Ecclesiastical judgments – November

Overview

In addition to the eleven consistory court cases reviewed here, the Bishop’s Disciplinary Tribunal for the Diocese of Sodor and Man handed down a judgment in relation to the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 as it has effect in the Isle of Man. Following his 2016 Visitation, the Bishop of Chichester handed over his Charge to the Dean, Chapter and College of Canons, which is covered in our post The 2016 Chichester Visitation.

In Re St James Kidbrooke [2016] ECC Swk 13, the dilemma of achieving judicial balance where the outcome is (almost) certain raised a number of issues, and this was reviewed in Security for costs vs uncertainty of evidence in consistory court hearing. Other cases of note included permission for a “Blue Plaque” on the outside of a church, an objector who raised illogical; safety considerations, the occurrence of an unresponsive SPAB, and a wrongly dug grave.

At the end of December, in addition to a review of the month’s cases, we will publish and index with links to all of those we have reviewed during 2016.

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