Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Care of Churches Measure 2018

4 Deputy judge: appointment and term of office

(1) The chancellor of a diocese, with the consent of the bishop of the diocese, may in writing appoint a fit and proper person to act as deputy chancellor of the diocese.

(2) Where the chancellor of a diocese is for any reason unable to act, the bishop of the diocese may in writing appoint a fit and proper person to act as deputy chancellor of the diocese during the period in which the chancellor is unable to act.

(3) Where the chancellor of a diocese notifies the bishop of the diocese that it would be inappropriate for him or her or for a deputy chancellor appointed under subsection (1) to act for the purposes of the proceedings to which the notification relates, the bishop of the diocese may in writing appoint a fit and proper person to act as deputy chancellor for those purposes.

(4) Where the office of chancellor of a diocese is vacant, the bishop of the diocese may in writing appoint a fit and proper person to act as deputy chancellor of the diocese during the vacancy.

(5) A deputy chancellor has the same powers and duties as the chancellor for whom he or she is deputy.

(6) The qualifications for an appointment under this section are the same as those for the appointment of a chancellor under section 2; accordingly, subsections (4) and (5) of that section apply to an appointment under this section as they apply to an appointment under that section.

(7) The appointment of a person as a deputy under subsection (1) continues—

(a) for so long as the chancellor who made the appointment continues in office and then for a period of three months beginning with the date on which the chancellor ceases to hold office, or

(b) if before the end of that period the deputy reaches the age at which the chancellor would be required to vacate office under section 3(1), until the day on which the deputy reaches that age.

(8) A deputy chancellor appointed under subsection (1) may resign the office by notice in writing addressed to the chancellor.

(9) The chancellor of a diocese may, after consultation with the bishop of the diocese, remove a deputy chancellor appointed under subsection (1) from office if the chancellor considers that he or she is incapable of acting or unfit to act.

(10) Where, during the course of proceedings in the consistory court in which the deputy chancellor of the diocese is acting as chancellor, the person’s appointment as deputy chancellor would (but for this subsection) end under subsection (7), the person may continue to act as chancellor for the purposes of the proceedings as if the day on which the proceedings concluded in that court were the day on which the appointment ends under subsection (7).