The Bishops in Foreign Countries Act 1841 ( 5 Vict. c. 6) is an Act of Parliament passed by the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

to enable the

United Church of England and Ireland The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglican tradition, with foundational doctrines being contained in the '' Thirty-nine Articles'' and ''Th ...

to create

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

s overseas. The Act authorised the

consecration Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

of a bishop for a foreign country who need not be a subject of the

British crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

nor take the

oaths of allegiance An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...

or of supremacy, while, on the other hand, the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

by him would have no right to officiate in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The need for the act arose after the English Church and government agreed to consent to the establishment of the

Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem The Anglo-Prussian bishopric in Jerusalem was a Protestant episcopal see based in Jerusalem between 1841 and 1886. It was a joint venture of the Church of England and the Evangelical Church in Prussia. The bishopric was established as a result of ...

.Meyer (1914) The Act received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

on 5 October 1841 and remains, , largely in force.

References

Bibliography

* (

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

) *Meyer, P. (1914)
Jerusalem, Anglican-German Bishopric in
, '' Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge''

External links

* United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1841 Christianity and law in the 19th century 1841 in Christianity Law about religion in the United Kingdom {{UK-statute-stub Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning the Church of England