CLASS IV. STATUTES RELATING TO PARSONAGE HOUSES AND GLEBE LANDS. Anno 14 ELIZ. Cap. 11. Sect. 18. An Act for the Continuation, Explanation, Perfecting and Enlarging of divers Statutes. PART I. No. 1. Stat. 14 Eliz. c. 11. dilapida XVIII. AND be it further enacted, That all sums of mo- Money reney hereafter to be recovered, for or in name of dilapi- covered for dations, by sentence, composition or otherwise, shall within tions shall two years after such receipt be truly employed upon the be employbuildings and reparations, in respect whereof such money ed in repair of the same for dilapidations shall be paid; on pain that every person so houses. receiving and not employing as aforesaid, shall forfeit double as much as so shall be by him received and not employed; the which forfeiture shall be to the use of the Queen's Majesty, her heirs and successors a. Anno 17 GEO. III. Cap. 53. No. 2. ed by 21 An Act to promote the Residence of the Parochial Clergy, Explained by making Provision for the more speedy and effectual andamendbuilding, rebuilding, repairing, or purchasing Houses, Geo. 3. c. and other necessary Buildings and Tenements, for the 66. Use of their Benefices b. WHEREAS many of the parochial Clergy, for want of proper habitations, are induced to reside at a distance from their benefices, by which means the parishioners lose the advantage of their instruction and hospitality, which were great objects in the original distribution of tithes and glebes for the endowment of churches: for remedy whereof, may it please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the twenty- Incumbent fourth day of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy- of any livseven, whenever the Parson, Vicar, or other Incumbent, of a See 13 Eliz. c. 10. s. 2. in Part I. Class V. No. 2. post. This Act is often referred to by the name of Gilbert's Act, it having been brought in by a gentleman of that name. P on there is no house, &c. PART I. any ecclesiastical living, parochial benefice, chapelry, or perCLASS petual curacy, being under the jurisdiction of the Bishop or IV. other ecclesiastical Ordinary, whereon there is no house of Stat. 17 habitation, or such house is become so ruinous and decayed, G. 3. c. 53. or is so mean, that one year's net income and produce of No. 2. the Ordinary and Patron) such living will not be sufficient to build, rebuild, or put the same, with the necessary offices belonging thereto, in sufficient repair, shall think fit to apply for the aid and assistance intended to be given by this Act, it shall and may be lawful for every such Parson, Vicar, or Incumbent, (after having procured, from some skilful and experienced workman or surveyor, a certificate, containing a state of the condition of the buildings on their respective glebes, and of the value of the timber and other materials thereupon, fit to be employed in such buildings or repairs, or to be sold, and also a plan and estimate of the work proposed to be done, (such state and estimate to be verified upon oath, taken before some Justice of the Peace, or Master in Chancery, Ordinary or Extraordinary,) and laid the same, together with a just and particular account in writing, signed by him, and verified upon oath, taken as aforesaid, of the annual profits of such living, before the Ordinary and Patron of the living, and obtained their consent to such proposed new buildings (with the consent of or repairs, by writing under their respective hands, in the form for that purpose contained in the schedule hereunto annexed,) to borrow and take up at interest, in the manner hereafter mentioned, such sum or sums of money as row money the said estimate shall amount unto, after deducting the value of timber or other materials which may be thought proper to be sold, not exceeding two years' net income and produce of such living, after deducting all rents, stipends, taxes, and other outgoings, excepting only the salaries to the assistant Curate, where such a Curate is necessary; and as a security for the money so to be borrowed, to mortgage the glebe, tithes, rents, and other profits and emoluments, arising or to arise from such living, to such person or persons who shall advance the same, by one or more deed or deeds, for the term of twenty-five years, or until the money so to be borrowed, with interest for the same, and such costs and charges as may attend the recovery thereof, shall be fully paid and satisfied, according to the terms, conditions, true intent, and meaning of this Act; which mortgage deed or deeds shall be made in the forms or to the effect for that purpose contained in the said schedule, and shall bind every succeeding Parson, Vicar, or Incumbent, of such living, until the principal and interest, costs and charges, shall be paid may bor to build one, and mort. gage the glebe, &c. for twenty five years. off and discharged, as fully and effectually as if such suc- PART I. cessor had executed the same. CLASS IV. No. 2. G. 3. c. 53. a counter II. And be it further enacted, That every such Mortgagee shall execute a counterpart of every such mortgage, Stat. 17 to be kept by the Incumbent for the time being; and a copy of every such deed of mortgage shall be registered in the Every office of the Registrar of the Bishop of the diocese where the Mortgagee parish lies, or other Ordinary having episcopal jurisdiction to execute therein for the time being, after having been first examined part of the by him with the original; which officer shall register the mortgage, same, and be entitled to demand and receive the sum of five to be kept by the Inshillings, and no more, for such register; and every such cumbent, deed shall be referred to upon all necessary occasions, the &c. person inspecting the same paying one shilling for every such search; and the said deed, or a copy thereof, certified under the hand of the Registrar, shall be allowed as legal evidence, in case any such mortgage deed shall happen to be lost or destroyed. train. III. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That Mortgagee whenever the principal and interest, directed to be paid to may disthe Mortgagee under the several provisions of this Act, shall be in arrear and unpaid, for the space of forty days after the same shall become due, it shall and may be lawful for such Mortgagee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, to recover the same, and the costs and charges attending the recovery thereof, by distress and sale, in such manner as rents may be recovered by landlords or lessors from their tenants by the laws in being. rowed to be shall ap IV. And be it further enacted, That the money so to be Money borborrowed shall be paid into the hands of such person or per-paid to sons as shall be nominated and appointed to receive and such perapply the same for the purposes aforesaid, by the Ordinary, sons as OrPatron, and Incumbent, by writing under their respective dinary, &c. hands, in the form for that purpose contained in the said point; schedule, after such Nominee shall have given a bond to the Ordinary, with sufficient surety, in double the sum so to be borrowed or raised, with condition for his duly applying and accounting for the same according to the directions of this Act; and the receipt of the person or persons so to be nominated shall be a sufficient discharge to the person or persons who shall advance and pay the money: and the person or persons, so to be nominated, shall enter into contracts with proper persons for such buildings or repairs as shall be ap-buildings, proved by the Ordinary, Patron, and Incumbent, and shall &c. be specified in an instrument written upon parchment, and signed by them, in the form for that purpose contained in who shall contract for the IV. PART I. the said schedule; and shall inspect and have the care of CLASS the execution of such contracts, and shall pay the money for such buildings and repairs, according to the terms of Stat. 17 such agreements, and shall take proper receipts and vouchG. 3. c. 53. ers for the same; and as soon as such buildings or repairs No. 2. How the balance posed of. shall be completed, and the money paid, shall make out an account of his receipts and payments, together with the vouchers for the same, and enter them in a book, fairly written, which shall be signed by him, and laid before the Ordinary, Patron, and Incumbent, and examined by them; and when allowed, by writing under their respective hands, in the form for that purpose contained in the said schedule, such allowance shall be a full discharge to the person so nominated, in respect to the said accounts; and if any balance shall remain in the hands of such Nominee or Nominees, the shall be dis- same shall be laid out in some further lasting improvements in building upon such glebe, or shall be paid and applied in discharge of so much of the said principal debt as such balance will extend to pay, at the discretion of the said Ordinary, Patron, and Incumbent, or two of them, of which the said Ordinary to be one, by order signed by them, in the form for that purpose contained in the said schedule; and an account shall also be kept, made out, and allowed, of such further disbursements, in manner aforesaid: all which accounts, when made out, completed, and allowed, shall be deposited, with the vouchers, in the hands of the said Registrar, and kept by him for the use and benefit of the Incumbents of such living for the time being, who shall have a right to inspect the same whenever occasion shall require, paying to such Registrar, or Deputy Registrar, the sum of one shilling for every such inspection. of the buildings when Incumbent Ordinary to V. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That every cause in such Ordinary, before he or they shall signify his or their quiry to be made of the consent, in manner aforesaid, shall cause an inquiry to be condition made, and certified to him or them by the Archdeacon, Chancellor of the diocese, or other proper persons living in or near the parish where such buildings are proposed to be made or repaired, in the forms for that purpose specified in entered on the said schedule, of the state and condition of such buildthe living, ings at the time the Incumbent entered upon such living or benefice, how long such Incumbent had enjoyed such living or benefice, what money he had received, or may be entitled to receive, for dilapidations, and how and in what manner he had laid out what he had so received; and if it shall арpear to them that such Incumbent had, by wilful negli gence, suffered such buildings to go out of repair, then to &c. PART I. IV. Stat. 17 certify the same to the said Ordinary, and also the amount of the damage which such buildings had sustained by the wilful neglect of such Incumbent; and such Incumbent, if the Ordinary require it, shall pay the same into the hands of the Nominee or Nominees to be appointed under the au- G. 3. c. 53. thority of this Act, towards defraying the expenses of building or repairs, before the Ordinary shall give his consent as aforesaid. ment mortgages, VI. And be it further enacted, That the Incumbent of Directions every such living or benefice, in cases where such mortgage font of the for payor mortgages shall be made as aforesaid, and his successors principal for the time being, shall, and he and they is and are hereby and interest required to pay the interest arising upon every such mort- of the gage, yearly, as the same shall become due, or within one &c. month after, and also five pounds per centum per annum, of the principal remaining due, by yearly payments; and that every such Incumbent who shall not reside twenty weeks in each year upon such living, computing such year from the date of the said mortgage deed, shall, instead of the said sum of five pounds per centum per annum, pay the sum of ten pounds per centum per annum, of the principal remaining due, by yearly payments, such payments to be respectively made at the same time such interest shall be paid, until the whole principal money and interest shall be fully paid and discharged; and that every such Incumbent who shall pay only five pounds per centum per annum of such principal money, shall, at the time he pays the same, produce and deliver to the Mortgagee a certificate under the hands of two Rectors, Vicars, or officiating Ministers, of some parishes near adjoining, signifying that he had resided twenty weeks upon the said living or benefice, within the year for which such payment became due, according to the regulations aforesaid; which certificate shall be in the form, or to the effect, contained in the said schedule; and that every such Incumbent shall, annually, at his own expense, from the time such buildings, authorized to be made by this Act, shall be completed, insure, at one of the publick offices established in London or Westminster for insurance of houses and buildings, the house and other buildings upon such glebe, against accidents by fire, at such sum of money as shall be agreed upon by the Ordinary, Patron, and Incumbent; and in default of the payment of either the principal or interest, in manner aforesaid, or neglect of the Incumbent to make such insurance, the Ordinary shall have This provision, which was before nugatory, is amended by stat. 21 Geo. 3. c. 66. s. 1. No. 3. post. |