Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919
Encyclopedia
The Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5 c. 76) is an Act
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 that gives the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 the power to pass primary legislation
Primary legislation
Primary legislation is law made by the legislative branch of government. This contrasts with secondary legislation, which is usually made by the executive branch...

 called Measures. Measures have the same force and effect as Acts of Parliament. The power to pass measures was originally granted to the Church Assembly, which was replaced by the General Synod of the Church of England
General Synod of the Church of England
The General Synod is the deliberative and legislative body of the Church of England. The synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church of England that had started in the 1850s.- Church Assembly: 1919...

 in 1970.

Procedure

The Act creates an Ecclesiastical Committee
Ecclesiastical Committee
The Ecclesiastical Committee is a body created by the Church of England Assembly Act 1919 that comprises 30 members of the United Kingdom Parliament. Its purpose is to review Church of England measures submitted to Parliament by the Legislative Committee of the General Synod...

, consisting of fifteen members of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 chosen by the Lord Speaker
Lord Speaker
The Lord Speaker is the speaker of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The office is analogous to the Speaker of the House of Commons: the Lord Speaker is elected by the members of the House of Lords and is expected to be politically impartial.Until July 2006, the role of...

, and fifteen members of the House of Commons, chosen by the Speaker of the House of Commons
Speaker of the British House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...

. The members are appointed for the duration of each parliament, and vacancies may be filled by the speaker of the relevant House. A quorum
Quorum
A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group...

 for business is twelve members.

The General Synod refers any measures which it desires to pass into law to the Legislative Committee, a body appointed by the General Synod from among its own members. This Committee forwards the proposed measure to the Ecclesiastical Committee, together with any comments or explanations that it, or the General Synod, wishes to add. (However the Legislative Committee may not amend the measure.) Either Committee has the right to consult with the other in a joint conference to debate the measure.

The Ecclesiastical Committee then drafts a report for Parliament, "stating the nature and legal effect of the measure and its views as to the expediency thereof, especially with relation to the constitutional rights of all [Her] Majesty’s subjects." The Legislative Committee may then decide whether to allow the report to be presented to Parliament, or withdraw the measure. The General Synod may also direct the Committee to withdraw the measure. The Ecclesiastical Committee may not present the report without permission.

If the Legislative Committee wishes to proceed, then the report and the measure are both presented to each House of Parliament. If both Houses pass a resolution agreeing to the measure, then it is presented to the Queen to receive royal assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...

. On receiving royal assent it becomes a law.

Jurisdiction

The Act states:
"A measure may relate to any matter concerning the Church of England, and may extend to the amendment or repeal in whole or in part of any Act of Parliament, including this Act".

However, a measure may not affect the "composition or powers or duties" of the Ecclesiastical Committee, or the procedure in Parliament for passing measures.

Human Rights Act

Under the Human Rights Act 1998
Human Rights Act 1998
The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights...

, a measure which is incompatible with a human right
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 under the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...

 may be made the subject of a declaration of incompatibility
Declaration of incompatibility
A declaration of incompatibility is a declaration issued by judges in the United Kingdom that they consider that the terms of a statute to be incompatible with the UK's obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporated the European Convention of Human Rights into the UK domestic...

 by the courts. However, the "fast-track" procedure under the 1998 Act for amending incompatible legislation does not apply to measures.

See also


External links

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