Court of Peculiars

The Court of Peculiars is one of the ecclesiastical courts of the Church of England. The court sits with a Dean, who is also the Dean of the Arches. The Registrars are the Joint Provincial Registrars. The Court of Peculiars deals with all legal matters from peculiar parishes in the province. Until 1545, ecclesiastical judges were required to have a degree in canon law; thereafter, they only needed a doctorate in civil law. Binding precedent was only introduced into the ecclesiastical courts in the nineteenth century.

List of deans of the court

Sir Philip Wilbraham-Baker, 1955

Sir Henry Willink, 19551970

Walter Wigglesworth, 19711972

Sir Harold Kent, 19721976

Kenneth Elphinstone, 19771980

Sir John Owen, 19802000

Sheila Cameron, 20002009

Charles George, 2009

Notes

References

Canon law of the Church of England

Ecclesiastical courts