Daniel Ace
Born in 1813 at Plymouth Dock (his father
Abraham was a shipwright), it seems (though we have been unable to
verify the connection) that he studied at the Independent College in
Brecon (where he was a member of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery
Society) and was ordained in 1841 to
pastoral care of the English
Independent Chapel, Pontypool.
He (if this is the same Daniel Ace) joined the Church of England and
was ordained
in Ripon diocese in 1849, serving his title at Idle, near Bradford,
with charge of a mission room, licensed in 1848, at Thackley; he left
in
1851, with a testimonial from the churchmen there regretting his
departure. He was then curate of St Leonard, Malton, where he
remained until at least 1857 (where there was a lightning strike on a return visit), after which he came to St Paul Dock Street for a short time. Further brief posts followed, at
St James Clerkenwell from 1858 or 1859; a few months as 'minister to the Arsenal Labourers' at the Royal
Ordnance chapel in Plumstead in 1861 (see here
for correspondence about his appointment, including a memorial from
the men asking that he should stay); at Edmonton and at Plymouth. In
1859 he was appointed a committee member of the Evangelical Alliance
(founded in 1846).
Meanwhile, in 1851 he had enrolled as a sizar and 'ten year man' [a supported student] at St John's College
Cambridge, and completed his BD in 1861 and DD in 1862 - which was
recognised comitatis causâ at Oxford a few years later (a 'courtesy' arrangement, though why Oxford - where he spoke at the Union, and made museum donations - rather than Cambridge is unclear).
From 1864-70 he was Vicar of Dacre near Ullswater, in Carlisle diocese, and de facto
headteacher of the town's small grammar school. A
dispute arose in 1867, when he appealed against a consistory court
ruling over the illegal changing of the church locks. His wife Sarah Elizabeth Saunders (ten years his junior)
died, in London, in 1868 - they had no children. Then, after a year as
perpetual curate in his home town of Devonport, he became Vicar of
Laughton (with the village of Wildsworth), near Gainsborough, in
Lincoln diocese (where he
had a 'commodious residence'), remaining there until his death in 1893 [see below on a court ruling that he was personally liable for tower repairs].
In 1875 he gave evidence to the Select Committee on Public Worship Facilities Bill, in relation to the needs of rural parishes.
His major theological work was a Treatise on the Romish Tenet of Auricular Confession 'wherein
the mind of the Reformed Church of England is fully shown, both in her
distinctive teaching and ministerial practice, to be at utter variance
with this Romish dogma' (Westerton
1862) - was this the basis of his doctorate? There were also some
published sermons, a few of which are listed below and can be read
online. But he was a man of very wide interests - educational,
scientific and sociological (a new discipline).
He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1879
(did he pick up this enthusiasm from Charles Besley Gribble, incumbent at St Paul Dock Street during his time here?) and of the Royal Statistical Society in 1883, was a Vice-President of
the British Association for the Advancement of Science and an
active member of the National Association for the Promotion of Social
Science. He was also a freemason, and at some point a domestic chaplain to Lord Denman.
Here is a digest of some of
the events in his life, his writings and his views, both verbatim and
as reported; they show him to be an instinctive reformer, espousing many 'progressive' views, and with a firm confidence in the
achievements of his age.
Ordination as an Independent minister
The
Evangelical Magazine & Missionary Chronicle vol 20 1842 p185
On
Tuesday Nov. 30, 1841, the Rev. Daniel Ace, late a student in the
Independent College, at Brecon, was ordained to the pastoral office
over the church and congregation assembling at the English
Independent Chapel, Pontypool, when the Rev. T. Thomas, Theological
Tutor of the Baptist Academy, Pontypool, commenced the service by
reading the Scriptures and prayer; the Rev. Thomas Gillman, of the
Tabernacle, Newport, then delivered a lucid and forcible discourse on
the nature and constitution of a Christian church; the Rev. W.
Powell, of Usk, proposed the usual questions and received the
confession of faith; the Rev. W. Rees, of Chepstow, offered the
ordination prayer; the Rev. C.N. Davies, Theological Tutor of the
Independent College, Brecon, gave the charge to the young minister
from 1 Tim iv 16, latter clause, and concluded by prayer. The hymns
were read by the Rev. Mr. Armitage, of Newport. After
the morning service the ministers and friends sat down to dinner with
the young minister. In the afternoon, tea was given to the Sunday
school children. In
the evening the Scriptures were read and prayer offered by the Rev.
J. Armitage, of Newport; the Rev. Mr. Rees, of Chepstow, delivered a
most faithful charge to the church, exhorting them to co-operate with
their minister in his labour of love, and to esteem him for his
work's sake; and the young pastor implored the Divine blessing on the
solemnities of the day.
Brecon Independent College was founded in 1839 in what was then a private
house in St Mary’s Street. By 1852 it was recognized as one of the
colleges of the University of London and in 1903 became an associated
theological college of the University of Wales. It became an important
educational institution which it has been claimed ‘decisively moulded
the development of the Welsh people’.
Sermons
Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord
(Romans 12.12) - Church of England Mazagine vol 40 (CPAS 1856)
The Christian Altar and Priesthood (Hebrews 4.14) - 10 August 1858 at St James Clerkenwell - Mother's Magazine & Family Preacher (1858) p277
The Swelling of Jordan (Jeremiah
12.5) - 'preached on Sunday morning, May 28th, 1865, to the flock to
whom the author ministered eight years antecedently, at the church of
St. Leonard's, Malton, which was struck with lightning on the memorable
occasion of the delivery of this particular sermon' [see below] - Church of England Magazine vol 58 (S.D. Ewins 1865) p80
The
Institute, a Monthly Literary Journal (Burns & Lambert 1858) p156
CALTHORPE
INSTITUTE, NORTH LONDON SCHOOLS, CALTHORPE TERRACE, GRAY'S INN ROAD.
— This Institution
has just commenced the third year of its existence, under very
favourable circumstances. The programme for the present quarter
contains a series of instructive lectures, intermingled with essays,
evenings for readings and recitation, a tea meeting, &c. The
first lecture of the course was delivered on Thursday evening, Jan.
6th., by the Rev. Daniel Ace, the subject being "The age we live
in". J.F. Puttick, Esq., in the chair. After a few introductory
remarks explanatory of the past age, the lecturer described the
present age as a glorious, a splendid age. An age of great cities,
vast power, and extensive improvement. It is vastly superior to any
other age. It is the cream of the production of many ages. It is a
reforming, intellectual, enterprising, elevating, discriminating, and
religious age. The lecturer then proceeded to speak of the great men
of the present age. He next spoke at some length on the various
improvements of the age, such as the adoption of the penny postage,
the statistical returns, the great educational movement, ragged
schools, refuges, asylums, reformatories, and the press. The
lecturer, in conclusion, said, "Onward and Upward ought to be
our motto. Move forward in whatever is excellent. We ought to try to
charm, dignify, and adorn the age, and to live and die to God."
Self Education: Lecture to Ragged School Teachers of London 30 March 1859
Ragged School Union Magazine (Partridge & Oakley 1859) vol XI, pages 128, 148, 180, 200
Journal of the Society of Arts 1859
The Rev. Daniel Ace said, having formerly had the charge of the
parish of Malton, it was his privilege to come in contact with the late
Mr. Hugh Lee Pattinson [a keen scientist, and - like Ace - amateur astronomer, born in Cumbria and working in the North-east], and he could testify that a more humble and
liberal-minded man he was never privileged to converse with: for,
notwithstanding his high attainments in science, he was ever ready to
communicate his knowledge to others, and to do his utmost to promote
the happiness of those with whom ho was associated. In a religious
point of view, he was desirous to promote that independence of thought,
as well as liberty of action, which he (Mr. Ace), as a clergyman,
conceived to be the glory of mankind.
Hull & Eastern Counties Herald 1 June 1865
MALTON - CHURCH STRUCK BY LIGHTNING:
At noon on Sunday a thunderstorm passed over Malton. The Rev DANIEL
ACE, B.D., vicar of Dacre, near Ullswater, formerly officiating
minister at St Leonards Church, now on a visit to his old parishioners,
was preaching to a crowded congregation, when all were much startled by a
sudden loud explosion above the organ in the west gallery. A heavy peal
of thunder immediately afterwards explained the cause. No one was
injured and the rev. gentleman proceeded with his service, the
congregation all remaining. The effect in the Church was to cause a
banging of the doors. An examination of the tower and the spire was
made in the afternoon, when it was ascertained that the lightning had
left the rod at an acute turning near the base of the spire, and
followed the lead to the roof above the tower, which was flat and held
about two inches of water – a fortunate circumstance, doubtless
mitigating the shock. The spire is a wooden one and slated, and at the
point of departure from the rod the slating bears evidence of heat,
some of the slates being rendered quite shelly, as if burnt.
Report of the Commissioners of Schools Inquiry 1869 (p190)
DACRE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
Mr. C.I. Elton's Report.
This
was formerly a grammar school, the master being required to teach
English and Latin to all children in the townships requiring such
instruction. Many years ago, when the sons of farmers had time enough
on their hands to enable them to go to school in winter until they were
18 or 20 years old, the older scholars used to learn Latin. In later
times, however, the keen demand for labour has caused this prolonged
attendance at school to be unknown, and the demand for classical
instruction has ceased. The children now begin and end their schooling
earlier than was customary a few years back. There is a great demand
for such elementary learning as can be acquired by children under 12
years old; after that age the scholars are removed, their labour being
valuable. The scheme which at present governs this charity makes no
provision for classical instruction, so that the school is now an
ordinary national school under Government inspection.
The Vicar of Dacre is an ex officio trustee. Since my visit I have received from him a second return showing that he is the schoolmaster
acting, I presume, through the present schoolmistress as his deputy.
This lady is a very efficient teacher; she maintains a good discipline,
and the children appeared to be very well trained. The elder children
worked out difficult sums in practice and proportion, the girls
specially deserving praise for neatness and accuracy. The younger ones
were well trained in the simpler rules of arithmetic. All the scholars
possessed a good knowledge of Bible history. The mistress gave them an
examination in English history in my presence. As usual, too great a
stress was laid on the earliest parts of our history: it is common to
find a class of young children who have learned the facts and dates of
Julius Caesar's invasions and nothing more. In this case, however, they
did fairly well when examined on later periods. The writing was very
good in each class, and the books clean and well kept. There is
unfortunately no residence for the schoolmistress, the old rooms being
let for about 3l. a year,
which sum is added to her salary. There are certain charities in the
township which are considered by the vicar to be injurious in their
present form. At certain seasons doles of money are given to all
applicants. The distribution was, till of late, made at the donor's
tomb in the churchyard. It is considered that these charities might
beneficially be applied to the education of the township.
There
are other endowed schools in the parish of Dacre to which the vicar
directed my attention. The endowed national school at Stainton appeared
to me to be very well conducted.The vicar has taken a great interest in
its prosperity, and has been well supported by the principal
inhabitants. The boys passed a good examination in English history, and
some among them were proficient in mensuration; each class did well in
arithmetic. The writing too was remarkably neat throughout the school.
The trustees deserve great credit for the care bestowed by them on this
school. The small school at Newbiggin is said to have into a bad state.
It was being rebuilt at the date of my to Dacre, and very little of the
old house remains. Those of it which I saw quite justified the vicar's
opinion that "the school was in a disgraceful condition".
Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science 1873 p184
The Rev. Daniel Ace, D.D., read a paper On the Reform of the Ecclesiastical Courts of England,
on the question, "Is not the Reform of the Ecclesiastical Courts in
England and Wales a question requiring the immediate action of the
Legislature, admitting of no further delay?"
He
observed that for the last forty years public opinion, more or less
enunciated by successive Governments, had clearly denounced the
incompetency of these tribunals, and indicated the necesity of their
abolition. Consequently, during this interim, the jurisdiction of these
ecclesiastical courts had been ousted by statutable authority in all
suits for tithes of a certain amount, likewise for church-rates; in
matters of defamation, testamentary, and divorce and matrimonial. But,
notwithstanding that ecclesiastical jurisdiction had been so rescinded,
those courts still retained power in certain cases over both clergy and
laity, and as a logical consequence, enlightened public opinion seemed
to demand their total abolition, or at least a considerable amendment,
both in constitution and process of courts even denominated spiritual.
By
no less an authority than the late Lord Chancellor Cranworth, these
ecclesiastical courts were, in the year 1856, characterized as
cumbrous, dilatory, and expensive; and as to the ecclesiastical judges,
in his lordship's opinion, nineteen out of twenty were incompetent to
discharge their judicial duties. In the year 1855 the Archbishop of
York, in the Convocation of the Province of York, observed that the
delays, expenses, and the cumbrous procedure of the
ecclesiastical courts, which had descended to us from past
generations, should be swept away, in order that simple justice might
be simply done, inasmuch as the present mode of proceedings in the
ecclesiastical courts led to constant miscarriages of justice. Such
avowed opinions, with others of equal stringency, had induced the House
of Lords to entertain the question; a select committee investigated the
matter and made their report. A Bill was introduced and passed through
all its stages, but rejected in the Commons. No scheme of
ecclesiastical reform could be complete unless it contained provisions
to render archbishops and bishops themselves amenable to ecclesiastical
discipline and jurisprudence as well as their inferior clergy.
The
procedure at present in the ecclesiastical courts was according to the
rules of civil or Roman law, and also of the canon or so much of the
Papal law as had been received in this country. But such rules were but
leges sub graviori lege, the
common law having obtained the superintendency or supremacy over them.
To revive those rules seemed to be a very eligible mode of adoption.
Much of the old procedure and practice might bo well abolished, and new
rules and orders introduced and assimilated to those of the superior
courts of common law. The dicta
of ecclesiastical judges should be systematized into a digest by a
commission of learned men, and what was desirable to be retained of
that which was designated lex non scripta
should be re-enacted. Let that shapeless congeries of Papal canon law
received into this country from the time of tho Conquest in 1066 down
to the Reformation in 1534, having the force of statutable authority,
be examined and reformed. That archbishops and bishops, in addition to
their onerous duties, should aim at personal adjudication in their
diocesan courts rather than by judges who had had a legal training was
a matter calculated to excite apprehension, but in exact ratio as this
disposition on the part of the episcopal bench had been manifested,
there had been on the contrart exhibited on the part of the laity a
tendency to eliminate altogether the judicial from the episcopal
function.
Cognate
to the reform of the ecclesiastical courts, was the reform of the
marriage laws, and one of the objects of reform in the ecclesiastical
courts was the reduction of the excessive fees for a marriage licence,
which fees simply went into the pockets of craving officials. Marriage
should be encouraged by a national church, and not discouraged by
exorbitant fees. He would reduce the marriage licence from 50s. to 10s.,
and abolish with its invidious distinctions the office of surrogate.
The writer next touched upon the question of simony, and remarked that
these necessary ecclesiastical reforms would admit of no further delay
without injustice to the nation.
Masonic addresses and involvement
The Rationale of Free-Masonry - at the consecration of the lodge at Barton-upon-Humber, 1873
An Oration - at the consecration and dedication of a lodge at Epworth, Lincolnshire, 11 May 1874
In 1879 a court held him liable for repairs to the church tower at Laughton (why?), and a masonic brother wrote to the The Freemason & Masonic Illustrated (p429)
I am compelled to appeal to the public on behalf of the Rev.
Daniel Ace, DD (Vicar of Laughton-by-Gainsborough, Lincolnshire), who,
to the surprise of everybody who heard the evidence and the summing up
of the judge, was made personally liable at the late Lincoln Assizes
for the repair of the Church Tower of Laughton ... The sum required to
meet this liability and to save Dr. Ace from absolute ruin (including
law expenses, &c., £138) is about £400, of which £120 has already
been raised.The Rev. Dr. Ace has no private means; he is sixty-seven
years of age, and conducts three services on Sunday without assistance.
The net income of the united parishes of Laughton and Wildsworth, of
which he is vicar, is only £223.
Transactions of the National Society for the Promotion of Social Science, Aberdeen 1877 (Longmans, Green 1878) p255
(Ace was a member of the 'Repression of Crime' section)
A Paper was also
read by the Rev. Daniel Ace, D.D., Vicar of Laughton, Lincolnshire, in
which he gave an affirmative opinion that an intermediate industrial
school would be mutually advantageous both for the interests of the
Army and the permanent welfare of the juvenile recruits. Industrial
schools had already conferred a boon on the community by diminishing
juvenile culprits, and conferring habits of honesty and labour upon the
neglected and stubborn youths of Great Britain. The late Canon Kingsley
declared that there must be ragged and industrial schools for the navy,
and such institutions were already formed with success; and he asked
why might they not be adopted with equal utility to the military
service, and to the permanent benefit of those juveniles who may enlist
in the defence of their country? From a recently issued Parliamentary
paper it appeared that the proportion of male population between the
ages of 15 and 35 serving in the militia, yeomanry, and volunteers of
Great Britain was about six in every hundred. Scotland stood highest,
the rate in some counties being 16 per cent. The mental condition of
those who enlisted in the military service of the Crown was
unsatisfactory. They were for the most part persons of idle habits,
farm servants and others who disliked work, and whose education had
been neglected. The Committee of Enquiry had arrived at the
irresistible conclusion that if boy enlistment be legalised and
utilised, the tone of the army could be improved, the difficulties of
recruiting met, and the evils of desertion overcome, and both the
efficiency of the army and the welfare of the nation thereby secured.
About 14,000 boys could be annually available. A large proportion of
the best non-commissioned officers were those who enlisted as boys.
These trained lads succeeded even better than soldiers' children. The
qualifications recommended for the enlistment of lads were physical
fitness, good elementary education, and a fair knowledge of some trade,
good character, and a drill without arms. Boys could enlist from 14 to
16. The training would not only supply a good material, but would
remove the bad. It would diminish the evils arising from impulsive
enlistment, and manifest that the services of the dissipated and
illiterate and profane were not desired for the Army. They thereby
diminished the evils of desertion with its cost, while its penalties
were obviated. The plan suggested was one which every philanthropist,
as well as every minister of the Gospel, would support. It was a plan
which proposed to elevate and improve the Army by judicious moral and
practical training, and thereby secure to the rank and file of the
British Army personal happiness and welfare, both for time and
eternity.
The Law Magazine and Review: For Both Branches of the Legal Profession vol.4 (Hein & Co 1875) p417
V. Abolition of First Fruits and Tenths, By Rev. Daniel Ace, D.D.
There is prevailing in English society a refined
poverty of a class to which public attention is being directed with a
view to its alleviation. It is the sad heritage of an educated class of gentlemen prohibited from all speculative or
commercial transactions, to ameliorate their pecuniary condition.
They are styled the "poor beneficed clergy", who, through
no fault of theirs, but their misfortune — res angusta domi —
are obliged frequently to supplicate for eleemosynary aid, or,
without such relief, are content to pine away their wretched
existence in concealing their griefs, under the pallium of a
respectable profession.
It must be admitted that the evil is
chronic; it has existed for some few centuries; it has been
recognized even by royalty. Who has not read of the remedy proposed
by an English queen, by what is styled "Queen Anne's Bounty"?
But what jejune results have issued from the royal fund? The
impoverished, suffering beneficed clergy are themselves the best
exponents of this incontrovertible fact. The whole history of the
case demands, not only public investigation, but also legislative
redress. Other subjects may be more stirring; probably in the Senate
House, the scheme for the multiplication of bishops may be more
interesting as a topic of discussion; but no consideration can be
more weighty, or of greater consequence to Church or State, than the
required alleviation of clerical poverty - this demand for equity in
the import levied on the impoverished, inferior beneficed clergy.
Doubtless, the subject is now more
within the province of the State than the Church. Be it so;
nevertheless, the Bounty Fund is the legacy of a Protestant queen to
the Protestant bounty of the Church of England. Her Majesty Queen
Anne, in her first interview with her Privy Council after her
accession, assured the high officers of State, that it was her firm
intention to maintain intact the Protestant religion; and in order to
benefit the poor clergy of the Church of England, established by law,
she sent a message to the House of Commons, desiring that her revenue
of the “Tenths” and “First Fruits", might, by an Act of
Parliament, be appropriated to the
maintenance of the poor clergy, which was accordingly so enacted by
the 2 and 3 Anne, c.11. i. More than a century and a half has passed
away since this enactment; but with what results? The Ecclesiastical
Commission has entered upon the work with greater success; and it is
a grave question for the legislature, whether the two boards, namely,
the Ecclesiastical Commission and Queen Anne's Bounty Board, should
not be amalgamated. Certainly, it would greatly economise
ecclesiastical funds. Yet to the scheme of amalgamation, our prelates
are the most sturdy of opponents. But ab initio. The whole collection
of “First Fruits” and “Tenths", as now exacted, form a gross
anachronism. The designation is very odd: the primatiæ of rich
benefices. All very fair if really it was the case, that a portion of
wealthy livings were actually set apart to improve the impoverished
ones. But, in the sequel, we shall demonstrate that such is not
actually the process. Odder still is the designation annats, or
annates, from "annalis", lasting a year, the First Fruits
which, in ancient times, were paid out of spiritual benefices to the
Pope, being the value of one year's profit; a tax levied on
preferments when they became vacant. Now the origin of such imports
is very interesting. Doubtless they grew up with the encroachments of
the Papal See. They were an irregular demand paid on those benefices
only in the gift of the Pope. But his patronage became extended when
he claimed the high prerogatives of the vicar of Christ, and
Universal Chief Bishop in Christendom; the source and centre of all
episcopal authority. Others have thought that a year's income was
surrendered at ordination and consecration. Practically this was not
the case ...
Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science (J.W. Parker 1877) p344
The Rev. Daniel Ace DD, read a short Paper 'On the Prisons Bill,' in
which he particularised the kind of opposition to the Bill, commended
the relief commended
the relief offered by the measure to the ratepayers, amplified its
proposed advantages, and pointed out how many objections might be
obviated, and the boon the measure would confer upon the country in the
administration of the criminal law. The Bill would abolish useless
prisons and staff officers ...
Report of the 50th Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (John Murray 1880) p672
3. On the required Amendment in the Marriage Laws of the United Kingdom, by the Rev. Daniel Ace, D.D., F.R.A.S.
The desirableness of uniformity in these laws was shown from three
gross cases adduced. Whilst marriage is regarded as a civil contract,
inducing a civil status, conferring the same rights and entailing the
same obligations upon the persons entering into the said contract, the
general feeling in the United Kingdom is in favour of superadding to
this important contract the sanction of religion.
The matrimonial
proceedings of the ceremony of marriage differ in the three kingdoms:
the validity of the marriage solemnised in one of those kingdoms may be
rendered nugatory in the other by some legal technicality. The effects
of such diversity have been designated by Lord Chancellor Selborne as scandalous to a civilised country. The cases adduced, verifying the epithet, as to their effects, of the Lord Chancellor, were —
1. The Queen v. Millis, 1843, 1844.
2. Beamish v. Beamish, 1861; and
3. Yelverton v. Yelverton or Longworth, 1864, 1865.
The first, a case of bigamy, The Queen v. Millis.
In 1829, George
Millis was married to Esther Graham, according to the rites of the
Presbyterians, by an Irish Presbyterian minister, in Ireland; and in
1836, whilst Esther Graham remained alive, George Millis married, at
Stoke, Devonshire, Jane Kennedy, by an English priest in holy orders.
In 1842, George Millis was, at the Spring Assizes for Antrim, found
guilty of bigamy on the aforesaid facts. A legal argument was raised in
the Court of Queen's Bench, Ireland, and ultimately carried to the
House of Lords, whether the indictment for bigamy could legally be
sustained. The decision of the Appellate Court of the House of Lords
quashed the indictment for bigamy, and set aside the first marriage of
George Millis, on the principle involved in an ancient canon of the
Church of England, viz., that of Archbishop Lanfranc, at a Council held
at Winchester, A.D. 1076, that no marriage is held valid, unless by an express statute, without the benediction of a priest in holy orders.
The late eminent and sagacious Premier, Sir Robert Peel, soon corrected
this anomaly, affecting the validity of Presbyterian marriages in
Ireland, by three statutes immediately enacted by the Legislature:
(1) 5 & 6 Vict, c, 113.
(2) 6 & 7 Vict. c. 39, A.D. 1843.
(3) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 81, A.D. 1844.
2. Beamish v. Beamish.
This was a case
of an episcopally ordained clergyman in Ireland, who himself
exclusively officiated at the marriage of himself to a lady, and
consequently such marriage was rendered invalid, as the House of Lords
decreed that the presence of another person or priest was requisite,
according to law, in the case of the clergy as well as the laity, to
receive the mutual consent of the contracting parties, and declare them
to have become man and wife, these being the essential conditions of
legal marriage.
3. Yelverton v. Yelverton or Longworth.
This case is the
greatest blot upon our jurisprudence in modern times. A gentleman in
Scotland went through a ceremony with a lady, which the Court of
Session declared to be a valid marriage. Subsequently, the same
affianced parties went through a ceremony before a Romish priest in
Ireland, which, in the opinion of the Irish Court of Queen's Bench,
constituted a valid marriage in that kingdom of Ireland. But on an
appeal to the House of Lords, by a conflict of legal opinion (Lords
Brougham and Westbury holding the parties legally married), the House
of Lords decreed both marriage ceremonies (the one in Scotland and the
other in Ireland) to be null and void.
Such samples of
the conflict of marriage laws in the three kingdoms must be productive
of an immense amount of practical hardship, patent injustice, and
wanton cruelty. These sad judicial results led to the institution of a
Royal Commission to make public inquiry whether the marringe laws could
be assimilated. For three years, from 1865 to 1868, the Royal
Commissioners pursued their investigations, and examined some very
learned persons. At length they made their report, with divers
recommendations. Since that period nothing has been done to remedy the
crying grievances inflicted by a conflict of national laws; and it must
be a matter of regret, if not of reproach, that no action has been
taken by the responsible advisers of the Crown that the holy estate of
matrimony may be rescued from flagrant injustice. The gist of various
recommendations contained in the said report of the Commissioners
involves the following considerations : —
That the whole
of the enactments respecting marriages be consolidated in a single
statute; that all existing statutes and ordinances of the United
Kingdom on marriages (involving as a sequitur the
repeal of the odious Irish Marriage Act, the 19 Geo. II. c. 13, and
other penal Acts) should absolutely be repealed. The author of this
paper would venture to add, all canons relating to marriage resting on the authority of statute law, by the 25 Henry VIII. c. 19;
great care being observed that by such repeal no canon on marriage
expressly or virtually repealed by former legislation be thereby
revived. Also, it is recommended that all stamp duties on matrimonial
documents be abolished; and further, that marriage fees, so far as
practicable, should no longer be exacted.
Again, inter alia,
it is also recommended that all licences and banns for marriage should
be superseded by a statutory declaration, made before an authorised and
legally recognised minister of religion, by whom the affianced parties
desire their marriage to be recognised; and that such a minister
or official should be empowered legally to receive such a declaration,
and to exact its correctness, with the same penalty annexed for
falsehood and fraud as that of the penalty for perjury; also, that the
certainty of mamage should be legally rendered unequivocal. But
reasonable time and effective means should be supplied to interested
parties to prevent clandestine, hasty, and improvident marriages.
Moreover,
parties of mature age, of reputation and of status, well known to the
respective minister of religion or civil officer, desiring to
facilitate their prospective marriage, should not be required to wait
by giving fifteen days' notice, but a licence should at once be granted
to consummate their wishes for the immediate solemnisation of their
marriage contract; the same facilities being rendered to the poor as to
the rich, as marriage is honourable to all.
The publication
of banns, it is admitted, is of great antiquity. We have traces of or
reference to it in the early part of the second century, in the
treatises of the Fathers, Ignatius and Tertullan. But although this
ancient mode of notice of marriage, viz., the publication of banns, has
existed for more than eight hundred years in this country, the
pubhcation of them at this period of time is quite unsatisfactory.
What useful
purpose can now be served by them, let anyone attest who has attended
divine service at Manchester Cathedral, or any parish church in a
densely populated locality. That such publication of intended marriages
by banns is utterly impracticable the late Registrar-General has proved
by recording his decided and valuable opinion, and to this verdict we
respectfully submit. Every useful purpose would be secured by the mere
fact of a registered notice from the contracting parties, accompanied
with a true declaration of facts, exacted upon pain of the penalties of
perjury, that no legal impediment existed. Yet those who prefer the
publication of their banns of marriage may be permitted to enjoy this
luxury; but in no case should the publication of banns be required as a
condition either of the lawfulness or the regularity of marriage. All
preliminary requirements should be regarded as directory, and none of
them as essential to the validity of marriage, or in any wise to
invalidate it.
No minister of
religion or civil officer should arbitrarily, or without a sufficient
legal reason, interpose impediments to the reception of notices of
marriage, or to the granting certificates thereof. On the other hand,
all undue or illegal facilities to marriage should be severely
pumished.
All penalties of
felony assigned to mmisters or civil officers in dereliction of their
duties should be reduced to those of misdemeanour. A certificate of
notice by any beneficed clergyman should be a sufficient authority for
parties to be married in another parish, if they respectively desire
it. No clergj'man should be relieved from the obligation imposed on him
by the law or sect to which he belongs; but the time and place of
marriage are matters of which the State should take no cognizance;
canonical hours of marriage, having reference to the sacrament of the
mass, in which Protestants are not interested, should by Act of
Parliament be abolished. As a matter of history, we know that marriage
in churches was not established till the twelfth century, by the
ordinance of Pope Innocent III. A.D. 1200.
Consensual or pre-contract marriages, per verba de præsenti, et per verba de futuro, subsequente copulâ, though agreeable to the civil law (consensus facit matrimonium), must not be revived in England, now abolished by stat. 4 Geo. IV. c. 76, A.D.
1823. In Scotland they are now legalised, as well as marriages by
repute; but marriages legalised in that kingdom, and ratified by the
decrees or decision of Scotch Courts, should be recognised as being
legal to the status of the said parties in England.
Let Mr. Monsel's
Act (26 & 27 Vict. c. 90), with respect to the registration of
Roman Catholic marriages in Ireland, instead of being directory, be
rendered, by Act of Parliament, imperative.
The Canon Law of
Europe does not — it never did — form a part of the Law of England. It
does as to marriage in Scotland. But the laws of the Council of Trent
were never acknowledged in England. But latterly, in the formerly
excepted Provinces of Ireland, the canons of the Council of Trent are
revived. Hence arises the dire conflict of the laws of marriage in the
three kingdoms in the administration of justice, and the cancelling in
England of one of the most important contracts of all social relations
which in one of the two other sister kingdoms may be held valid. And
all this through the glorious uncertainty of the laws of marriage, as
appears in grievous suits of litigation.
But Cicero has written: Indignum est in civitate, quæ legibus contineatur, discedi a legibus.
Such are the
arguments of the author of this paper for the immediate interposition
of the Legislature, and for the strong support of the Government, to
sweep away a heterogeneous congeries of at least twenty-seven Acts of
Parliament and other diverse ordinances, and to enact a general
marriage law for the three kingdoms, admitting and legalising the
peculiarities of each, but securing for all the certainty of a valid
and indisputable marriage, for the legitimacy and peace of families,
and for the maintenance of the rights and preservation of the property
of the married pair. In doing this let every care be taken to prevent
the scandals which occurred through the unscrupidous conduct of
unworthy clergymen prior to Lord Hardwicke's Act (26 Geo. II. c. 13),
now happily repealed; but its best provisions are now incorporated in
the English Marriage Acts. Fox and Mackintosh unsparingly condemned
this Act for its tyranny. But the doctrine of non fieri debet, factum valeat
admits of some state regulation. That Fleet Prison and May Fair
marriages were a scandal to a civilised and Christian country, those
acquainted with history will readily admit. But the greater scandal
arising from a conflict of marriage laws, uncertain in their operation,
remains.
To remedy this
scandalous contravention of the marriage laws, the nation calls aloud.
Marriage, says Lord Stowell, is the parent of civil society; but, more
than this, it is the basis of social science, and of sound morals; it is the purest source of domestic affection and of angelic virtue.
Lex est ratio summa, insita in naturâ, quæ jubet, ea, quæ facienda sunt, prohibetque contraria
(Cicero, 'De Legibus,' lib. i. chap. vi. 18).
Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science 1881 p301
Ace took part in
'Discussion on Juvenile Delinquency', and also argued for work experience, including farming, for prisoners:he said that recently,
when attending the British Association meetings at Swansea, he had
gone over the prison there minutely, and he ascertained the fact that
prisoners consider it a great privilege to be employed industrially
rather than remain immured in a cell.....
Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 1883 p630
4. Statistical Account of Railway Accidents for the year 1881 by the Rev. Daniel Ace, D.D., F.R.A.S.
During
the year there were reported sixty collisions between passenger-trains
and others, by which it would appear that of all modes of travelling
that of railways is the safest. The casualties are few compared with
the millions of passenger-journeys included in the reckoning of
accidents arising out of the use of other vehicles, such as vans,
carts, and waggons. Railway statistics show a comparatively small
sacrifice of life in that class of accidents over which the victims
cannot be supposed to have any control. It is here that the test of
efficiency has to be applied, and although any sacrifice of life is to
be regretted, the fact that only 23 passengers were killed by want of
caution, or misconduct, or circumstances under their own control, out
of the myriads who travelled on the railways of the United Kingdom last
year, must be held to show a marvellous degree of skill and care in the
working of the traffic.
Upon examination of the statistics it will be evident that the suicides
were 64, thus almost trebling the number of passengers killed by
railway accidents pure and simple. But there were accidents to
passengers from other causes than accidents of trains, including,
besides accidents from their own want of caution or misconduct, those
happening to persons passing over level crossings; these amounted to 83
persons killed, and 32 injured ...
Foot and Mouth Disease in Cattle - its true history and remedy: A Paper Read Before the British Association, Southport, September 1883
(E. Marlborough & Co., 51 Old Bailey, Gainsborough; J. Hannam, Steam Printer, Silver Street) - 12 pages
A paper. Being an exposition of the blasphemy laws of England, with the reasons assigned for their necessary continuance (1883)
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