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PARISH (Gr. irapouda, district, neigh...
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See also:PARISH (Gr. irapouda, See also:district, neighbourhood; 7r&poucos, one dwelling near or beside, from crap&, OtKOS, See also:house; See also:Lat. paroecur, See also:Late Lat. parochia; cf. Fr. paroisse) , originally an episcopal district or See also:diocese. In the See also:early See also:Christian See also: " The fact that the two systems, the parish and the township, have existed for more than a thousand years See also:side by side, identical in See also:area and ad-ministered by the same persons, and yet See also:separate in See also:character and machinery, is a sufficient See also:proof that no legislative See also:act could have been needed in the first See also:place; nor was there any See also:lay See also:council of the whole nation which could have sanctioned such a measure " (See also:Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 227). The boundaries of the old ecclesiastical parishes are usually identical with those of the township or townships comprised within its See also:precinct; they are determined by usage, in the absence of charters or records, and are evidenced by perambulations, which formerly took place on the " gang-days " in Rogation See also:week, but are now, where they still survive, for the most See also:part held triennially, the Poor-Law Act of 1844 permitting the parish See also:officers to See also:charge the expense on the poor-See also:rate, " provided the perambulations do not occur more than once in three years." The expense of preserving the boundary by See also:land-marks or See also:bound-stones is chargeable to the same rate. Many parishes contain more than one township, and this is especially the See also:case in the See also:northern counties, where the separate townships are organized for administrative purposes under an act passed in 1662. In the See also:southern and midland districts the parishes are for the most part subdivided into hamlets or other local divisions known as "tythings," "boroughs," and the like; the distinction between a parish and a subordinate district lies chiefly in the fact that the latter will be found to have never had a church or a See also:constable to itself. The select See also:committee of 1873, appointed to inquire into parochial boundaries, reported to the effect that the parish bears no definite relation to any other administrative area, except indeed to the poor-law See also:union. It may be situated in different counties or hundreds, and in many instances it contains, in addition to its See also:principal district, several outlying portions intermixed with the lands in other parishes. After the abolition of compulsory church rates in 1868 the old ecclesiastical parish ceased to be of importance as an See also:instrument of local See also:government. its officers, however, have still important duties to perform. The See also:rector, See also:vicar or See also:incumbent is a See also:corporation-See also:sole, in whom is vested the See also:freehold of the church and See also:churchyard, subject to the parishioners' rights of user; their rights of See also:burial have been enlarged by various acts. The churchwardens are the principal lay officers. Their duties consist in keeping the church and churchyard in repair and in raisinga voluntary rate for the purpose to the best of their See also:power; they have also the See also:duty of keeping See also:order in church during divine service. The other officials are the parish clerk and See also:sexton. They have freeholds in their offices and are paid by customary fees. The See also:office of the clerk is regulated by an act of 1844, enabling a See also:curate to undertake its duties, and providing facilities fcr vacating the office in case of misconduct. The only See also:civil See also:function of the parish clerk remaining in 1894 was the custody of maps and documents, required to be deposited with him under See also:standing orders of See also:parliament before certain public See also:works were begun. By the Local Government Act 1894 they are now deposited with the chairman or clerk of a parish council.
The New Ecclesiastical Parish.—Under the See also:powers given by the Church See also:Building Acts, and acts for making new parishes, many populous parishes have been subdivided into smaller ecclesiastical parishes. This See also:division has not affected the parish in its civil aspect.
The Civil Parish.—For purposes of civil government the term " parish " means a district for which a separate poor-rate is or can be made, or for which a separate overseer is or can be appointed; and by the See also:Interpretation Act 1889 this See also:definition is to be used in interpreting all statues subsequent to 1866, except where the context is inconsistent therewith. This district may of itself constitute a poor law union; but in the See also:great See also:majority of cases the unions, or areas under the See also:jurisdiction of boards of guardians according to the Poor-Law See also:Amendment Act of 1834, are made up of aggregated poor-law parishes. Each of these poor-law parishes may represent the extent of an old ecclesiastical parish, or a township separately rated by See also:custom before the practice was stayed in 1819 or separated from a large parish under the act of 1662, or it may represent a chapelry, tything, See also:borough, See also: The See also:chief part of the parochial organization was the See also:vestry-See also:meeting. It derived its name from the old place of See also:assembly, the vestry See also:room attached to the church or See also:chapel. The vestry represented the old assembly of the township, and retained so much of its business as had not been insensibly transferred to the See also:court-See also:baron and court-leet. The freemen, now appearing as the ratepayers, elected the " parish officers," as the churchwardens and way-wardens, the assessors, the overseers, and (if required) paid assistant-overseers, a secretary or vestry-clerk, and a See also:collector of rates if the guardians applied for his See also:appointment. See also:Common vestries were meetings of all the ratepayers assembled on a three days' See also:notice; select vestries were regulated by local custom, or derived their power from the Vestries Act 1831 (See also:Hobhouse's Act). The vestries could adopt various acts, and appoint persons to carry those acts into See also:execution. The Local Government Act 1894 restored the parish to its position as the unit of local government by establishing parish See also:councils. (See ENGLAND: Local Government.) The Parish in See also:Scotland.—There can be little doubt that about the beginning of the 13th century the whole, or almost the whole, of the See also:kingdom of Scotland was parochially divided. It seems probable (though the point is obscure) that the bishops presided at the first formation of the parishes—the parish being a subdivision of the diocese—and at any rate down to the date of the See also:Reformation they exercised the power of creating new parishes within their respective dioceses (See also:Duncan, Parochial Law, p. 4). After the Reformation the power of altering parishes was assumed by the legislature. The existing parochial districts being found unsuited to the ecclesiastical requirements of the See also:time, a See also:general act was passed in 1581, which made See also:provision for the parochial See also:clergy, and, inter alia, directed that " a sufficient and competent " district should be appropriated to each church as a parish (1581, cap. See also:loo). Thereafter, by a See also:series of See also:special acts in the first place, and, subsequent to the year 1617, by the decrees of See also:parliamentary commissions, the creation of suitable parochial districts was proceeded with. In the year 1707 the powers exercised by the commissioners were permanently transferred to the court of session, whose See also:judges were appointed to act in future as " commissioners for the See also:Plantation of Kirks and Valuation of Teinds " (Act, 1707, cap. 9). Under this statute the areas of parishes continued to be altered and defined down to 1844, when the act commonly known as See also:Graham's Act was passed (7 & 8 Viet. c. 44). This act, which applied to the disjunction and erection of parishes, introduced a simpler See also:form of See also:procedure, and to some extent dispensed with the consent of the heritors, which had been required under the earlier statute. The See also:main division of parishes in Scotland was into civil and ecclesiastical, or, to speak more accurately, into parishes proper (i.e. for all purposes, civil and ecclesiastical) and ecclesiastical parishes. This division is expressed in legal See also:language by the terms, parishes quoad amnia (i.e. quoad civilia et sacra) and parishes quoad sacra—civilia being such matters as church rates, See also:education, poor law and sanitary purposes, and sacra being such as concern the administration of church ordinances, and fall under the See also:cognizance of the church courts. There are other See also:minor divisions which will be noticed below. (I) The Parish Proper.—In a number of instances it is difficult to determine the exact areas of such parishes at the See also:present See also:day. The boundaries of the old ecclesiastical parish were nowhere recorded, and the descriptions in the titles of private properties which appear to See also:lie in the parish have sometimes to be taken as evidence, and sometimes the fact that the inhabitants attended a particular church or made payments in favour of a particular See also:minister. Where there has been a union or disjunction and erection of parishes the evidence of the boundaries is the relative statute, order in council, or See also:decree of See also:commission or of court of teinds. The parishes proper vary to a great degree both in See also:size and See also:population. For ecclesiastical purposes, the minister and See also:kirk-session constitute the parochial authority. The minister is vested with the See also:manse and See also:glebe, to be held by him for himself and his successors in office, and along with the kirk-session he administers church ordinances and exercises church discipline. The See also:oldest governing authority was the meeting of the heritors or landowners of the parish. Though gradually shorn of much of its old importance, the heritors' meeting retained the power of imposing an See also:assessment for the purpose of providing and maintaining a church and church-yard and a manse and glebe for the minister. It also possessed power to assess under the Parochial Buildings Acts of 1862 and 1866. Kirk-session and heritors were the educational authority until the See also:establishment of school boards in 1872. (2) Quoad Sacra Parishes.—The ecclesiastical or quoad sacra parish is a See also:modern creation. Under Graham's Act, above mentioned, a parish may be disjoined and erected quoad sacra tantum on the application of persons who have built and endowed a church, and who offer securities for its proper See also:maintenance. By the Education Act of 1872 the quoad sacra parish was adopted as a separate school district. (3) Extra-Burghal Parishes.—For sanitary purposes, highways and some others, certain classes of burghs were made separate areas from the parishes in which they lay. This fact created a set of incomplete parishes, called extra-burghal. (4) Burghal, Landward and Burghal-Landward (or Mixed) Parishes.—This division of parishes depends, as the names imply, upon local character and situation of the parochial districts. The importance of the distinction arose in connexion with. the See also:rule of assessment adopted for various parochial burdens, and the nature of the rights of the minister and corresponding obligations of the parishioners. (5) Combined Parishes.—Under the Poor-Law, Education and See also:Registration Acts power was given to the central authority to combine parishes for purposes of local administration. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894 reformed parish government, although not to the same extent as the corresponding English act. It established a local government See also:board for Scotland, with a parish council in every parish, and abolished all parochial boards. The number of councillors for a parish council was fixed at not less than five nor more than See also:thirty-one, the number being determined, in the case of landward parishes, by the See also:county council; in the case of burghal parishes by the See also:town council and, in the case of mixed parishes, by county and town councils jointly. The Parish in the See also:United States.—The term " parish " is not in use as a territorial designation except in See also:Louisiana, the sixty parishes of -which correspond to the counties of the other states of the Union. In the See also:American Episcopal Church the word is frequently used to denote an ecclesiastical district. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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