Ecclesiastical - 2000

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This page lists 6 cases, and was prepared on 13 May 2012.

Parochial Church Council of Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote With Billesby, Warwickshire and Another Gazette, 28 April 2000; Times, 30 March 2000
7 Feb 2000 ChD Ferris J	Human Rights, Land, Ecclesiastical	Casemap 1 Citers
	A lay rector could be liable for the physical upkeep of the chancel of the church by virtue of the Act, and such liability was not removed by the new Human Rights Act. Such liability could exist whether or not he had notice of the liability when purchasing land which had been part of the rectorship, and whether or not he was a lay or spiritual rector. Such an imposition may well not be capable of being set aside under the new Act when it comes into force. The law relating to chancel repairs did not involve a deprivation of possessions. The liability to repair the chancel is one of the incidents of ownership of land allotted under the inclosure award in lieu of tithe or other rectorial property. It is an unusual incident not amounting to a charge on the land, not limited to the value of the land and in imposing a personal liability on the owner of the land, but it cannot be distinguished from the liability which would attach to the owner of land which is purchased subject to a mortgage, restrictive covenant or other incumbrance created by a predecessor in title.
	Chancel Repairs Act 1932 5 - Human Rights Act 1998 5

Fraser and Another -v- Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance
22 Feb 2000 ChD	Land, Ecclesiastical, Education	Casemap 1 Citers
	Where land had been acquired under the Act on trusts related specifically to the provision of education in accordance with a specified religion, the abandonment by the school of that purpose meant that the land reverted immediately to the original donor. It was clear that the trust established was not merely for educational purposes where the religious element was incidental. That element was the purpose of the gift.
	School Sites Act 1841

In Re Durrington Cemetery
5 Jul 2000 ConC	Ecclesiastical
	A Jewish man had married a Christian. She requested his burial in a Christian cemetery. After she later emigrated, his relatives applied for his exhumation, and reburial in a Jewish cemetery. The delay was excused because it had been out of deference to the widow's wishes, and the two faiths were similar enough for the re-interment to be allowed a faculty, even though the new burial would not be in consecrated ground.

The Bahamas District of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas and Others -v- The Hon Vernon J Symonette M P Speaker of the House of Assembly and 7 Others (No 70 of 1998) and Ormond Hilton Poitier and 14 Others -v- The Methodist Church [2000] UKPC 31; No 70 of 1998
26 Jul 2000 PC Lord Bingham of Cornhill Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead Lord Hope of Craighead Lord Clyde Lord Hutton	Commonwealth, Constitutional, Ecclesiastical, Charity	1 Cites
	PC (The Bahamas) The Methodist community had split, eventually leading to a new Act. Others now challenged the constitionality of the Act, and that lands had been transferred in breach of the constitution. Held: The court had jurisdiction to entertain the constitutional issues raised in the main action. But no case was made for treating these proceedings as exceptional. Had the main action come to trial before the enactment of the Act, the court would have been bound to decline to intervene in the legislative process, but it did not. The main action remained an adequate and suitable proceeding in which to consider, post-enactment, the constitutional issues of substance raised in the action. The court was not being asked to rule on an academic matter. Though a parliament might have the power to deprive people of their properties in the public interest, the constitution of the Bahamas contained no such epress power. However, th econstitution could be construed purposively to produce such a power.
	Link[s] omitted

Hasan and Chaush -v- Bulgaria 30985/96; (2002) 34 EHRR 55; [2000] ECHR 509; (2002) 34 EHRR 1339; [2000] ECHR 511
26 Oct 2000 ECHR	Human Rights, Ecclesiastical	Casemap
	The court considered executive interference in the appointment of the Chief Mufti of the Bulgarian Muslims: "Where the organisation of the religious community is at issue, Article 9 must be interpreted in the light of Article 11 of the Convention which safeguards associative life against unjustified State interference. Seen in this perspective, the believer’s right to freedom of religion encompasses the expectation that the community will be allowed to function peacefully free from arbitrary State intervention. Indeed, the autonomous existence of religious communities is indispensable for pluralism in a democratic society and is thus an issue at the very heart of the protection which Article 9 affords. It directly concerns not only the organisation of the community as such but also the effective enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion by all its active members" The court "recalls that, but for very exceptional cases, the right to freedom of religion as guaranteed under Convention excludes any discretion on the part of the State to determine whether religious beliefs or the means used to express such beliefs are legitimate." Not every act which is in some way motivated or inspired by religious belief is to be regarded as the manifestation of religion. The court considered the need for precision in the formulation of law and said: “For domestic law to meet these requirements [that is, of accessibility and foreseeability] it must afford a measure of legal protection against arbitrary interferences by public authorities with the rights safeguarded by the Convention. In matters affecting fundamental rights it would be contrary to the rule of law, one of the basic principles of a democratic society enshrined in the Convention, for a legal discretion granted to the executive to be expressed in terms of an unfettered power. Consequently, the law must indicate with sufficient clarity the scope of any such discretion conferred on the competent authorities and the manner of its exercise. The level of precision required of domestic legislation - which cannot in any case provide for every eventuality - depends to a considerable degree on the content of the instrument in question, the field it is designed to cover and the number and status of those to whom it is addressed.”
	European Convention on Human Rights 9 11
	Link[s] omitted

In Re St Gregory, Offchurch: Coventry
16 Nov 2000 ConC	Land, Ecclesiastical
	Where a church was listed as having special architectural or historical interest, there was a presumption against granting a faculty for any change which would adversely affect its character. Here, however, a faculty should be granted for a new Millennium window, since this was not a change adverse to its character, it did not seek to replace a window of a specifically Christian nature, the majority of parishioners appeared to be in favour of the change, and the presumption against change to a listed building had also been rebutted.