and struck him in

the face. It was net pretended that the injury was severe,
but plaintiff went to an attorney a short distance
away, who immediately sent a letter requiring com-
pensation for the injury and an apology, also
payment for the beer, and the next day writs were issued.
Defendant paid for the beer, but determined to take the
opinion of the jury as to the assault..
Mr. Sergeant -JONES contended, that although the de-
fendant could not justify the assault, yet that, if the jury
sanctioned such conduct by their verdict, they would be
encouraging actions of this kind, and no tradesman would be
safe from insults and imposition.
The jury retired for two hours, and at three o'clock gave
51. damages.