David McClean

The Changing Legal Framework of Establishment

This article looks closely at the legal nature of Establishment, both in England and North of the Border. The legal material shows that the two cases are very different. The Ace od Supermacy 1558 and related legislation enable the English churchs porition to be presented so as to meke it one aspect of the State, and tetwntieth-century case-law has tended to confirm that understanding. The Scottish kirk enjoys statutory autonomy under the Church of Scotland Act 1921, and again case-law emphasises the reality of its exemption from some of the usual jurisdiction of the secular authorities and courts (though its scope may be becoming less clear-cut in the light of developments within the European Community). The author asks how, in the English context, the legal analysis relates to the reality of the English situation, as seen through the insights of other disciplines, to the role of the Church of England nationally and locally, and to the, sometimes confrontational, relationship between Synod and Parliament .

International civil legal cooperation

At the last Commonwealth Law Ministers’ Meeting in Sydney, Australia, in 2011, law ministers mandated the Commonwealth Secretariat to develop a scheme for international cooperation in civil legal matters. This article explores the issues that would be covered by such a scheme and examines whether they are best addressed under existing international mechanisms, in particular the Hague Conventions. The article analyses the relevant provisions of the Hague Conventions and determines whether an intra-Commonwealth scheme on international civil legal cooperation would bring an advantage. It then makes recommendations in that regard.

State Finance For European Churches

In the January 1990 issue of the Journal, Professor McClean gave some account of the first meeting of the European Consortium for Church and State Research and of the position as to State support for Religious Education in the countries of the European Community. This article, based on his contribution to the March Conference of the Society, looks at the wider question of State Finance for the Churches, their ministry and worship.

Women Priests the Legal Background

In the coming months, the General Synod and then the diocesan synods will be considering legislation enabling bishops of the Church of England to ordain women to the office of priest, and making related provisions as to the manner and effect of this change in the law and practice of the Church of England. The purpose of this article is not to examine that draft legislation, which at the time of writing is still being subjected to line-by-line scrutiny in a Revision Committee of the General Synod, but to sketch in some of the legal background against which it was prepared. In particular, there is a fundamental issue: why is legislation needed? To which may be added: why is Parliamentary authority, expressed by the approval of a Measure, required for any necessary change in the Canons?

Immigration and Asylum in the United Kingdom

This piece offers an account of the law relating to immigration and asylum, especially as it affects ministers of religion and those who give religious reasons for seeking asylum. Beside Nicholas Coultons passionate advocacy,1 this paper must seem bloodless and even unfeeling. It is a revised version of part of a paper for the European Consortium on Church and State Research, an essentially �black-letter� account of one countrys national law constructed to a template that enabled comparisons to be drawn. It began with the observation that United Kingdom immigration law is of daunting complexity; only some limited aspects can be addressed here.

Letter From Brussels

Readers of this Journal do not need to be told of the importance of legislation in forming and reforming ecclesiastical law. They are familiar with the division of legislative functions between Parliament and the General Synod in accordance with the Enabling Act and the conventions which have grown up around it. Where proposed Government legislation has an obvious impact on the interests of the churches, there will normally be consultation between the relevant Government department and the church authorities. The Churches Main Committee monitors and seeks to influence and headquarters staff have access to policy-makers in Whitehall.