Burial records
This week there have been two cases which have demonstrated the importance of maintaining accurate and up-to-date records of interment. Re An Exhumation [2025] ECC Por 1, reported here, centred on the rector distinguishing between “the Correct Plot” and “the Incorrect Plot” for the deposit of cremation ashes, (to use the terminology of Summers Ch) and the opinions of the the verger and members of the family concerned. After a query from a member of the family, the ashes of the deceased were first buried first in the Correct Plot (rather than the prepared plot), then moved to the Incorrect Plot after a query by the verger, until the rector transferred them back to the Correct Plot but without faculty authorization or informing the Archdeacon – all within the space of a few days.
The circumstances in Re A Burial [and in re AB on behalf of XY] [2025] ECC Bri 1 related to the burial of ST in the plot which had been assumed to have been reserved for XY, although there was no supportive documentary evidence. When this was discovered by AB, a close friend of XY, then, without the knowledge of XY but with the consent of the family of ST, she applied for a faculty for the remains ST to be exhumed and reinterred in another grave next to his parents in law, so that in due time XY’s body could be buried in the intended grave. Gau Ch accepted that a mistake had been made and granted a faculty, but warned that this happens again, he would consider making a costs order against the relevant PCC and/or incumbent.
Clergy Conduct Measure
The Ecclesiastical Committee took oral evidence on the Clergy Conduct Measure (CCM) on 10 June 2025, for which the corrected transcript of the oral evidence is here. The Chair concluded by urging the Church to reconsider Tribunals sitting in public, an issue that a number of people have raised, as “the Church would gain from more cases being heard in public rather than in private”. Ironically, the Joint Committee will again consider the CCM at a meeting at 3:30pm on Monday 7 July 2025, in private.
Humanist weddings
On Monday 30 June, in response to a question from Baroness Thornton on the progress to enable legal humanist weddings, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab) said:
“My Lords, the strength of feeling around legally recognising humanist weddings is clear. I assure my noble friend that the Government understand the issues, including the key importance not just of weddings but of marriage itself, and we are looking at them with the utmost care. As the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, my honourable friend Alex Davies-Jones, said in the other place a couple of weeks ago, our officials are working on this issue ‘at pace’ and an update ‘will come soon’”,
and concluded:
“I can certainly give an assurance to the noble Lord, Lord Birt, that we are making haste, and we will make an announcement soon. I know I have said that on previous occasions, but I mean it and a statement will come soon.
I have made this point before, but I will make it in a different way. There are people who have humanist marriages in Northern Ireland and Scotland. People can and do have humanist marriages in England and Wales, but they also have to go to a town hall or something to get the state to recognise the status of their marriage. It is that anomaly which needs to be addressed when we review the 57 wider recommendations of the Law Commission”.
[See also Russell Sandberg’s post in Quick Links, below. Frank’s thought, FWIW, is that the term “at pace”, unqualified, can mean anything from greased lightning to snail.]
Sheila Cameron RIP
The death of Sheila Cameron CBE KC MA LLM DC has been announced, at the age of 91. Sheila will be well known to many readers of this blog. The Ecclesiastical Law Society sent members the following appreciation from Bishop Christopher Hill:
“Sheila Cameron, my immediate predecessor as president of the ELS, was a most distinguished Ecclesiastical and Planning lawyer. Though I knew Sheila for some time, not least as the first female Dean of Arches, it was the Blagdon case which brought us into collaboration. What was the permanency of Christian burial? The answer I offered as an expert witness was of course somewhat Delphic; the catacombs offer examples of the removal of saints and martyrs at the collapse of the Roman Western Empire. But in principle, Christian burial was to be stable and set with exceptions. My memories of Sheila Cameron are both affectionate and of respect. In relation to the ELS, Sheila was with genuine affection quietly spoken of as the ‘Headmistress’. May she now rest in peace.”
A reminder
The use of any material published on Law and Religion UK is subject to our General Terms and Conditions. Whilst the copyright in individual posts in Law and Religion UK, including cross-posted items, is reserved to their authors, including guest authors, we would ask users of this material inter alia to acknowledge the sources as on Law and Religion UK, using the citation at the end of the article, if provided.
Quick links
- Francis Martin, Church Times(£): Ordination of lay ministers is ‘inflammatory’ say bishops: the CT take on Andrew Atherstone’s post.
- Jayne Ozanne, Javier García Oliva, Helen Hall, Oxford Journal of Law & Religion: Spiritual Lawfare: The Use and Misuse of Litigation in the Context of Human Rights, Religious Freedom, and Competing Human Rights.
- Russell Sandberg, Sandberg’s Subversive Scribblings: The Bishop of Guildford’s Attack on Independent Celebrants.
- Sharon Thompson, Legal Futures: Budget nuptial agreements “should provoke alarm”.