Legal Opinions Concerning the Church of England contains the views of the Legal Advisory Commission of the General Synod, which gives legal advice to the General Synod, the Church Commissioners, diocesan registrars, chancellors, and other clerical and lay officers such as archdeacons and diocesan secretaries. It does not constitute a comprehensive volume on ecclesiastical law but is the jointly expressed views of the Commission on a wide range of legal matters of interest to the Church. This eighth edition contains many previously unpublished Opinions as well as a comprehensive updating and revision of the contents of previous editions. It is an indispensible reference work for all practitioners and students of ecclesiastical law. New or significantly revised Opinions include: The clergy and confidentiality Appointment of non-stipendiary ministers as incumbents Consecration of sites for 'green' burials Ownership of tombstones and monuments in churchyards Disturbances during services in cathedrals The right of a parishioner to be married in the parish church The legal responsibilities of PCC members

This volume does not constitute a textbook on ecclesiastical law but is the jointly expressed views of the Commission on a wide range of legal matters of interest to the Church. It also includes the first supplement.

This is the first supplement to Legal Opinions concerning the Church of England, containing the jointly expressed views of the Commission on a wide range of legal matters of interest to the Church.

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the principal legal landmarks in the evolution of the law of the established Church of England from the Reformation to the present day. It explores the foundations of ecclesiastical law and considers its crucial role in the development of the Church of England over the centuries. The law has often been the site of major political and theological controversies, within and outside the church, including the Reformation itself, the English civil war, the Restoration and rise of religious toleration, the impact of the industrial revolution, the ritualist disputes of the 19th century, and the rise of secularisation in the twentieth. The book examines key statutes, canons, case-law, and other instruments in fields such as church governance and ministry, doctrine and liturgy, rites of passage (from baptism to burial) and church property. Each chapter studies a broadly 50-year period, analysing it in terms of continuity and change, explaining the laws by reference to politics and theology, and evaluating the significance of the legal landmarks for the development of church law and its place in wider English society.