Swearing-in of the Government’s legal team

On Monday, the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales swore in the new Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood MP, the Attorney-General, Richard Hermer KC, and the Solicitor-General, Sarah Sackman MP. In what Joshua Rozenberg described as “a little-noticed change to their traditional oaths of office”, Hermer and Sackman both swore to “well and truly respect the rule of law” – which, of course, includes continued adherence to the European Convention of Human Rights.

As if to underline that, at the opening plenary session of the European Political Community at Blenheim Palace on 18 July 2024, Sir Kier Starmer assured Europe’s leaders that “we will never withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights”.

When is a religious wedding not a wedding?

In LF v MA (NY Cnty Sup Ct July 9 2024), the plaintiff in a divorce action believed that she had been validly married to the defendant in a ceremony at a Coptic Orthodox church in New York even though they had not obtained a civil marriage licence, while the defendant contended that the ceremony had merely been a family blessing. A New York state trial court held that the ceremony had been sufficient to consider the parties civilly married, noting that

“… [T]he parties participated in a religious solemnized ceremony, one that so looked like a wedding that the church’s Father H.H. prepared the marriage certificate, and until one day before his testimony here, never thought anything other than that the parties were married that day in that ceremony. Plaintiff believed she was married — that is undisputed. Defendant now states that he did not think he was married, but his actions during the years immediately after the ceremony paint a clear and undisputed picture that he could have only thought that he was married and not otherwise….”

Which is strongly reminiscent of the situation in MA v JA [2012] EWHC 2219 (Fam), in which the couple only found out that their religious ceremony had been defective when JA went to the Register Office to obtain a marriage certificate and was told that their marriage had not been registered. They had to get a declaration from the High Court to regularise the situation. [With thanks to Howard Friedman and Religion Clause.]

Vacancy in the See of Ely

On Monday, the Archbishop of Canterbury published a statement on the Crown Nominations Commission process for selecting the next Bishop of Ely, the meeting on 11 and 12 July having failed to agree on a nomination. The Commission is unlikely to meet again before the Spring of 2025. Readers may recall that in December 2023 the Carlisle CNC was similarly unable to reach the level of consensus required to nominate a new Diocesan Bishop. Current episcopal vacancies are recorded on Peter Owen’s website, which shows the dates of the Vacancy in See and the CNC meetings. 

In addition to Ely and Carlisle, there are vacancies in the sees of Coventry, Truro, and Durham. The See of Worcester will become vacant in October this year. Archbishop Welby has said he plans to stay in post until he reaches retirement age in 2026 — health permitting, and if “people are happy” with his leadership.

Professor Norman Doe

On 24 March 2024, we reported that our old friend, teacher and mentor Norman Doe was appointed KC (honoris causa) on 18 March at a ceremony in Westminster Hall – you can read the Lord Chancellor’s speech here. We are delighted to inform our readers that there has been further recognition of his scholarship by The British Academy, which has elected him to its Fellowship in the latest group of 86 leading scholars from the humanities and social sciences. Our heartiest congratulations.

Return of the Church Mouse Blog

In contrast to the closures of a number of relevant blogs over the past few years, Return of the Church Mouse Blog announces that one has recommenced. It notes that the media environment has changed significantly since the blog was mothballed, from a time when all of the major newspapers had dedicated religion correspondents and each of them had their own ‘blog’ or comment section with a faith focus.

“Now, none of the major newspapers have a dedicated religion role…and [w]here religion is covered, the brief has generally expanded from a specialism in the UK church that previous correspondents had to a more global outlook, covering major world events and faiths”.

“[M]ost of the dedicated faith-based commentary has either disappeared behind paywalled Substacks or retreated into factionalism with the result that there are few outlets providing independent views on matters of faith and the UK church and many news sites now have an excessive focus on either niche theological perspectives or issues of sexuality and gender…podcasts and substacks seem to have taken over from blogs in the commentary business, but some blogs and quality news sites remain”.

Welcome back.

Quick links

• House of Lords: Lords private members’ bills ballot 2024, 
• Paul Magrath, ICLR: Changes to Neutral Citations for Family Court and Court of Protection.
• Saïla Ouald-Chaib, Strasbourg Observers: Mikyas v Belgium: one more ‘headscarf case’ that manifestly fails to acknowledge applicants’ concerns.
• Russell Sandberg: The King’s Speech.
• Russell Sandberg: Two Years since the Law Commission’s Weddings Report –– and precisely nothing has happened.

And finally…

Religion Clause reports that a Russian court has banned the online sale of “Souvenir Toilet Paper” imprinted with images of the 1997 version of Russia’s 1000-rouble bills as the depiction offends the feelings of religious believers. The bill carries a picture of a statue of Yaroslav the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev from 1019 to 1054, who was canonised in 2016 by the Bishops Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. Prior to that, in 2005, he was named a local saint by the Patriarch of Moscow and in 2004, he was included in the calendar of saints of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). [With thanks to Howard Friedman.]

[Updated: 21 July 2024 at 14:28]