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Ecclesiastical Case Reports
Calvert v Gardiner and Others
(High Court, Queens Bench Division: Burton J, May 2002)
Authority of bishops – ringing of bells
The claimant had sued a number of defendants for damages for nuisance caused by the ringing of bells at the parish church at Down St Mary, Crediton, Devon. The defendants in question were first the team vicar of the parish, second and third the churchwardens, fourth the PCC and fifth the Bishop of Exeter. This was the hearing of the claimant’s appeal against the dismissal by Master Trench of the claim against the bishop as fifth defendant. The basis of the appeal was as follows:
(i) As a factual matter, the bishop authorised the bell-ringing by the campanologists;
(ii) The bishop must be held responsible for such bell-ringing by virtue of what the claimant called the co-operative and collaborative nature of the structure of the church; and
(iii) The bishop had the power to make the vicar stop the bell-ringing, and he did not do so. He must therefore be held to have authorised the nuisance.
The judge rejected point (i) as without factual foundation. Indeed, in the only extant correspondence from the bishop on the point it is clear that he did not approve the bell-ringing. On point (ii) the judge found that there was a clear structure and division of responsibility within the Church of England on this point. The bishop’s powers of visitation do not indicate a co-operative collaborative style of management. Responsibility for bells falls entirely to the minister, as set out in canons F8 and F15(1). Point (iii) turned on two questions: could the bishop dismiss the vicar and could the bishop discipline the vicar in this case? The judge found that a team vicar appointed for a specified term of years shall, during that term, have the same security of tenure of his office as an incumbent of a benefice (see the Pastoral Measure 1983). The provisions for the revocation of a licence set out in Canon C12 do not apply to team vicars and, in any case, canons are delegated legislation and cannot override a Measure. Thus the bishop does not have the power summarily to revoke the licence of a team vicar. The judge went on to review the law regarding the disciplining of clergy by their ecclesiastical superiors. He found that proceedings under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 presupposed a gravity of offence a far cry from failure to stop bell-ringers causing a private nuisance. He concluded that the bishop has no powers to give orders regarding bells which are, by canon, the responsibility of the incumbent. He found that the bishop did not fail to exercise his powers of visitation in the matter and that there was no arguable case that the bishop authorised, or permitted, the nuisance. The appeal was dismissed.
[WA]
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