Guidance on Churchyard Regulations after Exhall

On 16 June 2021 the Court of Arches handed down its reserved judgment Re St Giles Exhall [2021] EACC 1 on which we posted a Case Note. This appeal was prompted by the decision in Re St Giles, Exhall [2020] ECC Cov 1, where permission was denied for a faculty for a memorial stone to include the words “Inár gcroíthe go deo”: Irish Gaelic for “in our hearts forever”. In its judgment, the Arches Court considered the factors that Chancellors should take into account and apply in relation to schemes of delegation (a.k.a. “Churchyard Regulations”), and when determining faculty petitions concerning inscriptions in languages other than English. Continue reading