Version incorporating amendments as at
1 June 2019
table of provisions
Section Page
1 Synod may be convened 1
2 Regulations of Synod binding on Bishops, Clergy and Members of Church 1
3 Synod may establish a Commission 2
4 Powers of Synod and Commission 3
5 Regulations of Synod not to affect right of appeal etc. 3
6 Regulations of Synod not to be contrary to Act of Council etc. 4
7 Mode of summoning a Synod 4
8 Chairman to be elected etc. 4
9 Representatives to be elected 5
10 Mode of Election etc. 5
11 Certificate to be given etc. 6
12 Declaration to be made 6
13 Synod may make regulations etc. 6
13A Lay membership of Synod 7
14 Provision for cases not provided for, regulations etc. 7
15 Copy of regulations to be transmitted to Archbishop 8
16 Provisional Acts valid 8
18 Royal prerogative not interfered with 9
19 Interpretation 9
Endnotes 10
1 General information 10
2 Table of Amendments 12
3 Amendments Not in Operation 13
4 Explanatory details 14
Version No.002
Church of England Act 1854 18 Vict. No. 45
No. 45 of 1854
Version incorporating amendments as at
1 June 2019
An Act to enable the Bishops Clergy and Laity of the United Church of England and Ireland in Victoria to provide for the regulation of the affairs of the said Church.[1]
[Reserved for Her Majesty's Approval.]
Preamble
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the regulation and management of the affairs of the United Church of England and Ireland in Victoria:
BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor in Victoria by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof as follows:
S. 1
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
1 Synod may be convened
It shall be lawful for any Bishop of the United Church of England and Ireland in Victoria to convene a Synod of the licensed Clergy and the Laity of such Church in his diocese. And the Bishop or in his absence a Commissary appointed in writing by him shall preside in such Synod.
S. 2
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
2 Regulations of Synod binding on Bishops, Clergy and Members of Church
Every regulation act and resolution of such Synod made by the Bishop and the Clergy and Laity thereat respecting the affairs of the said Church including all advowson and right of patronage shall be binding on every such Bishop and his successors and on the Clergy and Lay members of the said Church residing within the diocese for which such Synod shall have been convened and on none other and on them only so far as such regulation act or resolution may concern the position rights duties and liabilities of any minister or member of the said United Church or any person in communion therewith in regard of his ministry membership or communion or may concern the advowson or right of patronage in or management of the property of the said Church.
Provided that no such regulation act or resolution shall be valid except it be made with the concurrence of a majority both of the Clergy and of the Laity the votes of the Clergy and those of the Laity being separately taken and except it receive the assent of the Bishop.
S. 3
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
3 Synod may establish a Commission
It shall be lawful for any such Synod by any regulation act or resolution as aforesaid to establish a Commission for the trial of all Ecclesiastical offences and also to frame rules for the conduct management and mode of proceeding in and under such Commission and all such rules from time to time to vary alter and repeal. And such Commission shall be so constituted as such Synod may deem expedient. Provided that no such Commission nor any person acting thereunder shall by virtue of this Act have or exercise any jurisdiction over persons who are not Clergymen of the said United Church of England and Ireland. And provided also that such Commission and the persons acting thereunder shall report to the Bishop within whose diocese any such offence shall occur their opinion of the matters referred to them and the penalty which they would recommend to be imposed which penalty the Bishop shall not have the power to exceed.
S. 4
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
4 Powers of Synod and Commission
It shall not be lawful by any regulation act or resolution of any such Synod nor by the sentence of any Commission as aforesaid or any person acting thereunder to impose any penalty or disability other than such as may be consequent upon a sentence of suspension from or deprivation of an ecclesiastical office or benefice or may affect such advowson right of patronage or property as aforesaid.
S. 5
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
5 Regulations of Synod not to affect right of appeal etc.
No regulation of any such Synod which shall affect any right of appeal to Her Majesty in Council or to the Archbishop of Canterbury or to the Metropolitan of the province or the subordination of the said Bishops Clergy and Laity to the Metropolitan or to the said Archbishop shall be valid unless the consent of the said Archbishop or of the said Metropolitan thereto be previously or thereafter signified by him under his hand and seal nor unless such regulation be confirmed by an order of the Archbishop of Canterbury and no regulation act or resolution made or passed at any Synod shall be valid which shall alter or be at variance with the authorised standards of faith and doctrine of the United Church of England and Ireland or shall alter the oaths declarations and subscriptions now by law or canon required to be taken made and subscribed by persons to be consecrated ordained instituted or licensed within the said Church.
S. 6
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
6 Regulations of Synod not to be contrary to Act of Council etc.
No regulation act or resolution of any such Synod shall be contrary to the statute conferring a Constitution on Victoria or to any Act of the Legislature of Victoria or have legal force or validity as against any such Act.
S. 7
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
7 Mode of summoning a Synod
Where any Bishop of the said United Church in Victoria shall see fit to convene a Synod as aforesaid such Bishop shall at such time as to him may seem meet previous to the first Synod in his diocese summon thereto the Clergy being Incumbents or licensed by the Bishop within such diocese and the lay representatives of the diocese elected as hereinafter provided and for electing such representatives shall require each clergyman instituted or licensed to a separate cure of souls to summon a meeting of the laymen of the Church of the age of twenty-one years and upwards resident within his parish and at such time (within limits which may be prescribed by such Bishop) and at such place within the parish or district as to such clergyman may seem convenient and every such lay member as aforesaid shall be entitled to vote at such election.
8 Chairman to be elected etc.
The said meeting so soon as five persons at the least are assembled shall proceed to elect a Chairman by a majority of those present and the Clergyman may be present and qualified to act as such Chairman and the Chairman shall cause a list to be made of those who shall be present and add thereto the names of any who shall subsequently attend before the proceedings are closed and shall claim to vote thereat. And every such layman present shall before taking part or voting at such meeting sign the following declaration:
"I A. B. whose name is hereto subscribed do declare that I am a Member of the United Church of England and Ireland and belong to no other religious denomination.".
Provided that no person shall be entitled to vote at any such meeting who is known to have impugned the doctrines or discipline of the said Church.
9 Representatives to be elected
Every such meeting shall choose as a Representative one male person who shall have been a Communicant of the said Church for at least the term of twelve months preceding the day of such meeting. And if more than fifty and less than one hundred persons shall attend and vote it shall be lawful for such meeting to elect one additional Representative and so for each additional fifty persons attending and voting as aforesaid. Provided that no parish or district shall return more than four such Representatives.
10 Mode of Election etc.
In case at any such meeting the number of persons proposed for election exceed the number which the meeting is authorised to elect the Chairman shall take in writing the votes of the qualified persons present and enumerated as aforesaid and every such person may give one vote for each of such of the persons proposed not exceeding the number which the meeting is authorised to elect as he may think fit and the Chairman shall declare the number of the votes given for each of the persons proposed and the Chairman if he be not a Clergyman shall be entitled to vote at and may be elected by such meeting. And where the votes of two or more persons are equal the Chairman if he be not a Clergyman may give a double vote and if he be a Clergyman may give a casting vote for any such person.
S. 11
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
11 Certificate to be given etc.
The Chairman shall cause to be delivered to each person elected a certificate of his election and shall sign the minutes of the meeting in token of their correctness and unless he be the Clergyman of the parish or district shall forward them to such Clergyman together with all certificates subscriptions and lists which had been laid before the said meeting and a certificate of the names callings and addresses of the persons chosen and the Clergyman shall forward the said documents to the Bishop to be laid before the Synod at the meeting thereof.
S. 12
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
12 Declaration to be made
Each Lay Representative elected as aforesaid shall before taking part or voting at such Synod sign and deliver to the President thereof a declaration in the form following:
"I A. B. whose name is hereto subscribed do declare that I am a Communicant of the United Church of England and Ireland and belong to no other religious denomination.".
S. 13
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
13 Synod may make regulations etc.
It shall be lawful for the first or any future Synod as aforesaid to make such regulations acts or resolutions as it may deem fit for altering the constitution of such Synod with respect to the number election and qualification of the lay members thereof the manner in which the votes of the Clergy and Laity may be taken and the declarations to be signed by the electors or lay members as aforesaid (provided that every such lay member shall declare himself a communicant of such Church) and also for determining the mode in and the conditions under which such advowson or right of patronage as aforesaid may be exercised for the licensing of Clergymen by the Bishop for the adjournment and prorogation of such Synods and the calling of future Synods and the mode of election of the lay members thereof and every such Synod may repeal alter or vary such regulations acts or resolutions.
S. 13A
inserted by No. 10194 s. 3.
13A Lay membership of Synod
On and after the commencement of the Anglican Church of Australia Act 1985, the power of a Synod to alter the constitution of that or any future Synod with respect to lay membership includes the power to provide for the election, nomination or appointment of lay members, whether or not as representatives of parishes, and for lay members ex officio.
S. 14
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
14 Provision for cases not provided for, regulations etc.
The provisions of this Act in relation to the first convening and holding a Synod in a diocese and the election of the lay members thereof shall remain in force and be acted on until the first or any other Synod shall otherwise provide and in any case not provided for by this Act or by the regulations for the time being of any Synod the Bishop of the diocese may regulate the convening of any Synod in such diocese and the form and manner of all proceedings preparatory thereto.
S. 15
amended by No. 1947 s. 3.
15 Copy of regulations to be transmitted to Archbishop
A copy of the regulations passed at the first Synod of any diocese to be called under this Act and also of the rules framed for any such Commission as aforesaid and from time to time of any alterations of such regulations and rules shall be sent by the Bishop of such diocese duly certified under his hand and seal as testifying his assent thereto to the Archbishop of Canterbury and also to the Metropolitan and the said Archbishop may within six months of his receipt thereof submit the same with such observations thereon as he may see fit to make for the consideration of Her Majesty in Council and Her Majesty by and with the advice of Her Privy Council may allow or disallow the same as to Her Majesty shall seem fit and the regulations and rules so allowed and a notification of such regulations and rules as may be disallowed shall be forthwith transmitted by the Archbishop to the Bishop transmitting the same and shall by such Bishop be published in his diocese.
16 Provisional Acts valid
Any Regulation or Rule disallowed by Her Majesty as aforesaid after the notification of the disallowance thereof shall have been received by the Bishop shall cease to be in force but any act matter or thing done under or in accordance with any such regulation or rule before such receipt of the notification of the disallowance thereof shall have the same validity and effect as if such regulation or rule had been allowed.
S. 17
repealed by No. 1947 s. 2.
18 Royal prerogative not interfered with
Nothing herein contained shall affect the right to nominate or appoint any Metropolitan or Bishop of the said United Church in Victoria or any other rights or prerogatives of Her Majesty save so far as the advowson or right of patronage in Victoria (if any) now vested in Her Majesty may be hereby expressly impaired diminished or affected.
19 Interpretation
In the construction and interpretation of the provisions of this Act the word Bishop shall include the Metropolitan of the Province with reference to his Metropolitan Diocese.
Endnotes
1 General information
See www.legislation.vic.gov.au for Victorian Bills, Acts and current Versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.
The Church of England Act 1854 18 Vict. No. 45 was passed on 30 November 1854 and reserved for Her Majesty's approval. That approval was given on 25 February 1856 and the Act into operation on 6 June 1856 (Government Gazette 6 June 1856).
INTERPRETATION OF LEGISLATION ACT 1984 (ILA)
Style changes
Section 54A of the ILA authorises the making of the style changes set out in Schedule 1 to that Act.
References to ILA s. 39B
Sidenotes which cite ILA s. 39B refer to section 39B of the ILA which provides that where an undivided section or clause of a Schedule is amended by the insertion of one or more subsections or subclauses, the original section or clause becomes subsection or subclause (1) and is amended by the insertion of the expression "(1)" at the beginning of the original section or clause.
Interpretation
As from 1 January 2001, amendments to section 36 of the ILA have the following effects:
• Headings
All headings included in an Act which is passed on or after 1 January 2001 form part of that Act. Any heading inserted in an Act which was passed before 1 January 2001, by an Act passed on or after 1 January 2001, forms part of that Act. This includes headings to Parts, Divisions or Subdivisions in a Schedule; sections; clauses; items; tables; columns; examples; diagrams; notes or forms. See section 36(1A)(2A).
• Examples, diagrams or notes
All examples, diagrams or notes included in an Act which is passed on or after 1 January 2001 form part of that Act. Any examples, diagrams or notes inserted in an Act which was passed before 1 January 2001, by an Act passed on or after 1 January 2001, form part of that Act. See section 36(3A).
• Punctuation
All punctuation included in an Act which is passed on or after 1 January 2001 forms part of that Act. Any punctuation inserted in an Act which was passed before 1 January 2001, by an Act passed on or after 1 January 2001, forms part of that Act. See section 36(3B).
• Provision numbers
All provision numbers included in an Act form part of that Act, whether inserted in the Act before, on or after 1 January 2001. Provision numbers include section numbers, subsection numbers, paragraphs and subparagraphs. See section 36(3C).
• Location of "legislative items"
A "legislative item" is a penalty, an example or a note. As from 13 October 2004, a legislative item relating to a provision of an Act is taken to be at the foot of that provision even if it is preceded or followed by another legislative item that relates to that provision. For example, if a penalty at the foot of a provision is followed by a note, both of these legislative items will be regarded as being at the foot of that provision. See section 36B.
• Other material
Any explanatory memorandum, table of provisions, endnotes, index and other material printed after the Endnotes does not form part of an Act.
See section 36(3)(3D)(3E).
2 Table of Amendments
This publication incorporates amendments made to the Church of England Act 1854 18 Vict. No. 45 by Acts and subordinate instruments.