Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963

2 Judge of consistory court. E

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Measure, the consistory court of a diocese shall be presided over by a single judge who shall be styled the chancellor of the diocese or, in the case of the diocese of Canterbury, the commissary general, and appointed by the bishop thereof by letters patent.

(2) A person appointed to be chancellor of a diocese shall be at least thirty years old and either a [F1 person who has a 7 year general qualification, within the meaning of section 71 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990,]or a person who has held high judicial office, and, before appointing a layman, the bishop shall satisfy himself that the person to be appointed is a communicant.

F2 (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(4) Subject to the provisions of the last foregoing subsection, the appointment of a person to be chancellor of a diocese shall be [F3 for the period beginning with the date of the appointment and ending with the date on which he attains the age of seventy-five years], but he—

(a) may resign his office by instrument in writing under his hand addressed to, and served on, the bishop of the diocese;

(b) may be removed by that bishop if the Upper House of the Convocation of the relevant province resolves that he is incapable of acting or unfit to act.

[F4 (c) may continue to act as chancellor for the purpose of any proceedings or cause of faculty in the consistory court of the diocese during the course of which he attains the age of seventy-five years as if the date of the conclusion in that court of those proceedings or that cause, as the case may be, were the date on which he attains that age.]

(5) The chancellor of a diocese shall, before he enters on the execution of his office,—

(a) take and subscribe, either before the bishop of the diocese in the presence of the diocesan registrar, or in open court in the presence of that registrar, the oaths set out in Part I of the First Schedule to this Measure; . . . F5

(b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6

and the diocesan registrar shall record the taking and subscription of the said oaths . . . F5

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 (c. 41, SIF 37), s. 71(2), Sch. 10 para. 17

F2 S. 2(3) repealed (1.6.1992) by Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 1992 (No. 1), s. 17(2), Sch. 4 Pt.II;Instrument dated 27.5.1992 made by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

F3 Words substituted by Ecclesiastical Judges and Legal Offices Measure 1976 (No. 2), s. 1(1)(3) except in relation to a person who holds the office of chancellor of a diocese, or, in the case of the diocese of Canterbury, commissary general on 25.4.1976

F4 S. 2(4)(c) added by Ecclesiastical Judges and Legal Officers Measure 1976 (No. 2), s. 1(1)

F5 Word repealed by Church of England (Worship and Doctrine) Measure 1974 (No. 3), Sch. 2

F6 S. 2(5)(b) repealed by Church of England (Worship and Doctrine) Measure 1974 (No. 3), Sch. 2