Ecclesiastical Corporations Act 1832

It shall and may be lawful to and for any archbishop, bishop, dean, dean and chapter, or other corporation aggregate or sole herein-before mentioned, to enter into an agreement of reference or deed of submission with his or their lessee or lessees, copyhold or customary tenant or tenants, sub-lessee or sub-lessees, under-tenant or under-tenants, his, her, or their heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, or with the owner or owners of any other hereditaments adjoining to or intermixed with the said manors, messuages, lands, tenements, tithes, or hereditaments, whereby it shall be agreed that any unknown or disputed boundaries or quantities of such manors, messuages, lands, tenements, tithes, or hereditaments, or any part thereof, shall be referred to the adjudication of such person or persons as may be agreed upon and named by the said archbishop, bishop, dean, dean and chapter, or other corporation aggregate or sole, and by his or their lessee or lessees, copyhold or customary tenant or tenants, sub-lessee or sub-lessees, under-tenant or under-tenants, his, her, or their heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, or by such owner or owners of any other hereditaments situate as aforesaid; and such referee or referees shall be fully authorized to make or cause to be made surveys, maps, and admeasurements of the said manors, messuages, lands, tenements, tithes, and hereditaments, or any part thereof, and to summon any persons as witnesses, and examine them on oath (which oath he or they are hereby authorized to administer) touching or concerning any of the matters or things so referred as aforesaid, or in any way relating thereto; and also to call for the production of all surveys, maps, deeds, books, papers, and writings in the custody or power of any of the parties to the said reference, or of any other person or persons, of or concerning the matters in question; and the said referee or referees, having well and sufficiently investigated and considered the same, and all matters to him or them referred, shall and may make his or their award or awards in writing, under his or their hand and seal or hands and seals, with a map or maps drawn thereupon or thereunto annexed, and which said award or awards and map or maps shall be upon parchment or vellum, and shall award and determine, identify, delineate, and describe the boundaries, quantities, particulars, and situations of the said manors, messuages, lands, tenements, tithes, and hereditaments so referred to him or them as aforesaid; and the said award or awards and map or maps shall be laid before all the parties to any such agreement of reference or deed of submission, including the party or parties whose consent is required by this Act, whose approbation thereof shall be written upon the said award or awards, and shall be signed and sealed by them; and thereupon the said award or awards and map or maps shall be for ever afterwards binding upon all parties, and final and conclusive as to all matters therein contained or hereby referred to.

Provided always, that in every case in which any of the powers herein-before contained shall be exercised by any bishop, dean, archdeacon, prebendary, or other ecclesiastical corporation sole, the deed of submission or agreement of reference, and also the approbation of the award, shall, in the case of a bishop, be executed by the archbishop of the province testifying his consent thereto; or in case of a dean, the same shall be executed by the dean and chapter testifying their consent thereto; or in the case of an archdeacon, prebendary, or other ecclesiastical corporation sole, the same shall be executed by the archbishop or bishop of the diocese testifying his consent thereto.

It shall and may be lawful to and for the said lessee or lessees, copyhold or customary tenant or tenants, sub-lessee or sub-lessees, under-tenant or under-tenants, and such other owner or owners as herein-before named, his, her, or their heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, who at the time of making any reference authorized by this Act shall be tenant or tenants in fee tail, general or special, or for life or lives, and for the guardians, husbands, committees, or attornies of or acting for any such lessee or lessees, copyhold or customary tenant or tenants, sub-lessee or sub-lessees, under-tenant or under-tenants, and such other owner or owners as herein-before named, his, her, or their heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, who at the time of making any such reference shall be respectively an infant or infants, feme covert or femes covert, or of unsound mind, or beyond the seas, or under any other legal disability, or otherwise disabled to act for themselves, himself, or herself, to sign, seal, and deliver any agreement of reference or deed of submission or approbation of any award or awards and map or maps authorized by this Act to be made, as fully and effectually to all intents and purposes as if such lessee or lessees, copyhold or customary tenant or tenants, sub-lessee or sub-lessees, under-tenant or under-tenants, and such other owner or owners as herein-before named, his, her, or their heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, had been tenant or tenants in fee simple, and of full age, sole, of sound mind, or within the realm of England, and not under any other legal disability.

Immediately after the execution by the parties of the instrument showing their approbation of any award to be made by virtue of this Act, the agreement of reference or deed of submission, and also the award or awards and map or maps, authorized to be made by this Act, and a copy of the minutes of evidence whereupon the same is made, shall be deposited, in the case of any reference by any archbishop or bishop, in the office of their own registrar; and in case of any reference by any dean, dean and chapter, archdeacon, prebendary, canon, and other dignitary and officer of a cathedral or collegiate church or chapel, in the office of the registrar of the dean and chapter thereof, and in case of any reference by any masters or other heads, or by any fellows and scholars, or other societies herein-before named, in the office of the steward or other proper officer of their said colleges and halls; and every such registrar, steward, or other officer, or some person or persons on his behalf, shall produce the documents and papers so deposited with him, or any of them, at all proper and usual hours of business, to every person interested in the subject matter of such award, or to his or her agent duly authorized, who shall make application to inspect the same or any of them, and shall furnish a copy or copies of the same or any of them to every such person or agent who shall make application for such copies; and every such registrar, steward, or other officer shall in every case be entitled to the sum of F225p and no more for receiving and preserving the agreement of reference or deed of submission, award or awards, map or maps, and copy of the minutes of evidence as aforesaid; and the sum of F25p and no more for every production of the same or any of them to be inspected; and the sum of sixpence and no more for every folio containing seventy-two words of every copy; and the sum of F250p and no more for every copy of a map so made as aforesaid.

The expenses attending every reference which shall be made under the authority of this Act, and all the proceedings hereby required relating to the same, shall be paid and borne by the parties thereto in such manner, shares, and proportions as they shall agree; and in case the said parties shall not make any agreement relating to such expenses, then all such expenses, or so much thereof as shall not be provided for by such agreement, shall be paid and borne by the said parties in equal moieties.

This Act shall extend only to England and Wales.