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ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL LAWS.

THE Manks church was founded by Saint Patrick, in the year 444, and was indebted to Germanus, the first bishop of Man, and the three kingdoms, for the introduction of the liturgy of the Lateran, and for those principles and maxims of religious polity, which charac terized the primitive churches of the west.— Historians agree, that Germanus was succeeded by a series of bishops, who were most eminent for their singular piety and learning, and for the austerity of their lives and manners.

Upon the first Norwegian dynasty in the island, which was established near the end of the eleventh century, the bishoprick, under the metropolitan of Drontheim, united the titles of Sodor and Man, which form of title is continued to this day; notwithstanding, the jurisdiction, as Episcopus Sodorensis, has been discontinued ever since the island was conquered by the English; from which period to the present time, the kings and lords of Man have nominated their own bishops.

Sodor, according to Boethius, was a town adjoining the celebrated monastery and cathedral of the bishop of the isles, called Ilcolmkill, dedicated to our Saviour, from the Greek, Soter, afterwards corrupted to Sodor; and where so many of the Scotish, Irish, and Manks kings have been interred *. But, ac

*Beatson's Pol. Index.

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cording to Dr Macpherson, the title of the prelate has been mistaken; he says, that “ during the time the Norwegians were in possession of the Hebrides, they made a civil division of them into the northern, which they called Nordereys, from norder, north, and ey an island, while the Sudereys took in those that lay to the south of the promontory of Ardnamurchan: hence Sodor, or the Sodoreys, meant no more than that portion of the Hebrides annexed to the see of Man *."

It appears, by an extract of a record or bull of Pope Gregory, dated August the 30th 1231, (the island having been surrendered to the Pope by King Reginald, as before mentioned, in the year 1219) that he granted to the bishop "Holme, Sodor, or Pile, in which the cathedral church is situate, with all and singular the ecclesiastical appurtenances thereto belonging, together with one-third part of all the tithes within the isle."

The roll of the ancient Abbey of Rushen informs us, that Bishop Simon held a synod in the year 1239, in which thirteen canons were enacted, chiefly relating to the probate of wills, the rights of the clergy, tithes, &c. to which were added, by Galeoredinus (who had been appointed Bishop of Sodor and Man by Alexander King of Scotland) thirty-five canons.

In the year 1348, William Russel, after his consecration by Pope Clement the Sixth at Avignon, held a synod at Kirk-Michael, and added five articles to the former canons.

*The diocese of the Isle of Man was separated from the He brides in the time of Edward I.

Thomas, Earl of Derby, and King of Man and the Isles, in the year 1505, confirmed, by grant to Bishop Huan, great ecclesiastical privileges and estates, as appears by the instrument in the Appendix, extracted from Dugdale's Monasticon.

In the year 1577, the learned John Merrick was sworn bishop of the isle: this prelate furnished Mr Camden with the account of the kings and bishops of Man, as contained in his Britannia, and which affords the most authentic data now in existence, since the destruction of the records.

The Bishop of Man, besides his spiritual jurisdiction, is sole baron in the isle under his Grace the Duke of Atholl, and is entitled to a seat, but not to a vote in the British House of Lords, not being an English baron, and because he holds his barony from a subject, and not under the crown. Should, however, the right of nomination, at any future period, be invested in the sovereign, then the bishop, it is presumed, would have a right to vote in the House of Lords, as a baron under the crown.

The King or Lord of Man was, in the ancient records, styled metropolitan and chief of the holy church; of course, no lapse could oċcur against him for not presenting.

When the bishoprick becomes vacant, the Duke of Atholl, as Lord of Man, nominates a successor, and presents him to his Majesty for his royal assent, and afterwards to the Archbishop of York for consecration. The bishop, as next in rank to the lord, has a seat in the courts of chancery and exchequer, and,

after the governor, is the first person of his Majesty's council in the island; and he has the highest seat in the lower house of convocation in England. All ecclesiastical causes and affairs relative to wills, administrations, legacies, minors' effects, alimony, debts and credits of deceased persons, arising within a year and a day from the time of granting administration or proving the will, are either heard and determined by his lordship, if he pleases to be present, or by his vicars-general as his assessors (who are in the nature of chancellors to the bishop), and a register, who compose a consistory court, and where all suits relative to bastardy, church assessments, defamation, &c. are also cognizable. The proceedings in the ecclesiastical court, when not otherwise noticed by the local laws, are regulated conformably to those in England, " juxta legem divinum et canones sanctæ ecclesiæ," whose forms of practice are derived from, and in a great measure conformable to those of the Roman civil or canon laws. The criminal jurisdiction extends to such offences against God and religion, as are not subject to coercion by the magistrates in the other courts of the isle, under' the authority of ancient ordinances or acts of Tynwald, and which will be noticed in the Appendix. With respect to the crime of drunkenness, it may be punished in a summary way by any magistrate, although it is strictly and properly under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

The archdeacon is the second spiritual magistrate in the island, and he has, in all inferior cases, alternate jurisdiction with the bishop.

The archdeacon enjoys many privileges, both temporal and spiritual, and he holds his courts either in person or by his official, as the bishop does by his vicars-general; but the usual appeal, in matters purely ecclesiastical, lies from all these courts to the metropolitan, the Archbishop of York (to which see the bishoprick of Man was transferred from Canterbury by an act of 33d Henry 8th), and in all temporal and civil affairs, to the staff of govern

ment.

In right of his barony, the bishop enjoyed the privilege of keeping a temporal and baron court for his tenants, at which a deemster presided as judge under his lordship, and he is assisted by a steward appointed by the bishop. To this court the bishop's serjeant summons twelve of the tenants to serve as a great inquest, and to try all actions between the tenants for lands, trespasses, monies, goods, or merchandize, but subject to appeal as in the other temporal courts; and the fines or amerciaments are levied for the bishop's use. Should any felony be committed by a tenant, he must be tried at this court; and, in case of conviction, and the felon bear no suit or service to the lord of the isle, his lands and goods are forfeited to the bishop, and his life is at the mercy of his Majesty.

Similar privileges are also invested in the steward of the lands anciently under the jurisdiction of the abbot of Rushen. This court was usually held in the months of May and October, and is summoned by the steward's

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