The Court of Peculiars is one of the ecclesiastical courts of the Church of England.
The court sits with a Dean, who is also the Dean of the Arches. The Registrars are the Joint Provincial Registrars. The Court of Peculiars deals with all legal matters from peculiar parishes[i] in the province. Until 1545, ecclesiastical judges were required to have a degree in canon law; thereafter, they only needed a doctorate in civil law. Binding precedent was only introduced into the ecclesiastical courts in the nineteenth century.
List of Deans of the Court of Peculiars
- Charles George QC, 2009-
- Miss Sheila Cameron QC, 2000–09
- Sir John Owen QC, 1980–2000
- Revd Kenneth Elphinstone QC, 1977–80
- Sir Harold Kent GCB QC, 1972–76
- Walter Wigglesworth QC, 1971–72
- Rt Hon Sir Henry Willink Bt MC QC, 1955–70
- Sir Philip Wilbraham-Baker Bt. KBE, c. 1938–55
References
- ^ Paul Barber (31 July 2008). "What is a Peculiar?". Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/S0956618X00002210.
- Noel Cox, "Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the Church of the Province of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia" (2001) 6(2) Deakin Law Review 266-284