W. S. H. Fielden is for the present to be employed under the direction of

TRUST DEEDS OF CHAPELS AND SCHOOLS.

WE are pleased in having to inform our readers, that an important enactment has recently been obtained, for facilitating the legal appointment of new Trustees to property invested in Trust for Religious or Educational purposes. Heretofore, considerable difficulty and expense have been frequently occasioned by Trustees neglecting to fill up vacancies in their number; and this arose, generally, from the great expense which had to be incurred in preparing, executing, and attending to all the formalities required by law. In some cases, from mere forgetfulness, or other circumstances, the number of the Trustees has been so diminished as that the remainder have been legally unable to fill up vacancies, and in some cases all the Trustees have been dead, or otherwise incapable of acting; and it has been needful to incur the expense of applying to the Court of Chancery to appoint new Trustees. To remedy such evils, S. M. Peto, Esq., M.P., has recently obtained an Act of Parliament; and by the services which he has thus rendered, has entitled himself to the hearty thanks of all who are interested in the legal preservation of Chapel and School property. We shall here insert a copy of the Act for the information of our readers.

ANNO DECIMO TERTIO & DECIMO QUARTO

VICTORIE REGINÆ.

CAP. XXVIII.

An Act to render more simple and effectual the Titles by which Congregations or Societies for Purposes of Religious Worship or Education in England and Ireland hold Property for such Purposes.

[15th July 1850.] WHEREAS it is expedient to render more simple and effectual the Titles by which Congregations or Societies associated together for the Purposes of maintaining Religious Worship or promoting Education in England, Wales, or Ireland, may hold the Property required for such Purposes: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lord's Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That wherever Freehold, Leasehold, Copyhold, or Customary Property in England or Wales has been or hereafter shall be acquired by any Congregation or Society or Body of Persons associated for Religious Purposes or for the Promotion of Education, as a Chapel, Meeting House, or other Place of Religious Worship, or as a Dwelling House for the Minister of such Congregation, with Offices, Garden, and Glebe, or Land in the Nature of Glebe, for his Use, or as a Schoolhouse, with Schoolmaster's House, Garden, and Playground, or as a College, Academy, or Seminary, with or without Grounds for Air, Exercise, or Recreation, or as a Hall or Rooms for the Meeting or Transaction of the Business of such Congregation or Society or Body of Persons, and wherever the Conveyance, Assignment, or other Assurance of such property has been or may be taken to or in favour of a Trustee or Trustees to be from Time to Time appointed, or of any Party or Parties named in such Conveyance, Assignment, or other Assurance, or subject to any Trust for the Congregation or Society or Body

of Persons, or of the Individuals composing the same, such Conveyance, Assignment, or other Assurance shall not only vest the Freehold, Leasehold, Copyhold, or Customary Property thereby conveyed or otherwise assured in the Party or Parties named therein, but shall also effectually vest such Freehold, Leasehold, Copyhold, or Customary Property in their Successors in Office for the Time being and the old continuing Trustees, if any, jointly, or if there be no old continuing Trustees, then in such Successors for the Time being wholly, chosen and appointed in the Manner provided or referred to in or by such Conveyance, Assignment, or other Assurance, or in any separate Deed or Instrument declaring the Trust thereof, or if no Mode of Appointment be therein set forth, prescribed, or referred to, or if the Power of Appointment be lapsed, then in such Manner as shall be agreed upon by such Congregation or Society or Body of Persons upon such and the like Trusts, and with, under, and subject to the same Powers and Provisions, as are contained or referred to in such Conveyance, Assignment, or other Assurance, or in any such separate Deed or Instrument, or upon which such Property is held, and that without any Transfer, Assignment, Conveyance, or other Assurance whatsoever, anything in such Conveyance, Assignment, or other Assurance, or in any such separate Deed or Instrument, contained to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided always, that in case of any Appointment of a new Trustee or Trustees of or the Conveyance of the legal Estate in any such Property being made as heretofore was by law required, the same shall be as valid and effectual to all Intents and Purposes as if this Act had not been passed.

II. And be it enacted, That where such Property shall be of Copyhold or Customary Tenure, and liable to the Payment of any Fine, with or without a Heriot, on the Death or Alienation of the Tenant or Tenants thereof, it shall be lawful for the Lord or Lady of the Manor of which such Property shall be holden, on the next Appointment of a new Trustee or Trustees thereof, and at the Expiration of every period of Forty Years thereafter, so long as such Property shall belong to or be held in trust for such Congregation or Society or Body of Persons or other Party or Parties to whom such property may have been or shall be conveyed for their Benefit, to receive and take a Sum corresponding to the Fine and Heriot, if any, which would have been payable by Law upon the Death or Alienation of the Tenant or Tenants thereof; and such Payments shall be in full of all Fines payable to the Lord or Lady of the Manor of which such Property is holden, while the same shall remain the Property or be held in trust for such Congregation or Society or Body of Persons; and the Lord or Lady of such Manor shall have all such Powers for the Recovery of such Sums as such Lord or Lady could have had in the event of the Tenant or Tenants of such Property having died or having alienated the same.

III. And be it enacted, That for the Purpose of preserving Evidence of every such Choice and Appointment of a new Trustee or new Trustees, and of the Person or Persons in whom such Charitable Estates and Property shall so from Time to time become legally vested, every such Choice and Appointment of a new Trustee or new Trustees shall be made to appear by some Deed under the Hand and Seal of the Chairman for the Time being of the Meeting at which such Choice and Appointment shall be made, and shall be executed in the Presence of such Meeting, and attested by Two or more credible Witnesses, which Deed may be in the Form or to the like Effect of the Schedule to this Act annexed, or as near thereto as Circumstances will allow, and may be given and shall be received as Evidence in all Courts and Proceedings in the same Manner and on the like Proof as Deeds under Seal, and shall be Evidence of the Truth of the several Matters and Things therein contained.

IV. And be it enacted, That the Provisions of this Act shall extend to that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland.

V. And be it enacted, That this Act may be amended or repealed by any Act to be passed in the present Session of Parliament, except so far as the contrary shall be made to appear.

SCHEDULE TO WHICH THIS ACT REFERS.

MEMORANDUM of the Choice and Appointment of new Trustees of the [describe the Chapel, School, or other Buildings and Property] situate in the Parish [or Township] of

in the County [Riding, Division, City, or Place] of

at a Meeting duly convened and held for that Purpose [in the Vestry of the said Chapel] on the [25th] Day of [April 1850], A‚B.

Chairman.

of

Names and Descriptions of all the Trustees on the Constitution or last Appointment of Trustees made the

Day of

Names and Descriptions of all the Trustees in whom the said [Chapel] and Premises now becomes legally vested.

First. Old continuing Trustees:

John Jackson, now of

Matthew Norman, now of

Octavius Parker, now of

Second.-New Trustees now chosen and appointed :

Dated this

Benjamin Adams of

Charles Bell of

Jonathan Edmonds of

Richard Baxter of
John Home of
Day of

Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the said William Hicks, as Chair-
man of the said Meeting, at and
in the Presence of the said Meet-
ing, on the Day and Year afore-
said, in the Presence of

C. D.
E. F.

William Hicks,

(L.S.) Chairman of the said Meeting.

[The Blanks, and Parts in Italics, to be filled up as the Case may be.]

It occurs to us, however, that the form of Memorandum, given in the Schedule of the Act, is defective in one particular. It ought to contain a clause declaring that the newly appointed Trustees

accept of the appointment; and such declaration should be signed by them. This clause, however, can be added, as the Act states, that the new "Deed may be in the form or to the like effect, or as near thereto as circumstances will allow, We are not able to state, whether it will be needful to have the Memorandum stamped. It appears, that it is to have the force of a Deed; and as by the Stamp Act, Deeds are required to be stamped, in order to their having legal force, perhaps the Memorandum will require to have a Deed Stamp affixed. We shall be glad if some of our legal friends will give us their opinion on this point.

Perhaps it may be needful to remark that this Act has not altered the law, in any respect, as to the formalities required concerning the original Deeds by which property may be put into trust. The new Act only relates to the mode of keeping the property secured to the uses for which it has been vested in Trustees; and for this purpose it affords important facilities which will effect great saving of expense.

We remember, some time since, conversing with the Rev. John Howard Hinton, on the importance of obtaining from Parliament such relief as this Act will afford; and we have reason for supposing that he has been the means of directing the attention of Mr. Peto to this important subject.

As we are now addressing our readers on the subject of Trust Deeds, we again beg to urge upon them the importance of seeing that the Deeds for their Chapels and Schools are properly executed. Very few solicitors know how to prepare and execute-with all the required formalities-Trust Deeds securing property to religious or charitable uses. Every such original Deed requires to be attested by two witnesses, and must be enrolled in Chancery within six months after it has been executed. We commend our Connexional Chapel Model Deed to the consideration of our friends, as well adapted to aid them in the first settlement of their chapels. It will save them much expense, and fully protect the interests of the Trustees, and of the Societies, for whose use the Chapels have been, or may be erected. Every preacher in our Connexion ought to interest himself in this behalf. It is, in fact, a matter in which all the members of our Connexion are deeply interested.

CONCLUSION OF THE CONTROVERSIES WITH THE REVS. S. HULME AND W. COOKE.

WE have read Mr. Hulme's "second defence ;" and if we had not already occupied so large a space in our former numbers, we should reply to him at large, and do justice to his misrepresentations, and abusive vituperations. We will, however, now content ourselves with giving one example of the gross manner in which Mr. Hulme has in his "second defence misrepresented us, and which may be taken as a sample of the bulk" of his defence. In our strictures upon Mr. Hulme's statement, that "Christianity makes no change in

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