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of country gentlemen presiding at Quarter Sessions, and certainly not greater than Bishops and Archdeacons might fairly be presumed to possess.
I submit that the Ecclesiastical Courts so constituted would be fitting tribunals for deciding any questions which might arise between the Church of England laity or their Churchwardens and the Archdeacon, upon the repair of the fabric; matters of fact being referred to a jury of five persons at the option of the parties, as in the County Courts, and points of law decided by the Bishop, without appeal, excepting upon questions certified by him, and these latter to be heard, and finally determined in the Metropolitan Court of the province. The voluntary nature of Church-membership would greatly limit the power of these Courts, which would rather possess the character of arbitrators, but with an ecclesiastical authority coincident with the spiritual authority of the Bishop—to suspend, to depose, or to excommunicate. To this extent I propose that the decisions in Ecclesiastical Courts shall continue to be recognized by the State, namely, that the law of the State shall acknowledge them as valid awards between members of the Church of England and their ecclesiastical superiors. For instance, if a person be deprived of his seat in a Church, or deposed from a benefice by the judgment of these Courts, he shall not be able to bring an action at Common law for their recovery, unless he can show that the Courts in question have ex-
