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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

precept, at which court the governor and other chief officers may preside.

With respect to the clergy of the isle, they are usually educated at an academy in Castle Town, founded by Bishop Barrow, who, with Charles, Earl of Derby, by a grant in the year 1673, appropriated the profits of a former vacancy of the bishoprick to the foundation of an academic school, and nominated Messrs Leigh of Lyme, and Cholmondeley of Vale Royal in Cheshire, and their heirs, perpetual trustees, with power to grant licenses to the professors.

Bishop Barrow also, by grant executed in the year 1668, gave two valuable estates in the island, called Ballagilly and Hango Hill, for the use and benefit of the scholars of the free school of Castle Town; reserving a power, during his life, of disposing of the said estates to any other good use in the island; and appointed the lord bishop, the archdeacon, or, in their absence, the vicars-general and the official, and four more of the chief temporal officers of the isle for the time being, whereof the governor to be always one, feoffees in trust for the same.

The bishop by his will, dated 14th December 1679, gave the said estates "towards the maintenance of three boys at the academical school, when it shall be there settled. And in case there shall be no such school within twelve months after his death, then to go towards the maintenance of two boys of most pregnant parts at some university abroad; in the meantime to be employed as it is. And these boys

to be chosen after his decease by the bishop and archdeacon pro tempore, the governor or his deputy, and the two senior clergymen (not in office) in the island, or any four of them, whereof the bishop to be always one if present. And his intention was, that these boys be by their education settled, for the supply of the clergy in the island, upon the vacancy of any living; but that no boy should be taken, till security be given by his friends, that upon the call of the bishop he shall immediately take holy orders, and supply the vacant living, or pay back such money as he hath received of this gift till that time, such money to be applied for the benefit of the church, in such manner as the persons nominated for the choice of the boys shall agree."

OF HUSBAND AND WIFE, PARENT AND CHILD, GUARDIAN AND WARD.

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WHEN a marriage is duly contracted and solemnized in the manner prescribed by the act of Tynwald of 1757*, and according to the English rubric and the canons of 1703 relating to marriages, it cannot be positively dissolved by any court or process known to the Manks law, except by the uncircumscribed powers of an act of Tynwald; for a divorce a mensâ et toro does not vacate the conjugal union, although the wife is thereby rendered solely responsible to creditors, of which alimony is a consequence.

With regard to the legal consequences of matrimony as far as relates to lands of inheritance, they have been already noticed under the head of Modern Manks Tenures. With respect to mere personal property, although the husband has the disposition thereof during the joint lives of himself and wife, yet, in this instance, it will also appear with what extraordinary favour the Manks law has regarded females; for, at the husband's decease, one moiety of the personal estate with which he died possessed becomes the property of the widow, subject to the debts owing by the deceased; and the wife may, in the lifetime of her husband, give by will a moiety of his purchased lands and personal estate to any issue

* Appendix, Marriage Act.

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