is only to Present to a Benefice vacant by Promotion, that was antecedently presentable. Here the whole Kingdom is Patron, and all that they can pretend to, is when a Man is dignified by Promotion, who came in by Presentation or Collation, and not otherwise.
[178] It is not at present proper to argue when this Prerogative shall begin or commence upon this Church; or if ever? 'Twill be Time enough to Dispute that, when another Occasion offers it self; when the Doctor, or any of his Successors, happens to be preferred to the same State, as his Predecessor is. It suffices to maintain that this Turn belongs to the Bishop of London.
This is not an Advowson created, as others usually are. First, As was observed before, no Advowson is fixed, or vested, or created, but in futuro, the same Person is made a Pluralist by Act of Parliament, tho' the Act it self says the Parish was too great for one Cure.
Then 'twas observed, That this is not a Patronage Turn. It must be admitted that this Act vests the Fee-simple of this Advowson in the Lord Jermyn and the Bishop of London, and in their respective Heirs and Successors by Turns, viz. to the Lord Jermyn one, and to the Bishop two successively; and so the Succession is enacted to be for ever: Now this is not one of those Patronage successive Turns, but it is a particular Presentation which is given to the Bishop of London by express Limitation: And the Penning is different. The first, about which the present Contest is, is to be by the Bishop of London for the Time being; then the successive Presentations of one and two, are to be, one by the Lord and his Heirs, and the two by the Bishop and his Successors; so that there is no Words in the first that looks like the Gift of an Estate, but 'tis only one first particular Presentation, given to the Bishop more than ordinary: It is not one of his Turns, which he is to have as Patron, by two to one; but first he is to present one, before ever it comes into the Form and Manner of Turns prescribed by this Act, in perpetual Succession: For, if otherwise, the Patronage would be to the Bishop three Turns in four, to one of the Lord Jermyn's.
Objection answered.—As to their Objection, That a Patronage newly created shall be in the same Plight, and under the same Rules and Circumstances and Incumbrances as another: That Objection can never take place before it becomes a Patronage, which this was not. And 2. with a stronger Reason, it can never take place, till it hath been presented unto: 3. It can never take place, where a particular Presentation is at first given by express Words.
The Words are, The first Rector shall be Collated by the Bishop for the Time being, and then the Succession; and it is always to be remembred that 'tis an Act of Parliament. Now suppose the Act had said that the Patronage, after an Avoidance, should be vested in A. and B. but that the first Rector, upon that Avoidance, should be presented by J. S. a third Person; this could never be reckoned a common ordinary Turn, subject to the like Prerogative as others: The Bishop here claims not this particular Presentation in Right of his Patronage, whereby he is to have two Turns to one; but by express Gift of the Parliament.
[179] Suppose the King had been Patron of St. Martin's in his own Right, no Man would say, that this Act, thus creating of a new Parish, a new Rectory, and a new Patron, would not have bound him.
Surely the King's Assent as Supream or General Patron, is as much implied in this Act, as it would have been, had he been a particular Patron of the Church of that Parish, out of which the new one is taken: Here the King himself gives the first Presentation to the Bishop of London; for the King and People, all together, the whole Kingdom, are Donors or Grantors of this first Presentation to my Lord of London.
Suppose such a Right, as this is, were in a Subject, and he were able to prescribe for it, he must then have set forth, that Time out of Mind, wheresoever any Incumbent of another's Presentation was preferred by him to another Living, that he should have the Presentation ea vice; this is the most that could be made of it. Would any Man say, That this Case would fall under that Prescription, or the Reason of it. Now tho' a Prerogative be Part of the Common Law, and not like a Prescription; yet every Prerogative hath its Boundaries and its Limits, and a Reason for it too; or else 'tis no Prerogative, that our Law allows of.
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