LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
PUBLIC WORSHIP REGULATION BILL. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIH,—There is one aspect of the Bill for the Regulation of Public Worship which has hardly received the attention it deserves. Great stress has been laid, in the discussions on the Judicature Bill, on the importance of a double appeal. Such double appeal has hitherto been the rule in ecclesiastical causes, the primary Court being that of the Bishop, the first Court of Appeal that of the Archbishop, and the final appeal being to the Crown. It is true that by the abuse of letters of request causes have fre- quently been taken at once into the Archbishop's Court, but the theory always has'been as I have above stated, and the practice has, at least in some cases, conformed to this theory. All this, as regards ritual, is now changed, and will be changed in regard to other ecclesiastical causes by the promised legislation of next Session. For the Act might, with perfect justice, be described as an Act to simplify proceedings in Ecclesiastical Courts, to provide that the office of provincial Judge in the two provinces should be held by one person, and to abolish the jurisdiction of the Diocesan Courts. These Courts, being essentially local, ought, if properly reformed in their procedure, &c., to have been made cheaper and more expeditious than the new provincial Court, which has ousted them, is likely to be to the suitors.—I am, Sir, &c.,
A. ComProx.
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