Chapter X: Act 1894: is important as the first practical attempt of any importance (6)

ARCHES, COURT OF, the English ecclesiastical court of appeal of the archbishop of Canterbury, as metropolitan of the province of Canterbury, from all the consistory and commissary courts in the province. It derives its name from its ancient place of judicature, which was in the church of _Beata Maria de Arcubus_ --St Mary-le-Bow or St Mary of the Arches, "by reason of the steeple thereof raised at the top with stone pillars in fashion like a bow bent archwise." This parish was the chief of thirteen locally situated within the diocese of London but exempt from the bishop's jurisdiction, and it was no doubt owing to this circumstance that it was selected originally as the place of judicature for the archbishop's court. The proper designation of the judge is official principal of the Arches court, but by custom he came to be styled the dean of the Arches, a title belonging formerly to the chief official of the subordinate court. Originally, the official principal exercised metropolitan jurisdiction, while the dean of the Arches exercised the "peculiar" jurisdiction. The jurisdictions called "peculiars" at one time numbered nearly 300 in England. They were originally introduced by the pope for the purpose of curtailing the bishop's legitimate authority within his diocese; "an object which," says Phillimore, "they certainly attained, to the great confusion of ecclesiastical jurisdiction for many years." The dean of the Arches originally had jurisdiction over the thirteen London parishes above mentioned, but as the official principal was often absent as ambassador on the continent, he became his substitute, and gradually the two offices were blended together. The original office of the dean of the Arches may now be regarded as extinct, though the title is still popularly used, for no dean of the Arches has been appointed _eo nomine_ for several centuries, and by an act of 1838 bishops have jurisdiction over all peculiars within their diocese. The judge of the Arches court was until 1874 appointed by the archbishop of Canterbury by patent which, when confirmed by the dean and chapter of Canterbury, conferred the office for the life of the holder. He took the oaths of office required by the 127th canon. But by the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 the two archbishops were empowered, subject to the approval of the sovereign by sign-manual, from time to time to appoint a practising barrister of ten years' standing, or a person who had been a judge of one of the superior courts (being a member of the Church of England) to be, during good behaviour, a judge for the purpose of exercising jurisdiction under that act, and it was enacted (sec. 7) that on a vacancy occurring in the office of official principal of the Arches court the judge should become _ex officio_ such official principal. In this way the late Lord Penzance became dean on the retirement of Sir Robert Phillimore in 1875. Lord Penzance received in 1878 a supplemental patent as dean from Archbishop Tait, but did not otherwise fulfil the conditions observed on the appointment of his predecessors. On Lord Penzance's retirement in 1899, his successor, Sir Arthur Charles, received a patent from the archbishop of Canterbury as official principal of the Arches court, and he took the oaths of office according to the practice before the Public Worship Regulation Act. He was subsequently and separately appointed judge under that act. Sir A. Charles resigned in 1903 and was succeeded by Sir L.T. Dibdin, who qualified in the same way as his immediate predecessor. The official principal of the Arches court is the only ecclesiastical judge who is empowered to pass a sentence of deprivation against a clerk in holy orders. The appeals from the decisions of the Arches court were formerly made to the king in chancery, but they are now by statute addressed to the king in council, and they are heard before the judicial committee of the privy council. By an act of Henry VIII. (Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction