that any person should be required to make or subscribe both the said declarations; and the declaration secondly herein-before set forth is sufficient. Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. On and after the day of the feast of St. Bartholomew in the year 1862, so much of the said Acts as requires any person to make a declaration according to the form first herein-before recited shall be repealed.

2. Nothing in this Act shall affect any provision of the said Acts requiring any person to subscribe the declaration secondly herein-before recited, or to procure a certificate, or to publicly read such certificate and declaration.

3. And whereas by the said Acts it is enacted that when a sermon or lecture is to be preached, the service by the Book of Common Prayer appointed for that time of the day, shall be read by some priest or deacon in the place of worship where the sermon or lecture is to be preached, before it is preached, and that the lecturer then to preach, shall be present at the reading thereof, with an exception for university sermons or lectures. And whereas doubts have arisen whether the said enactments extend only to the case of a sermon or lecture preached by a lecturer properly so called, or extend also to other cases, including the case of a sermon preached by the incumbent of a benefice or his curate in the parish church or other place of worship of the benfice; and it is expedient to remove those doubts; be it therefore declared and enacted as follows:-the last-recited enactments shall be deemed to extend only to the case of a sermon or lecture preached by a lecturer.

BISHOPS IN HEATHEN COUNTRIES.

A Bill intituled an Act for facilitating the Appointment of Bishops for Heathen Countries. (The Lord Bishop of Oxford.) 1st July, 1862. (140.)

WHEREAS it is enacted, that before the consecration of any bishop to any see within the dominions of her most gracious Majesty, the Queen's mandate for the consecration of the said bishop shall be read: And whereas it is not expedient that such mandate should be required for the consecration of a bishop sent forth to preside over missions to heathen people in places external to the dominions of her Majesty; be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. That when it shall seem fit to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being to consecrate a bishop to officiate in heathen countries external to the dominions of her Majesty, it shall be lawful for the said archbishop to proceed canonically and according to usage to consecrate such bishop, without demanding or requiring to be read the mandate of her Majesty for such consecration.

COURTS OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

A Bill intituled an Act for removing Doubts as to the Powers of the Courts of the Church of Scotland, and extending the Powers of the said Courts. (The Lord Hamilton.) 3rd July, 1862. (153.)

WHEREAS it would much conduce to the interests of religion, were ministers of parishes against whom a libel has been found relevant for alleged immoral conduct, or for alleged error in doctrine, to abstain from exercising ministerial functions until the said libel has been disposed of by final sentence; but doubts exist whether the right of the courts of the Church of Scotland to require and enjoin ministers of parishes so to abstain from ministerial functions in such circumstances, may not be liable to legal impediment, and it is desirable to remove such doubts: And whereas it is expedient to declare the said right, and farther to declare the right of the presbyteries of the said Church to make provision for supplying the ordinances of religion in any parish, where the said ordinances have ceased to be performed by the minister thereof. And whereas it is expedient to give facilities to parties in any cause before presbyteries and other church courts for obtaining the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence in proceedings before the same; be it therefore declared and enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. Whenever any presbytery or other court of the Church of Scotland shall have found a libel relevant, charging the minister of any parish with immoral conduct or with error in doctrine, and shall have resolved to proceed to a proof the said libel, it is hereby declared and enacted that it is and shall be held to be the right of the said presbytery to pronounce a deliverance requiring and enjoining such minister to abstain from the exercise and discharge of all ministerial functions of his office as minister of the parish, until the libel shall have been fully investigated and finally disposed of; and in the event of an appeal against such deliverance, the same shall continue in force until the same shall have been recalled by the court of appeal; and the ordinances of religion in the said parish shall, so long as such deliverance is unrecalled, be administered in the same way as if the parish were vacant by the decease of the minister thereof; provided always, that nothing herein contained shall affect the right of such minister to his stipend.

2. When, in the course of any judicial process affecting the status of a minister, or on the representation of any party having interest, it has been established to the satisfaction of a presbytery, or other superior court of the church, that the minister of any parish is insane, and thereby disabled from discharging the duties of his office, it is hereby further declared and enacted that it is and shall be the right of the presbytery, unless an arrangement, for the purposes after mentioned, shall have been made on behalf of the said minister to the satisfaction of the presbytery, to appoint a qualified assistant to perform the duties of the charge until the said minister shall be enabled to resume the same, or until the parish shall be declared vacant; and at the same time to apportion and fix, by their deliverance appointing such assistant, an allowance out of the stipend not exceeding one half of the whole proceeds of the benefice, and which shall be payable so

long as such assistant shall hold and continue to act on his appointment by the presbytery; and such deliverance, when duly intimated to the heritors or others liable in payment of the stipend, shall be equivalent to a legal and completed assignation by the minister to such assistant of the portion of the stipend specified in the deliverance.

3. When, by their final sentence upon a libel, a presbytery or other church court shall suspend a minister from the discharge of the duties of his office for a term specified in the said sentence, it is hereby further declared and enacted that it is and shall be held to be the right of the presbytery to appoint a qualified assistant to discharge the said duties, and to apportion and fix an allowance to such assistant out of the stipend, not exceeding one half of the whole proceeds of the benefice, and which shall be payable so long as such assistant shall hold and continue to act on his appointment by the presbytery; and such sentence, when duly intimated to the heritors or others liable in payment of the stipend, shall be equivalent to a legal and completed assignation by the minister to such assistant of the proportion of the stipend specified in the sentence.

4. When, in any judicial process depending before a presbytery or other superior church court, such court shall have allowed a proof, it shall be competent to the parties in the cause, or any of them to whom such proof shall have been allowed, to apply to the sheriff or sheriff substitute, of the county within the bounds of which the presbytery or other superior church court shall have held their meeting, when such proof was allowed, for warrant to cite any witnesses or havers whom such party or parties may propose to examine to appear before such presbytery or other church court at a time and place to be specified in the application; and the sheriff, on production to him, along with the said application, of a duly certified extract of the deliverance allowing a proof, shall grant warrant of citation as craved, which warrant and citation following thereon, shall be held a legal warrant and citation to compel the attendance of the witnesses or havers to whom the same shall apply, in terms of such warrant and citation; and all such warrants shall have the same force and effect in any other sheriffdom as in that in which they were originally issued, the same being first indorsed by the sheriff clerk of such other sheriffdom, who is hereby required to make and date such indorsation; and such warrant and citation shall be enforceable by the same procedure or remedies as are competent in the case of a warrant granted by the sheriff for citation of witnesses or havers to appear before his own court.

5. Where in any cause depending before a presbytery, or other superior court of the church, a proof shall have been allowed, it shall be lawful and competent for such court to appoint a qualified person being an advocate, writer to the signet, solicitor before the supreme courts, or a procurator duly entered as a practitioner in any sheriff court in Scotland, of not less than three years standing, to sit with them for the purpose of dictating to the clerk of court the evidence given by the witnesses examined in the course of the proof, and the oath de fideli administratione officii shall be administered by the moderator to any person so appointed; and it shall be lawful and competent for such court, if it see fit, to appoint the evidence of the witnesses examined in the course of such proof to be taken down by a writer skilled in shorthand writing, to whom the oath de fideli administratione officii shall be administered; and the said shorthand writer shall afterwards, and within such time as may be fixed by the court, write out

in full the evidence so taken down by him in shorthand; and the extended notes, so written out, certified by the moderator and clerk of court to be correct, shall be the record of the oral evidence in the cause; provided always, that nothing herein contained shall prevent any church court, if it see fit, from taking down and recording the evidence adduced in any cause, according to the form hitherto in use.

OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE AND SUPREMACY RE-ENACTMENT.

A Bill intituled an Act to re-enact the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to be taken by her Majesty's Subjects other than Roman Catholics. (Lord Stratheden.) 22nd May, 1862. (82.)

WHEREAS it is expedient to restore the oaths of allegiance and supremacy as settled by the Bill of Rights, and to require the same to be taken by her Majesty's subjects other than Roman Catholics: and whereas an Act was passed in the session of Parliament holden in the twenty-first and twentysecond years of her present Majesty, chapter 48, intituled "An Act to substitute one oath for the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, and for the relief of her Majesty's subjects professing the Jewish religion:" Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. That sections one, two, three, and four of the said recited Act of her present Majesty shall be and the same are hereby repealed.

2. That instead of the oath set out in the said recited Act, and in the place of the oaths which before the passing of the said recited Act, were by law required to be taken, and taken and subscribed respectively, the following oaths of allegiance and supremacy (as set out in the Bill of Rights) shall be taken and subscribed:

"I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to her Majesty Queen Victoria. So help me God."

"I., A. B., do swear, that I do from my heart abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position that princes excommunicated or deprived by the pope or any authority of the see of Rome may be deposed or murdered by their subjects or any other what

soever.

"And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, preeminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm. So help me God."

3. Where in the oath firstly hereby appointed and set forth the name of her present Majesty is expressed, the name of the Sovereign of this kingdom for the time being, by virtue of the Act for the further limitation of the crown and better securing the rights and liberties of the subject, shall be substituted from time to time, with proper words of reference thereto.

4. The oaths hereby appointed shall be taken and subscribed in the same cases, and by and before the same persons, and at the same times and

places as the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration at the passing of the said recited Act were respectively directed to be taken and taken and subscribed; and the taking and subscribing of the oaths hereby appointed respectively shall have the like effect as the taking and taking and subscribing respectively of the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration would have had if the said recited Act had not been passed; and the refusal, neglect, or omission to take and subscribe the said oaths respectively hereby appointed shall be attended with the like disabilities, incapacities, penalties, liabilities, and consequences as at the passing of the said lastly recited Act were by law provided in the case of refusal, neglect, or omission to take or take and subscribe respectively the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, and all provisions at the time of the passing of the said recited Act in force shall be construed and take effect accordingly; provided always, that no person having before the commencement of this Act, taken the oath appointed by the said recited Act shall be required to take and subscribe the oaths hereby appointed, unless and until he would have been by law required to take the said oath in case this Act had not been passed.

5. Provided always, that every person of the persuasion of the people called Quakers, and every other person now by law permitted to make his solemn affirmation or declaration instead of taking an oath, shall, instead of taking and subscribing the oaths hereby appointed respectively, make and subscribe solemn declarations respectively in the respective forms of the oaths hereby appointed, substituting the words, "solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm" for the word, "swear," and omitting the words, "So help me God;" and the making and subscribing such affirmation respectively by a person herein-before authorized to make and subscribe the same, with such omission as aforesaid, shall have the same force and effect as the taking and subscribing by other persons of the oaths respectively hereby appointed.

6. Provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall be held to alter or affect the provisions of an Act passed in the tenth year of King George IV., chapter 7, for the relief of her Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects.

CHURCH RATES VOLUNTARY COMMUTATION.

A Bill for the Voluntary Commutation of Church Rates. (Mr. Alcock and Mr. Evans.) 14th February, 1862. (16.)

WHEREAS much litigation arises out of the present state of church rates, and there is no provision by law to enable a parish to raise a permanent fund by voluntary means in order to redeem its liability to church rates, and to obtain a discharge from all further liability, except by the costly process of obtaining a special Act of Parliament: be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. The persons who from time to time are and shall be the charity commissioners for England and Wales, shall be the commissioners for carrying this Act into effect, and for that purpose shall be a corporation, and have perpetual succession and a common seal, under the name of "The Church