[Ecclesiastical law]

Mark HILL, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 2001, lxi + 761 p. - ISBN 0-19-826890-4 - [Symbol Not Transcribed]68 sterling.

Hill's Ecclesiastical Law has moved rapidly from being a pioneering work on a neglected subject to becoming a standard textbook. But then the author is ideally suited to the task of expounding the ecclesiastical law of the Church of England.

Put briefly, by ecclesiastical law is meant the laws, norms and rules applying to the Church of England as made either by that Church itself or by the State. Mark Hill is a communicant lay member of the Church of England, and is qualified academically in both civil and canon law. He practises as a barrister in the civil courts and he is currently the Chancellor (judge) of a consistory court. He has written and lectured extensively.

This second edition brings up to date and expands the first edition of 1995. The volume now consists of two distinct parts. The first part has eight chapters, as before, expounding the law. These chapters are on the nature and sources of ecclesiastical law, the constitution of the Church of England, the parish, clergy, services and worship, church courts, faculty jurisdiction, and cathedrals. The second part now gathers a miscellany of 'materials.' These key documents were scattered throughout the book in the earlier edition but are now gathered conveniently together, and consist of the Canons of the Church of England; statutes and measures; statutory instruments; church representation rules; and cases.