Court of Peculiars

The Court of Peculiars is an ecclesiastical court 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 of Peculiars

• Charles George, QC 2009-
• Miss Sheila Cameron, QC 2000-2009
• Sir John Owen, QC 1980-2000
• Revd Kenneth Elphinstone, QC 1977-1980
• Sir Harold Kent, GCB QC 1972-1976
• Walter Wigglesworth, QC 1971-1972
• Rt Hon Sir Henry Willink Bt MC QC 1955-1970
• Sir Philip Wilbraham-Baker, KBE c.1938-1955

References

Noel Cox, “Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the Church of the Province of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia” (2001) 6(2) Deakin Law Review 266-284