Reports from the Church Estates Commissioners to Parliament

This series comprises the published reports of the Church Estates Commissioners which were presented to Parliament detailing transactions approved by them under certain legislation (the Episcopal and Capitular Estates Acts of 1851 and 1854, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act of 1860, the Ecclesiastical Commissioner Act 1868, the Ecclesiastical Leases Act of 1861 and the Law of Property Act of 1922). Each Report includes details of sales and purchases and enfranchisements of copyhold land for each given year; and also where relevant where terms had been refused. For the early part of the series, there was a lot of business for each year, but as time went on this reduced so that in some years that there might be no business for a given year. Following the passing of the Law of Property Acts (1922-1925) the only business before the Commissioners was extinguishment of manorial incidents. Copies of the deeds relating to the transactions approved can be found in the Church Estates Commissioners Copy Deed series which cover the period up to the 1880s.

In date order. There are gaps, at present the following reports are missing - nos 67-68, 71, 76, 78, 81-82, 84-85, 89, 93, 96, 100 and 104. The annual reports first mention the legislation under which the Commissioners were reporting to parliament and then how many transctions have been approved by them since August 1851, and how many have been approved for the year in question.

General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD[G]), 2nd edition, 1999.

CEC/6/1 Church Estates Commissioners Copy Deed Series

The Church Estates Commissioners were set up 1850. They were to be a small full-time professional body who would take the bulk of the routine work (re property management) out of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners hands. By the Act (13 & 14 Vict. c.94) entitled "An Act to amend the Acts relating to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England" an Estates Committee was set up consisting of thee Church Estates Commissioners and two members appointed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Three was to be a quorum, but two of the three had to be Commissioners. The Committee was given two types of powers - the first was total charge of the Commissioners property. The secpmd was that they could deal with any business delegated to them by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners except the fixing of the common seal. The First Estates Commissionere was appointed by the Crown, the second (who was unpaid) by Parliament, and the third by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first three Commissioners were the Earl of Chichester, John George Shaw Lefevre and Henry Goulburn. It reported itsproceedings to Parliament under an Act (14 & 15 Vict. c.104 s.10) entitled "An Act to facilitate the Management and Improvement of Episcopal and Capitular Estates in England" - any ecclesiastical corporation could sell or lease interests or enfranchise copyhold land with the consent in writing of the Church Estates Commissioners. The Act also provided that surplus monies for transactions under this Act were to be appropriated to the Common Fund of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. This Act was originally limited to three years and so a further Act (17 & 18 Vict. c.116 s.10) was passed entitled "An Act to continue and amend an Act to facilitate the Mangement and Improvement of Episcopal and Capitular Estates in England" and subsequent amending Acts. The passing of the Law of Property Acts (1922-1925) which came into force on the 1st January 1925 led to the abolition of copyhold tenure on 1st January 1926. However certain charges and interests in the land (known as manorial incidents) were not abolished by this legislation. These charges included quit rents, fines reliefs and heriots, and timber rights. These charges could be extinguished by payment of compensation by the copyholder to the Lord of the Manor. The Church Estates Commission ceased to present these reports to parliament after 1959. There had been approvals of sales of property since 1936 and no extinguishments of manorial incidents for about 6 years and it was felt that it was unlikely that there would be anymore such cases under the Law of Property Acts. As a result it was felt if any further cases were to appear they should be dealt with the Church Commissioners as a body rather seperately by the Estates Commisioners and be included in the formers annual reports to Parliament. The Church Property Miscellaneous Provisions Measure 1959 (CA1276) included in its provisions for the transfer to the Church Commissioners of the Estates Commissioners powers under the Episcopal and Capitular Estates and transfer of property vested in the latter.