tions, authorities, and commodities, to the ſaid dignity of ſupreme head of the church appertaining. And another ſtatute to the ſame purport was made, 1 Eliz. c. 1.
In virtue of this authority the king convenes, prorogues, retrains, regulates, and diſſolves all eccleſiaſtical ſynods or convocations. This was an inherent prerogative of the crown, long before the time of Henry VIII, as appears by the ſtatute 8 Hen. VI. c. 1. and the many authors, both lawyers and hiſtorians, vouched by ſir Edward Coke[1]. So that the ſtatute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 19. which reſtrains the convocation from making or putting in execution any canons repugnant to the king's prerogative, or the laws, cuſtoms, and ſtatutes of the realm, was merely declaratory of the old common law[2]: that part of it only being new, which makes the king's royal aſſent actually neceſſary to the validity of every canon. The convocation or eccleſiaſtical ſynod, in England, differs conſiderably in it's conſtitution from the ſynods of other chriſtian kingdoms: thoſe conſiſting wholly of biſhops; whereas with us the convocation is the miniature of a parliament, wherein the archbiſhop preſides with regal ſtate; the upper houſe of biſhops repreſents the houſe of lords; and the lower houſe, compoſed of repreſentatives of the ſeveral dioceſes at large, and of each particular chapter therein, reſembles the houſe of commons with it's knights of the ſhire and burgeſſes[3]. This conſtitution is ſaid to be owing to the policy of Edward I; who thereby at one and the ſame time let in the inferior clergy to the privilege of forming eccleſiaſtical canons, (which before they had not) and alſo introduced a method of taxing eccleſiaſtical benefices, by conſent of convocation[4].
- ↑ 4 Inſt. 322, 323.
- ↑ 12 Rep. 72.
- ↑ In the diet of Sweden, where the eccleſiaſtics form one of the branches of the legiſlature, the chamber of the clergy reſembles the convocation of England. It is compoſed of the biſhops and ſuperintendants; and alſo of deputies, one of which is choſen by every ten pariſhes or rural deanry. Mod. Un. Hiſt. xxxiii. 18.
- ↑ Gilb. hiſt. of exch. c. 4.
