Early modern Calvinists produced a rich tradition of natural law and natural rights thought that shaped the law and politics of protestant lands. The German-born Calvinist jurist Johannes Althusius produced one of the most original Calvinist natural law theories at the turn of the seventeenth century. Althusius argued for the natural qualities of a number of basic legal norms and practices by demonstrating their near universal embrace by classical and biblical, catholic and protestant, theological and legal communities alike. On this foundation, he developed a complex theory of public, private, penal and procedural rights and duties for his day, to be embraced by everyone, particularly by those who were slaughtering each other in religious wars, persecutions and inquisitions. Althusius' theory of natural law and natural rights was Calvinist in inspiration but universal in aspiration, and it anticipated the political formulations of a number of later Western writers, including Locke, Rousseau and Madison.1

This paper looks at the systems available for the control of works to churches, and considers the arguments for and against the ecclesiastical exemption from the secular system of listed building control. It also examines the principles underlying the exercise of the faculty jurisdiction in relation to works to churches, both those that are listed and others, and relates this to the most recent policy guidance from English Heritage.1

In the decades that followed the close of the Second Vatican Council, great progress was made in the dialogue between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church. During that period, the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) was founded in 1967 by Pope Paul VI and the Archbishop of Canterbury (Michael Ramsey). The rich and common heritage shared by Anglicans and Roman Catholics found expression in the work and statements of ARCIC. In the background was the work of theologians, historians, liturgists and Scripture scholars, and many relationships were being cultivated locally in dioceses and parishes around the world. While the possible significance of Church law had been recognised in the 1974 World Council of Churches Report, Christian Unity and Church Law, there has been no sustained discussion of canon law in the work of ARCIC.

In 2004, this Journal published a case note of a decision by District Judge Thomas in the Gloucester County Court. At issue was the leeway permitted a District or Parish Council in discharging its obligation of maintaining a closed Anglican churchyard ‘by keeping it in decent order and its walls and fences in good repair’. The Parochial Church Council had passed responsibility for maintaining the churchyard to the Parish Council, which, in turn, had passed it to the District Council. The obligation was (and still is) no more and no less than that of the Parochial Church Council before the transfer. It is, said the note, ‘one of substantive maintenance and not merely management of decline (note the relief granted at first instance in R v Burial Board of Bishopwearmouth (1879) 5 QBD 67 at 68)’.

Although much of the business of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland relates to legislation and debates of reports from committees, unlike the synods of episcopal churches the General Assembly is also a court, with exclusive jurisdiction in ‘matters spiritual’. However, under the terms of Act III 2001, as amended, disciplinary matters are investigated by a Presbyterial Commission and, in disputed cases, ultimately come before the Assembly's Judicial Commission. Cases before the General Assembly were once quite common; but for the 2009 Assembly to find themselves hearing a judicial dispute was very unusual indeed.

Lower financial thresholds for accounting and reporting requirements for small charities were brought into effect on 1 April under the terms of the Charities Acts 1992 and 1993 (Substitution of Sums) Order 2009. The changes include raising the threshold above which charities must prepare accruals accounts from £100,000 to £250,000; raising the threshold for external scrutiny of accounts from £10,000 to £25,000; and increasing the threshold for submission by registered charities of annual accounts and trustees' annual reports to the Charity Commission from £10,000 to £25,000. The Association of Church Accountants and Treasurers particularly welcomed the higher threshold for accruals accounts, the preparation of which requires a considerable degree of expertise, since the prospect of having to master the mysteries of accruals accounting has been a considerable discouragement to potential treasurers.