Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documentsi
Version No. 001
State Aid to Religion Abolition Act 1871
Act No. 391/1871
Version as at 3 March 2003
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section Page
Repeal of section 53 of the Constitution Act 1
Definitions 1
Denominations may dispose of trust lands granted by the Crown
and apply proceeds to denominational purposes 2
Application for power to dispose of such lands to be made by
head or authorised representative of denomination 3
Notice of application to be given by advertisement and by notice
to non-consenting trustees 3
Objections to application may be lodged 3
Application to be allowed if no objection lodged 3
Publication of allowance of application to be conclusive evidence
that Act has been complied with and trustees named are entitled
upon trusts allowed 4
Certificate of title to issue to new trustees as proprietors under
"Transfer of Land Statute" and Gazette to be deposited as
document declaring trusts 5
Governor may frame regulations 5
No reservation to be made of Crown lands for places of public
worship or dwelling-houses for ministers of any religious
denomination after 1st day of July 1870 6
Promise or reservation of land not to be affected until application
allowed 6
Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary DocumentsSection Page
ii
ENDNOTES 10
General Information 10
Table of Amendments 11
Explanatory Details 12
Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents1
Version No. 001
State Aid to Religion Abolition Act 1871
Act No. 391/1871
Version as at 3 March 2003
An Act to provide for the Abolition of State Aid to Religion.
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty by
and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council
and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this present
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as
follows:
Repeal of section 53 of the Constitution Act
From and after the thirty-first day of December
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five no
moneys shall be set apart for the advancement of
the Christian religion in Victoria under the
provisions of the Fifty-third Section and for public
worship under the Eighth Part of Schedule D of
the "Constitution Act", and as from that day such
provisions shall be and the same are hereby
repealed.
Definitions
In the construction and for the purposes of this
Act the following terms shall if not inconsistent
with the context or subject matter have the
respective meanings hereby assigned to them, that
is to say—
"the Governor" shall mean the person
administering the government acting by and
with the advice of the Executive Council;
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"the Minister" shall mean the responsible
Minister of the Crown administering this
Act;
"denomination" shall mean any church religious
body sect or congregation or the members of
any church formed into or acting as a body
of persons for religious purposes of what
kind of faith or form of belief soever;
"head or authorised representative" shall mean
the person accepted as such for the time
being by the Governor;
"trustee" shall mean any person holding that
office for the time being, whether named as
such in the Crown grant or approved of or
appointed as such by the Governor, although
no legal estate may be vested in such person.
3. Denominations may dispose of trust lands granted
by the Crown and apply proceeds to denominational
purposes
All lands which at the time of the passing of this
Act have been granted by the Crown without
receiving any purchase money or promised or
reserved by the Crown or by the Governor
permanently or temporarily for church purposes or
church and school purposes or dwelling-houses
for the ministers of any denomination may,
subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, be
disposed of by the denomination to or for the
benefit of which such lands may have been
granted promised or reserved, and the proceeds of
disposition applied for the purposes of such
denomination in such manner as the denomination
may deem most beneficial.
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4. Application for power to dispose of such lands to be
made by head or authorised representative of
denomination
Every application for leave to dispose of any such
land shall be made in the form in the First
Schedule hereto by the head or authorised
representative of the denomination, with the
consent of the trustees of any such land resident in
Victoria, or of the majority thereof, and of the
person or persons, if any, entitled to minister in or
occupy any building upon the land.
5. Notice of application to be given by advertisement
and by notice to non-consenting trustees
Such application shall be lodged at the office of
the Minister, and within one month from the time
of lodging the same the applicant shall give notice
thereof by advertising the same at length once in
the Government Gazette and once in some
newspaper circulating in the neighbourhood of the
land and by serving a copy of the application upon
any trustee of the land resident in Victoria who
shall not have consented to such application.
6. Objections to application may be lodged
Within one month from the publication of the last
advertisement any person may lodge objections to
the allowance of the application at the office of
the Minister, and a copy of every objection so
lodged shall be forwarded by the Minister to the
applicant.
7. Application to be allowed if no objection lodged
If notice of the application shall have been duly
given as aforesaid, and if no objection shall have
been lodged within one month from the last
advertisement, and if the land described in the
application shall have been granted promised or
reserved as aforesaid, the Governor shall allow the
s. 4
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application; and if any objection shall have been
lodged as aforesaid the Governor may allow or
reject the application, or with the consent of the
applicant modify the trusts thereby proposed, and
if deemed expedient for the purpose of dealing
with any such objection may refer the same for the
inquiry and report of any person or persons to be
appointed by the Governor in that behalf; and
every such allowance shall be signed by the
Governor and shall be in the form in the Second
Schedule hereto.
8. Publication of allowance of application to be
conclusive evidence that Act has been complied with
and trustees named are entitled upon trusts allowed
Upon the allowance of any application, the
allowance thereof, as signed by the Governor,
shall be published in the Government Gazette, and
such publication shall be conclusive evidence that
all the provisions of this Act in respect of the
application have been complied with and that the
trustees named in the statement of trusts are
entitled to the land therein described in fee-simple
upon the trusts thereof discharged of all trusts and
limitations as to the use thereof theretofore
affecting the same, anything contained in the
seventh section of the "Land Act 1869" to the
contrary notwithstanding, and upon the
application of such persons the Registrar of Titles
under the "Transfer of Land Statute" shall register
such persons as joint proprietors in fee of the said
land with no survivorship.
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9. Certificate of title to issue to new trustees as
proprietors under "Transfer of Land Statute" and
Gazette to be deposited as document declaring
trusts
The certificate of title to be issued as aforesaid
shall be in the same form and of the same effect as
any other certificate of title issued under the
provisions of the "Transfer of Land Statute" as to
the title of the proprietors, the immunity of
persons dealing with them, and in every other
respect; and at the time of applying under this Act
for a certificate of title a copy of the Government
Gazette containing the allowance shall be
deposited with and retained by the Registrar of
Titles, under the provisions of Section thirty-eight
of the said Statute, as the document declaring the
trusts of the land as to which the certificate issues.
10. Governor may frame regulations
The Governor may from time to time frame alter
and revoke regulations providing for the manner
in which applications under this Act, or objections
thereto, shall be lodged or dealt with, or for
altering the forms in the Schedules to this Act, so
far as consistent therewith, and for the execution
of all orders matters or things arising under and
consistent with this Act and not herein expressly
provided for, and such regulations when published
in the Government Gazette, and purporting to be
signed by the Minister, shall have the force of law.
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11. No reservation to be made of Crown lands for places
of public worship or dwelling-houses for ministers
of any religious denomination after 1st day of July
1870
So much of section six of the "Land Act 1869"
as relates to reservations of Crown lands for
places of public worship and dwelling-houses for
the ministers of any religious denomination shall
be and the same is hereby repealed as from the
first day of July One thousand eight hundred and
seventy, save as to any reservation or application
for reservation which may have been made
thereunder before the said date.
12. Promise or reservation of land not to be affected
until application allowed
Nothing hereinbefore contained shall be deemed
to affect any promise or reservation of land in the
third section mentioned, unless and until an
application under this Act shall be made in respect
thereof, and subject to the allowance of any such
application every such promise or reservation
shall be given effect to as if this Act had not
passed.
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SCHEDULE
THE FIRST SCHEDULE
I head or authorised representative of the denomination known
as with the consent of [names of consenting trustees] trustees of the
land described in the subjoined statement of trusts and of [name and address
of persons so entitled if any] being the person or persons entitled to minister
in or occupy a building or buildings upon the said land, hereby apply to the
Governor of the Colony of Victoria for leave to dispose of the said land by
the means and for the purposes mentioned in the said statement of trusts.
And I hereby certify that the said land was [state the particulars of the grant
promise or reservation of the land] granted by the Crown on the day
of or promised or reserved by on the day of for
the purpose of [state in full the purposes for which the land was expressed to
have been granted promised or reserved]: That the only trustees of the said
land resident in the Colony of Victoria are [state names and addresses of all
resident trustees] of of of
That the only buildings upon the said land are [state generally the nature of
all buildings on the land, or if none, state that there are none] and that the
only persons entitled to minister in or occupy the same are the abovenamed
[if there are no such persons state the fact and omit preceding reference to
the consent of such persons].
Signature of head or authorised representative—
We consent to this application.
Signature of trustees—
Signatures of persons entitled to minister in or occupy building or
buildings—
Section 4.
Sch. 1
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STATEMENT OF TRUSTS
Description of
Land
Names of
trustees
Powers of
Disposition
Purposes to which
proceeds of
Disposition are to be
applied
Describe land
fully by metes
and bounds.
Give names,
residences,
and
occupations
of proposed
trustees.
State the powers
which it is
proposed to vest
in trustees, such
as "power to sell,
exchange,
mortgage, or
lease," and if any
of such powers
are to be limited,
state the nature
of the limitation.
State distinctly the
purposes to which it is
intended to apply the
moneys arising from
the disposition to be
authorised, or to which
any land taken in
exchange is to be
applied.
Sch. 1
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THE SECOND SCHEDULE
A statement of trusts having been submitted by the head or authorised
representative of the denomination of under the provisions of the
"Act to provide for the abolition of State Aid to Religion" for allowance by
the Governor, the same was allowed by him on the day of
18 , and the following is the form in which such statement of trusts has
been allowed [set out statement of trusts in full from the application, subject
to any modification which may have been made therein].
As witness the hand of the Governor of the Colony of Victoria
the day of
Governor of the Colony of Victoria.
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Section 7.
Sch. 2
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ENDNOTES
General Information
The State Aid to Religion Abolition Act 1871 was assented to on 6 January
1871 and came into operation on 6 January 1871.
Endnotes
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2. Table of Amendments
There are no amendments made to the State Aid to Religion Abolition Act
1871 by Acts and subordinate instruments.
Endnotes
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3. Explanatory Details
No entries at date of publication.
Endnotes