The Quest for an Authoritative Court of Final Appeal in Ecclesiastical Causes: A Study of the Difficulties,c.1830–76

This article seeks to provide a comprehensive legal historical account of the various initiatives for the reform of the final court of ecclesiastical appeal in the nineteenth century. It sets out the main initiatives, the substantive arguments and issues which underpinned the proposals and debates, and the ways in which the parliamentary context within which they were addressed shaped the form and fortunes of the resulting court. By doing so it explores the difficulties posed by the parliamentary context within which ecclesiastical law reformers had usually to operate.