Measures

31.45Measures are defined by the 1919 Act as legislative measures touching matters concerning the Church of England, intended to receive the Royal Assent and to have effect as Acts of Parliament in accordance with the provisions of that Act.1 They have express authority to amend or repeal Acts of Parliament, including the 1919 Act, with the exception of those provisions which relate to the composition, powers or duties of the Ecclesiastical Committee (see para 31.46 ) or the procedure in Parliament prescribed by s 4 of that Act. Measures have dealt with a broad range of subjects, from the liturgy used in the Church of England, the disciplinary arrangements for its clergy and the ordination of women as priests and their consecration as bishops, to arrangements for clergy pensions and the powers of parochial church councils.2

Footnotes

  1. 1. The Human Rights Act 1998, s 10(6) excludes Church of England Measures from the definition of legislation which may be altered by the remedial order procedure, where it has been found to be incompatible with Convention rights by a United Kingdom court, or with the European Convention on Human Rights by the European Court of Human Rights.
  2. 2. A Measure may in terms apply to the Isle of Man, but more usually will provide for its extension thereto, with or without modifications, by Act of Tynwald. Section 3 of the Channel Islands Measure 2020 states: `A Measure which provides that it may be applied to the Islands or either of them in accordance with the Channel Islands (Church Legislation) Measures 1931 and 1957 may instead be applied to the Bailiwicks or either of them (with or without modifications) under any other procedure for doing so which has effect in the Bailiwicks or (as the case may be) in the Bailiwick in question (whether that procedure took effect before or after the passing of this Measure)’.