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, 2000–09
• Sir John Owen QC, 1980–2000
• Revd Kenneth Elphinstone QC, 1977–80
• Sir Harold Kent GCB QC, 1972–76
• Walter Wigglesworth QC, 1971–72
• Rt Hon Sir Henry Willink Bt MC QC, 1955–70
• Sir Philip Wilbraham-Baker KBE, c. 1938–55

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