Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Care of Churches Measure 2018

Commissions of review

19 Commissions of review: continuation

(1) There is to continue to be power for Her Majesty to appoint commissioners who are to have jurisdiction to review a finding of the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved in proceedings under section 18.

(2) A party to proceedings in the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved under section 18 may lodge with the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery a petition addressed to Her Majesty praying that She will be pleased to cause a finding of the Court in those proceedings to be reviewed.

(3) A petition under this section—

(a) must be in the form specified in rules;

(b) must be lodged with the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery within the period so specified after the finding to which it relates.

(4) On a petition being lodged under this section, a commission must be directed under the Great Seal to such five persons as Her Majesty may nominate to review the finding to which the petition relates.

(5) Three of the nominees under subsection (4) must be persons each of whom—

(a) is a judge of the Supreme Court or a member of the supplementary panel under section 39 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, and

(b) has made a declaration that he or she is a communicant.

(6) Two of the nominees under subsection (4) must be Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords.

(7) A commission appointed under this section is to be known as a Commission of Review.

20 Proceedings

(1) Proceedings before a Commission of Review exercising jurisdiction under this Measure are, subject to this section, to be brought and conducted in such manner as rules may specify.

(2) To assist a Commission of Review on a review under this Measure of a decision of the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved involving a question of doctrine, the Upper House of each the Convocations must jointly appoint a panel of persons, in such numbers as those Houses may determine, consisting of—

(a) members of either House, and

(b) if the Houses think fit, theologians who are not members of either House.

(3) Where a review under this Measure by a Commission of Review involves a question of doctrine, the Commission must request five persons selected by it from the panel appointed under subsection (2)—

(a) to sit with it as advisers, and

(b) to give such assistance on the matters of doctrine involved in the review as the Commission may require.

(4) The judgment of the Commission must accord with the opinion of the majority of its members; and each member of the Commission must state his or her own opinion on the question under review.

(5) In the exercise of its jurisdiction under this Measure, a Commission of Review is not bound by any decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in relation to matter of doctrine, ritual or ceremonial.

(6) A decision of a Commission of Review under this Measure or the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 is binding on a subsequent Commission under this Measure, except in relation to a matter on which new information or evidence is adduced which was not before the previous Commission.