Anglican Church of Australia Constitution Act 1973

An Act to consolidate the law relating to the Church of England in Australia in this State

Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled, as follows:

1.   Short title

[Section 1 Substituted by No. 22 of 1977, s. 3 ]This Act may be cited as the Anglican Church of Australia Constitution Act 1973 .

2.   Repeals, savings, and application of laws

(1)  The Acts referred to in Schedule 1 are repealed, so far as they have not already been repealed by Act of Synod.

(2)  Subject to subsection (3) , the Imperial Acts referred to in Schedule 2 are repealed if and so far as they have any force in this State, but if and so far as they have any such force shall be deemed, notwithstanding their repeal, to be binding –

(a) on the bishops, clergy, and laity being and as members of the Church in the Diocese; and

(b) for all purposes connected with or in any way relating to the property of the Church –

as if they had been, at the time of their enactment, agreed to in time of Parliament and with the assent of the King that then was by both houses of the Convocations of the provinces of Canterbury and York.

(3)  Nothing contained in subsection (2) affects the operation of the Exoneration from Roman Exactions Act, 1533 referred to in Schedule 2 , so far as, in its sections 2 to 12 , it authorizes and regulates the issue of licences, dispensations, compositions, faculties, delegacies, rescripts, instruments, and other writings and provides for their effect, and that Act may be cited as the Ecclesiastical Licences Act, 1533 .

(4)  The Clerical Subscription Act, 1865 of the Imperial Parliament shall be deemed to have extended to this State and to be referred to in Schedule 2 .

(5)  In this State there is not and has not been and could not be any right of presentation to a benefice or advowson at common law or by the canon law or under any Imperial Act.

(6)  All Acts of Synod in force at the commencement of this Act shall remain in force as ordinances so far as they could be made as ordinances under this Act.

(7)  All resolutions of the Synod in force at the commencement of this Act shall remain in force –

(a) as ordinances so far as they could be made, and made only, as ordinances under this Act; and

(b) as resolutions of the Synod so far as they could not be made as ordinances but could be made as resolutions under this Act.

(8)  Rules made by the corporate trustees under section 13 of the Church of England Constitution Act 1899 in force at the commencement of this Act shall remain in force as if made under section 10 (8) .

3.   Interpretation

(1)  [Section 3 Subsection (1) amended by No. 22 of 1977, s. 4 ]In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears –

Bishop means the Bishop of the Diocese, and except in section 7 (1) includes the Bishop's vicar-general acting during the Bishop's absence from the Diocese and the person administering the affairs of the Diocese while the see is vacant or while the Bishop is incapable of acting and has no vicar-general or none capable of acting;

canon, used in respect of the Constitution , means canon of general synod;

Church means the Church referred to in the Constitution ;

Constitution means the constitution set forth in Schedule 3 ;

corporate trustees means the trustees referred to in section 10 (1) ;

Diocese means the Diocese of Tasmania;

parish means a parish subject to this Act and not a parish under the Crown Lands Act 1976 ;

rector means the rector of a parish and includes –

(a) the vicar or other curate of a parish, but not an assistant curate;

(b) a locum tenens of a curate of a parish; and

(c) while a parish is vacant, the archdeacon in whose jurisdiction the parish lies;

rule, used in respect of the Constitution , means rule of general synod;

Synod means the Synod of the Diocese referred to in section 8 ;

synodsman means a representative of the laity in the Synod.

(2)  The Acts Interpretation Act 1931 does not apply to the Constitution .

(3)  Declaratory statements in this Act have effect as if after their verb "is" were inserted the words "and shall be deemed to be".

(4)  [Section 3 Subsection (4) substituted by No. 22 of 1977, s. 4 ]Where the name of the Church is altered in accordance with the Constitution , references to the Church in this Act shall be read and construed as references to the Church by its name as so altered.

4.   The Church

The Church in this State has and shall be deemed to have continuous identity with the United Church of England and Ireland in this State when it was known as the Colony of Van Diemen's Land and with the Church of England in this State when it was known as the Colony and later the State of Tasmania, after the name "Church of England" replaced the name "United Church of England and Ireland" by virtue of the Irish Church Act, 1869 .

5.   The Constitution

(1)  The Constitution , which came into force on 1st January 1962, is continued in force.

(2)  Subject to subsection (3) , the articles and provisions of the Constitution and any canons and rules made under or by virtue or in pursuance thereof are as therein provided binding –

(a) on the bishops, clergy, and laity being and as members of the Church in the Diocese; and

(b) for all purposes connected with or in any way relating to the property of the Church.

(3)  A canon or rule that contravenes any law or statute in force for the time being in this State has to the extent of the contravention no force or effect.

6.   The Diocese

[Section 6 Amended by No. 42 of 1992, s. 4 ]The Diocese is the Diocese of Tasmania created by letters patent under the great seal of the United Kingdom dated 21 August 1842 and is at the commencement of this Act coextensive with this State.

7.   The Bishop

(1)  The Bishop at the commencement of this Act is the lawful successor in the see of the Diocese of the Lord Bishop of Tasmania appointed by the letters patent referred to in section 6 .

(2)  The Bishop may summon and hold synods without any royal or other licence, and in particular may summon and hold the synod referred to in section 8 .

(3)  The Bishop shall have a registrar and maintain a registry.

8.   The Synod

(1)  The Synod is at the commencement of this Act constituted in accordance with the provisions set forth in Schedule 4 .

(2)  The Synod may, subject to the Constitution , make ordinances for or with respect to –

(a) amending, rescinding, or replacing the provisions set forth in Schedule 4 ;

(b) the presidency of the Synod;

(c) the number and qualifications of clerks in holy orders to be members of the Synod;

(d) the number, mode of election, and qualifications of synodsmen;

(e) the declarations to be made by synodsmen and their electors;

(f) the manner of taking votes in the Synod;

(g) the division of the Diocese into parishes, cures, or congregations and into other areas of jurisdiction, administration, or operation;

(h) the summoning, adjournment, prorogation, and dissolution of Synods;

(i) the appointment, resignation, and retirement of the Bishop;

(j) the administration of the affairs of the Diocese while the see is vacant or while the Bishop is incapable of acting and has no vicar-general or none capable of acting;

(k) the appointment and licensing of clerks in holy orders to benefices, cures, charges, and offices and the creation, exercise, and abolition of rights of patronage;

(l) the appointment, resignation, and removal of churchwardens and other church officers;

(m) the tenure of any office in the Church and retirement or removal therefrom;

(n) the management of the property of the Church in the Diocese;

(o) the appointment and removal of members of the corporate trustees;

(p) the application of property vested in the corporate trustees but only so far as the trusts under which the property is held so permit;

(q) empowering the Bishop or the Diocesan Council to make regulations in respect of matters in respect of which the Synod may make an ordinance; and

(r) without any limitation that might be inferred from any preceding paragraph of this subsection, the management, direction, and regulation of the affairs of the Church in the Diocese.

(3)  Until it is otherwise provided by ordinance, the rules set forth in Schedule 5 apply to the election of synodsmen.

(4)  The Synod may by resolution –

(a) regulate its own procedure;

(b) deal with such matters as an ordinance permits or requires to be so dealt with; and

(c) deal with any matter at all, but not so as to bind any person in law.

(5)  The powers of the Synod are not affected by –

(a) any informality in –

(i) the nomination of a candidate for the office of synodsman;

(ii) the election of a synodsman; or

(iii) the notification of such an election;

(b) any failure to elect a synodsman;

(c) the absence of a member of the Synod; or

(d) the failure to summon a member to a meeting of the Synod.

9.   The Diocesan Council

(1)  There shall continue to be a council called the Diocesan Council which shall be –

(a) constituted;

(b) with such powers; and

(c) subject to such regulations –

as the Synod by ordinance provides.

(2)  Except as the Synod otherwise provides, the Acts of Synod applicable to the constitution, powers, and regulations of the Diocesan Council in force at the commencement of this Act continue in force.

10.   The Trustees

(1)  The Trustees of the Property of the Church of England in Australia in Tasmania incorporated by the Church of England Constitution Act 1899 shall continue to be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal.

(1A)  [Section 10 Subsection (1A) inserted by No. 22 of 1977, s. 5 ]The reference to the name of the Church in subsection (1) shall, when that name is altered in accordance with the Constitution , be read and construed as if it were a reference to that name as so altered.

(2)  The corporate trustees may use the corporate name "The Trustees of the Diocese of Tasmania".

(3)  No act done by or document naming the corporate trustees between the commencement of the Church of England Constitution Act 1961 and the commencement of this Act is invalid merely because the words "in Australia" were left out of the corporate name.

(4)  The corporate trustees may act, notwithstanding any vacancy in their number, while not less than 3 members remain and act.

(5)  A member of the corporate trustees ceases to hold office if he –

(a) gives his resignation in writing to the Bishop's Registrar;

(b) dies;

(c) is absent from the State for 12 months; or

(d) is incapable of acting.

(6)  When a member of the corporate trustees ceases to hold office, then, subject to any ordinance –

(a) unless the Synod is in session, the Diocesan Council may appoint a new member in his place, who shall hold office until the next session of the Synod; and

(b) the Synod may elect a new member to the place then vacant.

(7)  A certificate of the Secretary of Synod, or, in a case to which subsection (6) (a) applies, of the Secretary of the Diocesan Council of the appointment of a member of the corporate trustees is on its mere production prima facie evidence that the member has been duly appointed.

(8)  The corporate trustees may make such rules as they deem necessary for the carrying out of their duties, which rules shall be laid before the Synod at its next session and if disallowed by resolution of the Synod shall cease to have effect.

11.   Power to sell, lease, &c., land vested in trustees

(1)  The Synod may, in respect of lands of the Church in this State that now are vested in the corporate trustees, and subject to the special trusts, if any, affecting those lands, and subject to the special powers, provisos, and declarations, if any, applicable thereto, by ordinance or resolution, direct a sale, lease, exchange, mortgage, or other disposition of such lands.

(2)  The corporate trustees have thereupon, subject to any special directions of the Synod, full power to effect such a sale, lease, exchange, mortgage, or other disposition on such terms and conditions and in such manner in all respects as they shall deem most advantageous, and to do, enter into, and execute all necessary acts, deeds, leases, mortgages, contracts and assurances for carrying into legal effect any such sale, lease, exchange, mortgage, or other disposition.

(3)  The corporate trustees shall hold, manage, and deal with the moneys arising from such sale, lease, exchange, mortgage, or other disposition, and shall hold, manage, and deal with any lands so taken in exchange upon the trusts, if any, declared by the instrument affecting the land; and if there are no such trusts, then in such manner as the Synod by ordinance or resolution directs.

(4)  [Section 11 Subsection (4) omitted by No. 4 of 2002, s. 57, Applied:01 Jul 2002] .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

(5)  [Section 11 Subsection (5) omitted by No. 4 of 2002, s. 57, Applied:01 Jul 2002] .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

(6)  [Section 11 Subsection (6) amended by No. 30 of 1995, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ][Section 11 Subsection (6) omitted by No. 4 of 2002, s. 57, Applied:01 Jul 2002] .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

12.   Power to buy lands and build

The corporate trustees may, at the request of the Diocesan Council, out of any moneys available to them for the purpose, buy lands in this State for a purpose of the Church and build, make, alter, repair, and maintain buildings and other improvements thereon.

12A.   Variation of trusts

[Section 12A Inserted by No. 31 of 2003, s. 4, Applied:18 Jun 2003]

(1)  The Synod may make an ordinance empowering the Diocesan Council to make a request by resolution to the corporate trustees to –

(a) declare by resolution any trusts, to which any property vested in the Church is for the time being subject, to be varied if the Diocesan Council is of the opinion that it has become impossible or inexpedient to carry out or observe those trusts; and

(b) declare, by the same or a subsequent resolution, other trusts for, or for the use, benefit or purpose of, the Church instead of the first-mentioned trusts.

(2)  If the corporate trustees make a resolution referred to in subsection (1) , the trusts first-mentioned in that subsection, by force of that resolution, cease and determine and the property vested in those trusts is to be held on the other trusts accordingly.

(3)  Any property in respect of which other trusts are declared under this section is to be dealt with for the same purposes as nearly as practicable as the purposes for which the property was held in accordance with the trusts first-mentioned in subsection (1) unless the corporate trustees make a resolution declaring that, by reason of circumstances subsequent to the creation of those trusts, it is, in the opinion of the corporate trustees, impossible or inexpedient to deal with or apply that property or some part of it for the same or like purposes.

(4)  If the corporate trustees have made a resolution referred to in subsection (3) , the property may be dealt with and applied for the use or benefit of the Church for such purposes as are declared by resolution of the corporate trustees.

13.   How moneys may be invested

(1)  The corporate trustees may, subject to –

(a) any ordinance or resolution of the Synod; and

(b) any special trusts affecting the investment of moneys held by them –

invest any moneys held by them as such trustees in any manner that they think proper.

(2)  The corporate trustees may, subject as provided in subsection (1) , in their discretion –

(a) call in or leave out moneys in investments not made by them, and if they call in such moneys reinvest them in accordance with subsection (1) ; and

(b) vary any investment.

13A.   Guarantees and indemnities

[Section 13A Inserted by No. 22 of 1977, s. 6 ]

(1)  Subject to this section, the corporate trustees shall, when requested by the Diocesan Council to do so on behalf of any person, give –

(a) a guarantee for the repayment of any moneys borrowed or proposed to be borrowed, or the payment of any moneys owing, by that person;

(b) a guarantee for the performance of any other contractual obligation entered into, or proposed to be entered into, by that person; or

(c) an indemnity against any loss in respect of any moneys borrowed or proposed to be borrowed, or the payment of any moneys owing, by that person.

(2)  A guarantee or indemnity under subsection (1) shall be deemed to include an obligation by the corporate trustees to guarantee the payment of, or to indemnify against loss in relation to, any interest and other charges payable in respect of the loan or other contractual obligation guaranteed or arising out of the giving of the indemnity.

(3)  A guarantee or indemnity under subsection (1) may be made subject to the observance by the person in respect of whom it is given of such conditions as the corporate trustees, with the approval of the Diocesan Council, determine.

(4)  The corporate trustees may give security for a guarantee or indemnity under subsection (1) by a mortgage or other form of charge, registered or unregistered, over land vested in the trustees, subject, however, to any special trusts affecting that land.

(5)  If the corporate trustees are called on to make a payment to any person in consequence of giving a guarantee or indemnity under subsection (1) , the trustees may, for the purposes of making that payment but subject to any special trusts affecting the land, sell any land vested in them or realize any investments made by them pursuant to section 13 (1) .

14.   Diocesan officers appointed by Synod

(1)  The Synod may by resolution appoint –

(a) an advocate to be standing counsel to the Diocese, who shall be called Church Advocate; and

(b) some fit person to be Treasurer of the Diocese, who shall be called Diocesan Treasurer.

(2)  Officers appointed under this section shall hold office during the Synod's pleasure.

(3)  If while the Synod is not sitting an officer referred to in subsection (1) –

(a) dies;

(b) resigns his office by notice in writing to the Diocesan Secretary; or

(c) fails or becomes unable to act –

the Diocesan Council may appoint another person to hold office until the Synod is able to make its own appointment.

15.   Oaths

(1)  Subject to subsection (2) , a bishop, commissary, administrator, chancellor, archdeacon, or registrar holding office in any diocese of the Church may administer to any bishop, clergyman, or other member of the Church and that member may make or take the oaths used before the commencement of the Church of England Constitution Act 1961 on the occasion of –

(a) the ordaining of deacons or priests;

(b) the consecration or enthronement of bishops;

(c) the institution of clergy to a cure of souls in a parish or other ecclesiastical district; and

(d) an installation, induction, or collation to an office, or the grant of a licence in the Church in this State.

(2)  Part III of the Promissory Oaths Act 1869 does not affect, and shall be deemed at no time to have affected, any oath referred to in subsection (1) .

(3)  Nothing contained in subsection (1) or (2) affects the operation of section 11 of the Promissory Oaths Act 1869 .

16.   Powers of tribunals to take evidence

(1)  [Section 16 Subsection (1) amended by No. 68 of 1994, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ]For the purposes of securing the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents, and for the examination of witnesses on oath or otherwise –

(a) a tribunal mentioned in chapter IX of the Constitution shall –

(i) [Section 16 Subsection (1) amended by No. 9 of 2011, Sched. 1, Applied:01 Oct 2012] be deemed to be an arbitral tribunal under the Commercial Arbitration Act 2011 ; and

(ii) have power to administer an oath to, or take an affirmation from, a witness; and

(b) a party to a proceeding before such a tribunal or a person permitted by such a tribunal to submit any evidence to it shall be deemed to be a party to a submission and reference to arbitration within the meaning of that Act.

(2)  A writ of subpoena shall not be issued by virtue of this section to a person who is not a member of the Church.

(3)  Where a person who is a not a member of the Church is served with a writ of subpoena issued contrary to this section, he is not bound to obey it.

(4)  Every writ of subpoena issued by virtue of this section shall have plainly set forth thereon a note that a person who is not a member of the Church, naming it, is not to be served therewith and if he should be served is not bound to obey it.

17.   When strangers entitled to notice and to appear

(1)  Where in any proceedings before a tribunal mentioned in the Constitution an imputation is or is likely to be made on the character of a person not a party thereto that person is entitled –

(a) to receive notice of the proceedings; and

(b) to appear therein and defend his character if he so desires.

(2)  This section does not apply in respect of cross-examination of a witness as to credit.

18.   Staying proceedings before tribunals

The Supreme Court may, whenever it appears to it just and convenient, on the application of a party to, or person whose reputation or character is likely to be affected by, the trial of a cause before a tribunal mentioned in the Constitution made at any time before the conclusion of the proceedings, absolutely, conditionally, or temporarily prohibit the tribunal from proceeding or proceeding further in that cause and make such further order thereon as it thinks just.

19.   Where finding of fact conclusive evidence

Where a person is charged with an offence before a tribunal mentioned in the Constitution a finding of fact which is shown to have been made in any proceedings in the Supreme Court to which that person is a party or on appeal from a decision in those proceedings is conclusive evidence of the fact found in the hearing of the charge before the tribunal.

20.   Costs

(1)  Where costs are awarded by any tribunal mentioned in the Constitution the Supreme Court may, on the application of the party against whom they have been awarded –

(a) where costs have been fixed by the tribunal, review its award and substitute for the sum thereby awarded –

(i) such sum as it thinks proper; or

(ii) costs to be taxed by the taxing officer in accordance with such scale as the Court directs; and

(b) where the tribunal's award is based on a bill of costs, order that bill to be taxed by the taxing officer in accordance with such scale as the Court directs and the amount allowed on taxation to be substituted for the amount payable under the award of the tribunal.

(2)  If the special tribunal or the appellate tribunal mentioned in the Constitution awards costs pursuant to a power prescribed under section 59 (2) of the Constitution , its award may, by leave of the Supreme Court, and subject to subsection (1) of this section, be enforced in the same manner as a judgment or order to the same effect.

21.   Sentences of the Primate

A sentence pronounced under section 60 of the Constitution at a place within the Commonwealth and without this State, of which an exemplification by a notary public is lodged in the Bishop's registry, shall be deemed to have been pronounced within this State.

22.   Ecclesiastical legislation

(1)  Nothing in the Rules Publication Act 1953 applies to any canon, rule, or ordinance made under the Constitution , to any resolution of the Synod, or to any regulation made under such an ordinance.

(2)  The production of a written or printed copy of a canon, rule, or ordinance made under the Constitution , of an Act or resolution of the Synod, or of such a regulation certified as provided in this section, shall be evidence unless the contrary is proved, of –

(a) the due making and existence of the canon, rule, ordinance, Act, or resolution; and

(b) the time at which it came into force.

(3)  [Section 22 Subsection (3) amended by No. 51 of 1985, s. 3 and Sched. 2 ]For the purposes of subsection (2) a copy to be used as evidence shall have on it a certificate in the following form:

Form

(4)  A certificate for the purposes of this section shall be signed by the Bishop's Registrar, and a certificate purporting to be so signed shall be deemed to be so signed unless the contrary is proved.

(5)  The Bishop shall cause to be kept in his registry a true copy of every canon or rule of the General Synod in force in the Diocese, of every Act, ordinance, and resolution of the Synod, and of every regulation made under such an ordinance, and permit any member of the Church without fee and any other person on payment of a reasonable fee, if he chooses to require it, to inspect and transcribe any such copy.

(6)  No legislative act of which a true copy is required by subsection (5) to be kept as therein provided and in respect of which that subsection has not been complied with may be accorded any force in this State.

23.   Place of incorporation of corporate trustees

The corporate trustees referred to in section 64 of the Constitution shall be deemed for all purposes to have been incorporated in and by the laws of the State of New South Wales.

23A.   No disqualification as priest by reason of sex

[Section 23A Inserted by No. 42 of 1992, s. 5 ]No law of the Church prevents the ordination of a person to the office of priest by reason only of sex and any law of the Church (including any Act of Synod, canon or rule) so providing is of no effect.

24.   Transitory provisions

(1)  Nothing contained in section 8 (3) affects elections of synodsmen made before 1st October 1973, which elections are subject in all respects to the law in force at the commencement of this Act.

(2)  Until the Synod first after the commencement of this Act passes an ordinance or resolution relating to the powers of investment of the corporate trustees, they are subject in respect of their investment of moneys to the law in force at the commencement of this Act.

(3)  The persons respectively holding the offices of Church Advocate and Diocesan Treasurer at the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been appointed by the Synod.

(4)  Subject to subsection (5) , on the day fixed by proclamation under section 2 (2) of the Anglican Church of Australia Constitution Act 1977 , the expression "Church of England" or "Church of England in Australia" or any other expression meaning the Church of England or the Church of England in Australia in –

(a) any Act, other than this Act as amended by the Anglican Church of Australia Constitution Act 1977 , or in any proclamation, order-in-council, regulation or other instrument made by or under the law of this State and in force in this State; or

(b) any canon, rule or resolution of the general synod and so in force; or

(c) any Act, resolution, ordinance, regulation or rule made by the Synod of the Diocese of Tasmania, or any rule made by the corporate trustees, and so in force; or

(d) any grant, deed, will or other instrument having effect on or after that day –

is to be read and construed as if the name of the Church altered in accordance with the Constitution had been substituted for that expression.

(5)  Subsection (4) does not apply to the preamble to –

(a) the Hutchins School Act 1911 ; or

(b) the Christ College Act 1924 .

(6)  On and after the day fixed by proclamation under section 2 (2) of the Anglican Church of Australia Constitution Act 1977 , a reference to the corporate trustees by the name of the Trustees of the Property of the Church of England in Tasmania or the Trustees of the Property of the Church of England in Australia in Tasmania or any other name in –

(a) any Act or other instrument referred to in subsection (4)(a) and in force in this State; or

(b) any Act, resolution, ordinance, regulation or rule made by the Synod of the Diocese of Tasmania, or any rule made by the corporate trustees, and so in force; or

(c) any instrument referred to in subsection (4)(d) having effect on or after that day –

is to be read and construed as a reference to the corporate trustees by their corporate name as specified in section 10(2).

25.   Repeal of schedules

The Governor may repeal by proclamation Schedules 4 and 5 on receiving a certificate by the Chancellor of the Diocese that they have for all practical purposes been superseded by ordinances and are no longer required to give effect to this Act.

SCHEDULE 1 - Acts Repealed

Section 2

SCHEDULE 2 - Imperial Acts Repealed

Section 2

SCHEDULE 3 - The Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia

Section 3

SCHEDULE 4 - Constitution of the Synod

Section 8

1.   Composition of Synod

(1) The Synod consists of –

(a) the Bishop;

(b) all clerks in holy orders licensed to officiate in the Diocese;

(c) all deaconesses licensed to officiate in the Diocese;

(d) representatives of the laity elected in accordance with the rules contained in Schedule 5;

(e) the Chancellor of the Diocese, the Church Advocate, the Diocesan Treasurer, and the person chosen by the corporate trustees referred to in section 10 to be their chairman; and

(f) a representative of Youth Synod from each Archdeaconry elected in accordance with the rules contained in Schedule 5.

(2) In this clause Youth Synod means the meeting by that name of the youth of the Diocese which is summoned by the Bishop.

2.   Powers of Bishop

The Bishop may prorogue or dissolve the Synod and issue mandates for the election of synodsmen.

3.   Triennial Synods

The Bishop shall within 3 years after the day on which the Synod first meets after a general election of synodsmen dissolve the Synod and issue mandates for a fresh general election.

4.   Synod to meet yearly

(1) The Bishop shall at least once in every year summon the Synod to meet.

(2) The Synod may adjourn from time to time as may be decided by a majority of the members present.

5.   Special meetings

(1) The Bishop may summon a meeting of the Synod for any special purposes.

(2) In the summons for that meeting, or by notice to the members in some other manner, the Bishop shall state the special purpose for which the Synod has been summoned, and that meeting shall be deemed to be a special session of Synod.

(3) No business may be transacted at a special session of Synod other than that which the Synod has been summoned to consider.

(4) The term of office, powers, and duties of committees appointed at any ordinary session of Synod to meet during the recess are not limited or otherwise affected by a special session of Synod.

6.   Presidency

At meetings of the Synod the Bishop, or in his absence –

(a) his suffragan bishop, if any, or the senior of them, if more than one, being present;

(b) failing any such person, the archdeacon, being present, or the senior archdeacon present, if more than one; or

(c) failing any such person, a chairman appointed by the members then present –

shall preside.

7.   Ordinances and resolutions, how made

(1) Ordinances and resolutions shall be made with the assent of the Bishop and of a majority of the members present, except as provided in subclause (2) .

(2) On the order of the Bishop, or on the request of 3 clerks in holy orders or 3 synodsmen, the votes of the clerks in holy orders present and the votes of the lay members present shall be taken separately and instead of a majority of the members present a majority of the clerks in holy orders present and a majority of the lay members is then required.

(3) When voting is subject to subclause (2) deaconesses vote with the clerks in holy orders.

8.   Qualification of synodsmen

A person is capable of being a synodsman only if he is –

(a) above the age of 18 years and, in the case of a representative of Youth Synod, under the age of 25 years;

(b) a communicant of the Church; and

(c) resident in the Diocese.

9.   Vacation of office of synodsman

(1) The office of a synodsman becomes vacant if he –

(a) gives his written resignation to the Bishop's Registrar, the secretary of the Diocesan Council, or the Secretary or Synod;

(b) dies;

(c) is absent from the Diocese for 12 months; or

(d) ceases to be capable of being a synodsman as provided in clause 8 .

(2) If a doubt arises whether the office of a synodsman is vacant as provided in this clause the Bishop may decide the matter and his written decision is conclusive.

SCHEDULE 5 - Rules for the election of Synodsmen

Section 8(3) and Schedule 4, clause 1