The proceedings in the case of Ditcher versus Denison were
expected to close this week, with the judgment of Dr. Lushing- ton upon the pleadings. Before the Archbishop's Commissioner delivered judgment, however, a new plea was advanced on be- half of Mr. Denison. The proceedings had been taken against him on the 28th and 29th Articles, which his doctrine was un- derstood to contravene. The Articles of the Church of England are embodied in the Act of the 13th of Elizabeth ; but the 29th Article was added subsequently, and was not included in that statute ; hence, it was contended, the proceedings in that part must fall to the ground. Dr. Lushington gave his judgment against the Archdeacon ; adjudicating that his interpretation of the Eucharist differed from the Articles and violated the Act of Parliament ; wherefore he pronounced sentence of deprivation. On this followed a notice of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ; that supreme tribunal being thus charged with the duty of defining the boundaries between the statutes of the Church and the statutes of Parliament. Under these cir- cumstances, the decision of the Committee will constitute in many respects a new starting-point of authoritative regulation in the Church of England ; and it is presumed that counsel will duly prepare themselves for a debate which must have such im- portant consequences—the judgment on which must form almost an act of legislation on the constitution of the Church.
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