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SIMONY

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 134 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIMONY , an offence, defined below, against the See also:

law of the See also:church. The name is taken from See also:Simon Magus (q.v.). In the See also:canon law the word bears a more extended meaning than in See also:English law. " Simony according to the canonists," says Ayliffe in his Parergon, " is defined to be a deliberate See also:act or a premeditated will and See also:desire of selling such things as are spiritual, or of anything annexed unto spirituals, by giving something of a temporal nature for the See also:purchase thereof; or in other terms it is defined to be a See also:commutation of a thing spiritual or annexed unto spirituals by giving something that is temporal." An example of the offence occurs as See also:early as the 3rd See also:century in the purchase of the bishopric of See also:Carthage by a wealthy matron for her servant, if the See also:note to See also:Gibbon (vol. ii. p. 457) is to be believed. The offence was prohibited by many See also:councils, both in the See also:East and in the See also:West, from the 4th century onwards. In the Corpus See also:juris canonici the Decretum (pt. ii. cause i. quest. 3) and the See also:Decretals (bk. v. tit. 3) See also:deal with the subject. The offender, whether simoniacus (one who had bought his orders) or simoniace promotes (one who had bought his promotion),was liable to deprivation of his See also:benefice and deposition from orders if a See also:secular See also:priest; to confinement in a stricter monastery if a See also:regular. No distinction seems to have been See also:drawn between the See also:sale of an immediate and of a reversionary See also:interest. The See also:innocent simoniace promotes was, apart from See also:dispensation, liable to the same penalties as though he were guilty.

Certain matters were simoniacal by the canon law which would not be so regarded in English law, e.g. the sale of See also:

tithes, the taking of a See also:fee for See also:confession, See also:absolution, See also:marriage or See also:burial, the concealment of one in mortal See also:sin or the reconcilement of an impenitent for the See also:sake of gain, and the doing See also:homage for spiritualities. So See also:grave was the See also:crime of simony considered that even infamous persons could accuse of it. English provincial and legatine constitutions continually assailed simony. Thus one of the heads in Lyndewode (bk. v.) is, " Ne quis ecclesiam nomine dotalitatis transferat vel See also:pro praesentatione aliquid accipiat." In spite of all the provisions of the canon law it is well established that simony was deeply rooted in the See also:medieval church. See also:Dante places persons guilty of simony in the third bolgia of the eighth circle of the Inferno: " O Simon See also:mago, 0 miseri seguaci, Che le cose di Dio the di bontate Deono esser spose, voi rapaci Per oro e per argento adulterate."—Inf. xix. 1. The popes themselves were notorious offenders. In the See also:canto just cited See also:Pope See also:Nicholas III. is made by the poet the mouth-piece of the simoniacs. He is supposed to See also:mistake the poet for See also:Boniface VIII., whose simoniacal practices, as well as those of See also:Clement V., are again alluded to in See also:Par. See also:xxx. 147. At a later See also:period there was an open and continuous sale of spiritual offices by the See also:Roman See also:curia which contemporary writers attacked in the spirit of Dante. A See also:pasquinade against See also:Alexander VI. begins with the lines " Vendit Alexander claves, altaria, Christum.

Emerat ille prius; vendere jure potest." See also:

Machiavelli calls luxury, simony and See also:cruelty the three dear See also:friends and handmaids of the same pope.' The colloquy of See also:Erasmus De sacerdotiis captandis bears See also:witness to the same See also:state of things. And, best See also:proof of all, numerous decisions as to what is or is not simony are to be found in the reported decisions of the Roman See also:rota .2 That See also:part of the papal See also:revenue which consisted of first-fruits (primitiae or See also:annates) and tenths (decimae) must have been theoretically simoniacal in its origin. In See also:England this revenue was annexed to the See also:crown by See also:Henry VIII. and restored to the church by See also:Queen See also:Anne (see QUEEN ANNE'S See also:BOUNTY). For the purposes of English law simony is defined by See also:Blackstone as the corrupt presentation of any See also:person to an ecclesiastical benefice for See also:money, See also:gift or See also:reward. The offence is one of purely ecclesiastical See also:cognizance, and not punishable by the criminal law. The See also:penalty is See also:forfeiture by the offender of any See also:advantage from the simoniacal transaction, of his patronage by the See also:patron, of his benefice by the presentee; and now by the Benefices Act 1892, a person guilty of simony is guilty of an offence for which he may be proceeded against under the See also:Clergy Discipline Act 1892. An innocent clerk is under no See also:disability, as he might be by the canon law. Simony may be committed in three ways—in promotion to orders, in presentation to a benefice, and in resignation of a benefice. The See also:common law (with which the canon law is incorporated, as far as it is not contrary to the common or See also:statute law or the See also:prerogative of the crown) has been considerably modified by statute. Where no statute applies to the See also:case, the doctrines of the canon law may still be of authority. Both See also:Edward VI. and See also:Elizabeth promulgated advertisements against simony. The Act of 31 Eliz. c.

6 was intended to reach the corrupt patron as well as the corrupt clerk, the ecclesiastical censures apart from the statute not extending to the case of a patron. The first part of the act deals with the penalties for See also:

election or resignation of See also:officers of churches, colleges, See also:schools, hospitals, halls and See also:societies for reward. The second part of the act provides that if any person or persons, bodies politic and corporate, for any sum of money, reward, gift, profit or benefit, directly or indirectly, or for or by See also:reason of any promise, agreement, See also:grant, See also:bond, See also:covenant or other assurances, of or for any sum of money, &c., directly or indirectly See also:present or collate any person to any benefice with cure of souls, dignity, prebend or living ecclesiastical, or give or bestow the same for or in respect of ' See See also:Roscoe, See also:Life of See also:Leo X., vol. i. p. 463. 2 Compare the See also:fine distinctions drawn by the casuists and attacked by See also:Pascal in the twelfth of the Provincial Letters. any such corrupt cause or See also:consideration, every such presentation, See also:collation, gift and bestowing, and every See also:admission, institution, See also:investiture and See also:induction shall be void, frustrate and of none effect in law; and it shall be lawful for the queen to present, collate unto, or give and bestow every such benefice, dignity, prebend and living ecclesiastical for that one See also:time or turn only; and all and every person or persons, bodies politic and corporate, that shall give or take any such sum of money, &c., directly or indirectly, or that shall take or make any such promise, &c., shall forfeit and lose the See also:double value of one See also:year's profit of every such benefice, &c., and the person so corruptly taking, procuring, seeking or accepting any such benefice, &c., shall be adjudged a disabled person in law to have or enjoy the same benefice, &c. Admission, institution, See also:installation or induction of any person to a benefice, &c., for any sum of money, &c., renders the offender liable to the penalty already mentioned. But in this case the presentation reverts to the patron and not to the crown. The penalty for corrupt resigning or exchanging of a benefice with cure of souls is that the giver as well as the taker shall lose double the value of the sum so given or taken, See also:half the sum to go to the crown and half to a common informer. The penalty for taking money, &c:, to procure ordination or to give orders or See also:licence to preach is a fine of See also:Loo; the party so corruptly ordained forfeits See also:Ito; See also:acceptance of any benefice within seven years after such corrupt entering into the See also:ministry makes such benefice merely void, and the patron may present as on a vacancy; the penalties are divided as in the last case. The act is cumulative only, and does not take away or restrain any See also:punishment prescribed by ecclesiastical law. The Act of i Will.

& M. sess. 1, c. 16, See also:

guards the rights of an innocent successor in certain cases. It enacts that after the See also:death of a person simoniacally presented the offence or See also:contract of simony shall not be alleged or pleaded to the See also:prejudice of any other patron innocent of simony, or of his clerk by him presented, unless the person simoniac or simoniacally presented was convicted of such offence at common law or in some ecclesiastical See also:court in the lifetime of the person simoniac or simoniacally presented. The act also declares the validity of leases made by a simoniac or simoniacallypresented person, if See also:bona fide and for valuable consideration to a lessee ignorant of the simony. By the Simony Act 1713 if any person shall for money, reward, gift, profit or advantage, or for any promise, agreement, grant, bond, covenant, or other assurance for any money, &c., take, procure or accept the next avoidance of or presentation to any benefice, dignity, prebend or living ecclesiastical, and shall be presented or collated thereupon, such presentation or collation and every admission, institution, investiture and induction upon the same shall be utterly void; and such agreement shall be deemed a simoniacal contract, and the queen may present for that one turn only; and the person so corruptly taking, &c., shall be adjudged disabled to have and enjoy the same benefice, &c., and shall be subject to any punishment limited by ecclesiastical law. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act 184o, § 42, provides that no spiritual person may sell or assign any patronage or presentation belonging to him by virtue of any dignity or spiritual See also:office held by him; such sale or See also:assignment is null and void. This selection has been construed to take away the old See also:archbishop's " See also:option, " i.e. the right to present to a benefice in a newly appointed See also:bishop's patronage at the option of the archbishop. By canon 40 of the canons of 1603 an See also:oath against simony was to be administered to every person admitted to any spiritual or ecclesiastical See also:function, dignity or benefice. By the Clerical Subscription Act 1865 a See also:declaration was substituted for the oath, and a new canon incorporating the alteration was ratified by the crown in 1866. By the canon law all resignation bonds were simoniacal, and in 1826 the See also:House of Lords held that all resignation bonds, See also:general or See also:special, were illegal. Special bonds have since, however, been to a limited extent sanctioned by law.

The Clerical Resignation Bonds Act 1828 makes a written promise to resign valid if made in favour of some particular nominee or one of two nominees, subject to the conditions that, where there are two nominees, each of them must be either by See also:

blood or marriage an See also:uncle, son, See also:grandson, See also:brother, See also:nephew or See also:grand-nephew of the patron, that the See also:writing be deposited with the registrar of the See also:diocese open to public inspection, and that the resignation be followed by presentation within six months of the person for whose benefit the bond is made. The Benefices Act 1898 substitutes and makes obligatory on every person about to be instituted to a benefice a simpler and more stringent See also:form of declaration against simony. The declaration is to the effect that the clergyman has not received the presentation in consideration of any sum of money, reward, gift, profit or benefit directly or indirectly given or promised by him or any one for him to any one; that he has not made any promise of resignation other than that allowed by the Clerical Resignation Bonds Act 1828; that he has not for any money or benefit procured the avoidance of the benefice; and that he has not been party to any agreement invalidated by sec. 3 sub-sec. 3 of the act which invalidates any agreement for the exercise of a right of patronage in favour or on the nomination of any particular person, and any agreement on the See also:transfer of a right of patronage (a) for the retransfer of the right, or (b) for postponing See also:payment of any part of the consideration for the transfer until a vacancy or for more than three months, or (c) for payment of interest until a vacancy or for more than three months, or (d) for any payment in respect of the date at which a vacancy occurs, or (e) for the resignation of a benefice in favour of any person. Cases of simony have come before the courts in which clergy of the highest See also:rank have been implicated. In 1695, in the case of See also:Lucy v. The Bishop of St See also:David's, the bishop was deprived for simony. The queen's See also:bench refused a See also:prohibition (1 See also:Lord See also:Raymond's See also:Rep. 447). In 1841 the See also:dean of See also:York was deprived by the archbishop for simony, but in this case the queen's bench granted a prohibition on the ground of informality in the proceedings (In Re the Dean of York, 2 Q.B.R. 1).

The general result of the law previous to the Benefices Act 1898, as gathered from the statutes and decisions, may be exhibited as follows: (i) it was not simony for a layman or spiritual person not purchasing for himself to purchase, while the church was full, as See also:

advowson or next presentation, however immediate the prospect of a vacancy; (2) it was not simony for a spiritual person to purchase for himself a life or any greater See also:estate in an advowson, and to present himself thereto; (3) it was not simony to See also:exchange benefices under an agreement that nc' payment was to be made for dilapidations on either See also:side; (4) it was not simony to make certain assignments of patronage under the Church See also:Building and New Parishes Acts (9 & io Viet. c. 88, 32 & 33 Viet. C. 94) ; (5) it was simony for any person to purchase the next presentation while the church was vacant ; (6) it was simony for a spiritual person to purchase for himself the next presentation, though the church be full; (7) it was simony for any person to purchase the next presentation, or in the case of purchase of an advowson the next presentation by the purchaser would be simoniacal if there was any arrangement for causing a vacancy to be made ; (8) it was simony for the purchaser of an advowson while the church was vacant to present on the next presentation; (9) it was simony to exchange otherwise than simpliciter; no See also:compensation in money might be made to the person receiving the less valuable benefice. The law on the subject of simony was See also:long regarded as unsatisfactory by the authorities of the church. In 1879 a royal See also:commission reported on the law and existing practice as to the sale, exchange and resignation of benefices. Many endeavours were made in See also:parliament to give effect to the recommendations of the commission, but it was not until 1898 that any important See also:change was made in the law. The Benefices Act of that year absolutely invalidates any transfer of a right of patronage unless (a) it is registered in the diocesan registry, (b) unless more than twelve months have elapsed since the last institution or admission to the benefice, and (c) unless " it transfers the whole interest of the transferor in the right " with certain reservations; in other words, the act abolished the sale of next presentations, but it expressly reserved from its operation (a) a transmission on marriage, death or See also:bankruptcy or otherwise by operation of law, or (b) a transfer on the See also:appointment of a new trustee where no beneficial interest passes. It also substituted another form of declaration for that required under the Clerical Subscription Act 1865 (see above). It abolished the sale by See also:auction of an advowson in See also:gross, and empowered a bishop to refuse to See also:institute or admit a presentee to a benefice on a number of specified grounds: among others, on the ground of possible corrupt presentation through a year not having elapsed since the last transfer of the right of patronage, and constituted a new court to hear appeals against a bishop's refusal to institute. This court consists of a See also:judge of the Supreme Court, who shall decide all questions of law and of fact, and of the archbishop, who gives See also:judgment. In See also:Scotland simony is an offence both by See also:civil.and ecclesiastical law.

The rules are generally those of the canon law. There are few decisions of Scottish courts on the subject. By the Act of 1584, C. 5, ministers, readers and others guilty of simony provided to benefices were to be deprived. An Act of See also:

Assembly of 1753 declares pactions simoniacal whereby a See also:minister or probationer before presentation and as a means of obtaining it bargains not to raise a See also:process of See also:augmentation of See also:stipend or demand reparation or enlargement of his See also:manse or See also:glebe after induction.

End of Article: SIMONY

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