arrange the details in one entire system, is the task which I have attempted to perform. Independently of the general recommendation of such a work, arising from these considerations, the disposition which is spreading among Parishes, to investigate and enforce the authority of the great body of the inhabitants, over all matters of revenue and expenditure, suggested an additional motive to the undertaking. Especial care, therefore, has been taken to explain the authority, rights, and powers of Select Vestries, whether established by prescription, or under the statutes passed for the purpose; and, in short, of parish meetings of every description. It may be expedient here to state with somewhat more particularity, the general contents of the volume. In the first place, the institution of parishes, with the mode of preserving the evidence of their boundaries, is considered. The Law respecting the Church, and the rights and duties of its members, from the highest to the lowest, among those who officiate in its sanctuary, is also explained; and its civil constitution, with the authority of its officers of every denomination; the mode of their appointment, and their responsibilities, with the nature of the obligation imposed upon the people, whether in the shape of Tithes or Rates, for its becoming support, complete this part of the work. The Summary of the Poor Laws methodically arranged, and embracing the leading principles and decisions under the several heads of Settlements, Rates, Relief, Removal, Appeals, &c. &c., though concise, it is hoped will be found complete, and practically useful, considering how much may be compressed into a comparatively small space, if the Law only, in a brief and intelligible form, is included. In addition to the several parish officers, as Churchwardens, Overseers, Guardians of the Poor, Clerks, Sextons, &c. &c. ; the authority and duties of Constables, Tithing Men, Beadles, and all others holding Parish appointments, whether arising out of its Ecclesiastical or Civil Institutions, are fully investi gated; so that the work may afford a ready means of information to those whose avocations, employments or pursuits, render it expedient that they should be well instructed in any, or in the several branches, of Parish Law. Although the line of demarcation between the civil rights of Churchmen and Dissenters has been gradually fading away before the more enlightened policy of modern times, most of the regulations relating to Dissenting places of worship, and many enactments passed in deference to individual religious scruples, still remain. They are modifications of the general rules of municipal government, and will therefore be found under their proper heads. I owe some apology to my friends for the delay in the publication beyond the period at which it was promised. My excuse is, an anxiety to render the volume as complete as possible, by including the several acts which were in the contemplation of the Legislature during the present Session relating to the Poor, and other Parish matters. Those which have actually passed, I have inserted, the others are relinquished, without any probability that they will be again brought forward at any definite period. In waiting for this result, I have been also enabled to include all the cases relating to settlements, highways, &c. decided in the Court of King's Bench to the end of Trinity Term. JOHN STEER. 15, CHANCERY LANE, July 12, 1830. |