The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-07-08 00:00:00

THE ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES BILL

A Bill /as amended by the Committee and on considera-
tion of bill as amended) to prevent the Assumption
of certain Ecclesiastical Titles in respect of places in
the United Kingdom.
Whereas divers of her Majesty's Roman Catholic
subjects have assumed to themselves the titles of Arch-
bishop and Bishops of a pretended province, and of pre-
tended sees or dioceses, within the United Kingdom,
under colour of an alleged authority given to them for
that purpose by certain briefs, rescripts, or letters epos-
tolical from the See of Rome, and particularly by a cer-
tain brief, rescript, or letters apostolical, purporting to
have been given at Rome on the 29th of September, 1850,
and whereas, by the act of the 10th year of King George
the Fourth, chapter 7, after citing that the Protestant
Episcopal Church of England and Ireland, and the doc-
trine, discipline, and government thereof, and likewise,
the Protestant Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and
the doctrine, discipline. and government thereof, were
by the respective acts of union of England and Scot-
land, and of Great Britain and Ireland, established perma-
nently and inviolably, and that the right and title of Arch-
bishops to their respective provinces, of Bishops to their
Sees, and of Deans to their Deaneries, as wellin England as
in Ireland, had been settled and established bylaw, it was en-
acted, that if any person after the commencement of that act,
other than the person thereunto authorsed by law, should
assume or use the name, style, or title of archbishop of
any province, bishop of any bishopric, or dean of any
deanery in England or Ireland, he should for every such
offence forfeit and pay the sum of £lOO. And whereas
it may be doubted whether the recited enactment extends
to the assumption of the title of archbishop or bishop of
a pretended province or diocese, or archbishop or bishop
of a city, place, or territory, or dean of any pretended
deanery in England or Ireland, not being the see, pro-
vince, or diocese of any archbishop or bishop or deanery
of any dean recognised by law ; but the attempt to esta-
blish, under colour of authority from • the See of Rome
or otherwise, such pretended sees, provinces, dioceses or
deaneries, is illegal and void. And whereas it is expedi-
ent to prohibit the assumption of such titles in respect of
any places within the United Kingdom : be it therefore
declared and enacted by the Queen's most excellent Ma-
jesty, 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—
I.—All such briefs, rescripts, or letters apostolical, and
all and every the jurisdiction, authority, pre-eminence, or
title conferred or pretended to be conferred thereby, are
and shall be and be deemed unlawful and void.
ll.—And be it enacted, that if, after the passing of this
Act, any person shalt obtain or cause to be procured from
the Bishop or See of Rome, or shall publish or put in use
within any part of the United Kingdom, any such bull,
brief, rescript, or letters apostolical, or any other instru-
ment or writing, for the purpose of constituting such
Archbishops or Bishops of such pretended provinces,
sees, or dioceses, within the United Kingdom, or if any
person, other than a person thereunto authorized by law
in respect of an archbishopric, bishopric, or deanery of the
United Church of England and Ireland, assume or use
the name, style, or title of archbishop, bishop, or dean of
any city, town, or place, or of any territory or district
(under any designation or description whatsoever) in the
United Kingdom, whether such city, town, or place, or
such territory or district, be or be not the see or the pro.-
vince. or co-extensive with the province of any archbishop,
or the see or the diocese, or co-extensive with the
diocese of any bishop, or the seat or place of the
church of any dean, or co-extensive with any deanery
of the said United Church, the person so offending
shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the
sum of one hundred pounds, to be recovered as penalties
imposed by the recited Act may be recovered under the
provisions thereof, or by action of debt at the suit of any
person in one of her Majesty's superior courts of law,
with the consent of her Majesty's Attorney-General in
England or Ireland, or her Majesty's Advocate in Scot-
laud, as the case may be.
lll.—This Act shall not extend or apply to the assump-
tion or use by any Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in &Aland exercising episcopal functions within
some district or place in Scotland of any name, style, or
title in respect of such district or place, but nothing here-
in contained shall be t: ken to give any right to any such
bishop to assume or use any name, style, or title, which
he is not now by law entitled to assume or use.
IV.—Be it enacted that nothing herein contained shall
be construed to annul, repeal, or in any manner affect any
provision contained in an act
the reign of her present Majesty, intituled " An Act for
the more effectual Application of Charitable Donations
and Bequests in Ireland." passed in the eighth year of