Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/295

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Ch. 18.
of Things.
279

minal way at the common law[1]; it being thought ſufficient to leave the clerk to eccleſiaſtical cenſures. But as theſe did not affect the ſimoniacal patron, nor were efficacious enough to repel the notorious practice of the thing, divers acts of parliament have been made to reſtrain it by means of civil forfeitures; which the modern prevailing uſage, with regard to ſpiritual preferments, calls aloud to be put in execution. I ſhall briefly conſider them in this place, becauſe they diveſt the corrupt patron of the right of preſentation, and veſt a new right in the crown.

By the ſtatute 31 Eliz. c. 6. it is for avoiding of ſimony enacted, that if any patron for any corrupt conſideration, by gift or promiſe, directly or indirectly, ſhall preſent or collate any perſon to an eccleſiaſtical benefice or dignity; ſuch preſentation ſhall be void, and the preſentee be rendered incapable of ever enjoying the ſame benefice: and the crown ſhall preſent to it for that turn only[2]. Alſo by the ſtatute 12 Ann. ſt. 2. c. 12. if any perſon for money or profit ſhall procure, in his own name or the name of any other, the next preſentation to any living eccleſiaſtical, and ſhall be preſented thereupon, this is declared to be a ſimoniacal contract; and the party is ſubjected to all the eccleſiaſtical penalties of ſimony, is diſabled from holding the benefice, and the preſentation devolves to the crown.

Upon theſe ſtatutes many queſtions have ariſen, with regard to what is, and what is not ſimony. And, among others, theſe points ſeem to be clearly ſettled: 1. That to purchaſe a preſentation, the living being actually vacant, is open and notorious ſimony[3]; this being expreſſly in the face of the ſtatute. 2. That for a clerk to bargain for the next preſentation, the incumbent being ſick and about to die, was ſimony, even before the ſtatute of queen Anne[4]: and now, by that ſtatute, to purchaſe, either in his own name or another's, the next preſentation, and be

  1. Moor. 564.
  2. For other penalties inflicted by this ſtatute, ſee book IV.
  3. Cro. Eliz. 788. Moor. 914.
  4. Hob. 165.
thereupon