Editing any Journal carries risk. The production process necessitates the submission of copy well in advance of the anticipated publication date. The task of second gussing development in the ecclesiastical world keeps one in a constant state of alertness. But even my crystal ball is not faultless. Thus I pen this editorial in the penumbral world which lies between the election of potential bishop for the See of Guildford and the confirmation of such election.

Questions of the mutual recognition, or not, of the ministry of different Churches have been high on the ecumenical agenda for many years. Roman Catholic sacramental theology, manifest inter alia in Canon Law, has a clear understanding of the validity or invalidity of sacraments, including holy orders. Validity is a strong word and implies that sacramental acts which are not valid are de facto ineffective.

This article attempts an overview of the application of the law of charities to religion. Charity law is currently subject to revision. The advancement of religion has been one of the traditional charitable purposes defined as such in the common law. In this area of law both the courts and the Charity Commission have applied a neutral approach toward all religious denominations. This approach is in principle consistent with the content of the Human Rights Act 1998. Nevertheless the growth of religious pluralism in society and the appearance of new religions and groups generate many doubts about the definition of religion as charity. On the one hand, the courts have offered a theistic definition of religion, which is not applicable to all religious groups. On the other, in every charitable purpose some element of public benefit must be present. For religious purposes the courts assume the presence of a public benefit unless the contrary is shown, but it is not clear that all religious practices are beneficial to the community. The aim of this article is to promote a discussion about the definition of religion as a charitable purpose, to identify the problems connected with the growth of religious pluralism, and to offer some remarks about the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on the law of charities.

Richard Hooker's book, The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, is much more than a museum piece or a dissertation on how to run churches. It is a classic of doctrinal reflection, and is topically relevant. His main opponents at the time belonged to the militant Puritan wing of the English Church, and in answering them Hooker provides a still-rich line of thought. Theologically speaking, the most basic sense of law, for Hooker, is God's acceptance of the logic of a limited creation. A crucial concept is ‘compatible variety’, and this should be kept in mind when reading Hooker on the laws of nature, the laws of society, and the law that regulates the Church. Also of importance is the distinction between the unchangeable basics, in Church or state, and those laws that contribute to the maintenance of this or that particular society or Christian community. For Hooker, the mistake of his Puritan opponents was to think that the Bible is an exhaustive source of laws of both kinds. The Bible is neither a complete nor an incomplete law book. Law, as the form of compatible variety, is also the form in which God's ‘abundance’ is to be perceived and experienced. Outside the abiding truths about the sort of life God's life is and the dignity given to creatures, human intelligence and ingenuity and prudence have a wide remit. According to Hooker, the most basic rebellion is to refuse the limits that make compatible variety possible. Law assumes, then, that we do not ‘begin socially as a set of unrelated atoms, whether individuals, classes, races or interest groups. Our basic position is one of potential agents in a negotiation through which we discover our welfare, and discover something we do not know at the start. Key theological notions are creation and the Body of Christ.

This paper traces the developments in the Catholic law on mixed marriages beginning with an outline of the canonical provisions that were in force prior to the Second Vatican Council. The impact of the Council teaching on ecumenism and religious freedom became apparent with the promulgation of Matrimonii sacramentum (1966), Crescens matrimoniorum (1967) and Matrimonia mixta (1970). These documents put the legislation on mixed marriages on a new footing and provided the basis for the legislation of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Bishop McAreavey analyses various ecumenical dialogues on mixed marriages: ARCIC, the dialogue between the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Catholic Church, and ongoing dialogues between the Methodist Church and the Orthodox Church (primarily in the United States) and the Catholic Church. He notes in particular what those discussions have to say on the issue of ‘the promises’ and canonical form and comments on the provisions of the 1983 Code of Canon Law on mixed marriages. He considers the basis of the commitment required of the Catholic party ‘to remove dangers of defecting from the faith’ and the commitment ‘to do all in his or her power in order that all the children be baptised and brought up in the Catholic faith’. He accepts the view of Fr Navarrete that whereas the former obligation is of divine law the latter obligation goes no further than ‘to do his or her best’ (pro viribus in the Latin phrase). In the final section, he reflects on the pastoral impact of developments in the canon law regarding mixed marriages, noting the statements of the World Gatherings of Interchurch Families in Geneva (1998) and in Rome (2003).

In this paper, the authors present different views of the legal implications of Percy v Church of Scotland Board of National Mission, in which the House of Lords reversed the Court of Session and held that a former minister could sue the Church under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and, contrary to previous views, probably had an enforceable contract for services. Cranmer describes the basis for the decision and suggests that it represents a realistic view of the employment status of clergy. Peterson is less optimistic about the decisions legal and practical effects and argues that it undermines the constitutional status of the Church of Scotland as well as overall prospects for religious freedom in Scotland.

In December 1994 the Revd Philip LS Barrett BD MA FRHistS FSA, Rector of Compton and Otterbourne in the Diocese of Winchester, successfully submitted a dissertation to the University of Wales College of Cardiff for the degree of LLM in Canon Law, entitled ‘Episcopal Visitation of Cathedrals in the Church of England’. Philip Barrett, best known for his magisterial study, Barchester: English Cathedral Life in the Nineteenth Century (SPCK1993), died in 1998. The subject matter of this dissertation is of enduring importance and interest to those engaged in the life and work of cathedrals, and the Editor invited Canon Peter Atkinson, Chancellor of Chichester Cathedral, to repare it for publication in this Journal, so that the author's work might receive a wider circulation, but at a manageable length. In 1999 a new Cathedrals Measure was enacted, following upon the recommendations of the Howe Commission, published in the report Heritage and Renewal (Church House Publishing 1994). The author was able to refer to the report, but not to the Measure, or to the revision of each set of cathedral Statutes consequent upon that Measure. While this limits the usefulness of the author's work as a point of reference for the present law of cathedral visitations, its value as an historical introduction remains.

The case of Connelly v Connelly on the face of it simply concerned a suit by a husband for the restitution of conjugal rights. It became interlocked, however, with wider and deeper issues in Victorian England at a time when the Roman Catholic hierarchy was restored in 1850 and there was an upsurge in anti-Catholic sentiment. Both litigants were extraordinary and led eventful lives, and the cause of canonisation of the wife (Cornelia Connelly) is in progress. In a broad context, this article examines in detail the litigation between the spouses first at the Court of Arches in 1849–1850, and then on appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1851. The litigation was inconclusive, and the case was eventually abandoned by the husband.

The Lambeth Commission (2004) proposed a number of short-term and long-term solutions to issues raised by recent and highly controversial developments in the Episcopal Church (USA) and the diocese of New Westminster (Canada). From these events have emerged important questions about the nature of communion between, and the autonomy of, each of the forty-four member churches of the Anglican Communion, and the way in which decisions of common concern are made. In order to consolidate this communion, as a long-term project, the Commission proposes the adoption of an Anglican Covenant by all forty-four churches of the Communion. This article describes the terms of the proposed Covenant and identifies their provenance, in order to establish that the proposal is for the most part a restatement of classical Anglicanism. Only in serious cases of disagreement which substantially risk the unity of the Communion is the proposal innovative. The article also describes briefly reactions to and possible implementation of the proposed Covenant.

The Bishop of Chester chaired the working party which produced the report Clergy Discipline (Doctrine). The report's recommendation that a draft Measure be introduced into General Synod, based upon the working party's proposals, was narrowly defeated in the House of Clergy in the General Synod in July 2004. The House of Bishops has subsequently resolved to return in due course to the matter, with a view to introducing revised proposals. At the heart of any process will be the interpretation of the current Declaration of Assent. The Bishop's address on this subject delivered at the 2004 Ecclesiastical Law Society Day Conference (before the Synod's rejection of the immediate proposals) is here reproduced, with minor modifications. The paper explores the primacy of Holy Scripture in the determination of the doctrine of the Church, as expressed in the Declaration of Assent and the Church of England (Worship and Doctrine) Measure 1974. Possible recourse to formal doctrinal discipline is considered in this context, in relation both to the current Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 and any proposed revision. The nature of the judgment which a court or tribunal would need to make in relation to an issue of doctrine is then assessed. This leads to the conclusion that while an up-to-date procedure for such cases is required, they are likely to continue to be at least infrequent, and quite possibly, as in the twentieth century, non-existent.

In a concluding article as co-patron of the Ecclesiastical Law Society,1 the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr David Hope offers a reflection on his personal experiences of the interplay between doctrine and discipline encountered during his period of office as Archbishop of York. He focuses on censures of deprivation and disqulification under section 55 of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963; deposition appeals; summary revocation of clerical licences; and the Lambeth and Bishopthorpe Register.

The subject of the sixth meeting of the Colloquium of Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers in Rome 2005 was the Roman Catholic position that Anglican orders are invalid. The meeting employed a canonical framework to explore the status and terms of Apostolicae curae (1896) and the modern applicability of the canonical issues of intent, matter, form, and minister to the question of Anglican orders. The meeting did not examine pneumatological aspects of ordination. This article seeks to set alongside each other the ritual elements of the liturgy for the ordination of priests in both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches in their respective canonical contexts. It proposes the value of a pneumatological approach for possible Roman Catholic recognition of the vitality of Anglican orders. A draft of this paper was presented to the seventh meeting of the Colloquium of Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers in Johannesburg in February 2006, where it was favourably received.

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 enables same-sex couples to enter into a status that provides very many of the same rights and responsibilities that married couples have in respect to each other and the wider community. This paper first considers the extent of the legal similarities between civil partnerships and marriage; that is to what extent civil partnerships are 'same-sex marriage' in practical effect. Secondly it considers to what extent the conceptual understanding of civil partnerships within the Act reflects the current conception of marriage within English law; that is the extent to which civil partnerships are 'same-sex marriage' in theory. Thirdly, and finally, some of the specific dilemmas for the Church of England in the light of this are considered.

Attempt is made to trace the work and role of the parish clerk from menial monastic beginnings to its emergence in the thirteenth century as a canonically recognised office–probably the oldest unordained office at the parochial level in the English church and the last vestigial survival of Minor Orders. In parallel is developed the story of the coming together of London parish clerks as a guild or fraternity, radically distinguished from the merchant, craft and service guilds, and of the grant to that fraternity of ‘clerici et literati’– with its unique livery and ethos–of the first of its six Royal Charters. The duties and activities of mediaeval parish clerks and the constitution of their Company are considered along with its possessions, especially its Bede Roll. Attention is paid to the understanding of Purgatory and the devastating effects of the Chantries Act 1548. The parish clerk's changing role following the Reformation is examined within the prevailing continuities and discontinuities. New duties in relation to Registration and Bills of Mortality are marked in addition to the parish clerk's increasing social involvement in the civil affairs of the parish. The decline in the parish clerk's duties from the nineteenth century is studied and its effect on the office, the London Company and the ancient parishes of old London, from which the Company is exclusively recruited.

Doctrinal discipline is a necessary concomitant of ministerial accountability and ecclesial integrity. When there is division in the Church the consequence of that division is expressed in articles or confessions of faith which, in the words of the Declaration of Assent, indicate how that Church ‘bears witness’ to the Christian Gospel and the faith once delivered to the saints.

Judges need guidance if they are to apply the law in particular circumstances with an even hand. For Roman Catholics, Canon 19 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law provides this guidance by reference to the practice of the Roman Curia and by the constant opinion of learned authors. Useful as these supplementary sources are, they mean that judges have to trust that those responsible for making decisions in the Roman Curia and the learned authors have drawn their conclusions on a sound basis. This study considers what happened when a specific document was misunderstood in the Roman Catholic Church for almost four hundred years. The document, a letter from Pope Sixtus V to his Nuncio in Spain in 1587, responded to a specific query concerning the capacity for marriage of men who had been castrated. The interpretation of the letter defined the Roman Catholic Church's concept of marriage in general and its understanding of the impediment of impotence for four centuries. In the twentieth century, several Roman Catholic judges and canonists refused to take at face value the conclusions offered by other judges and learned authors, and decided to carry out their own analysis of the document in question. This resulted in a complete reversal of the way in which marriage cases were considered by the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota, and contributed to the emergence of a much richer and more integrated theology of marriage.

Mainstream religion has little more than an indirect concern with the fundamental nature of human rights. Scripture provides no basis for any systematic code, albeit it espouses the virtues of equality, non-discrimination, and respect for others. There remains within regligious organisations an uncritical respect for authority and repeated emphasis on the dominance of the male. Rather, the articulation of human rights as a coherent and justiciable entity was the product of political turmoil, rebellion and war. That the expression of such rights is consistent with Christian teaching, however, is to be welcomed and valued. This article is an edited version of the Warburton Lecture delivered by Lord Bingham in Lincoln's Inn, London, on 15 June 2003. It is reproduced with permission.