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These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.  














Ecclesiastical - From: 1960 To: 1969

This page lists 10 cases, and was prepared on 02 April 2018.

 
Little Leigh Parochial Church Council v The Church Commissioners [1960] 1 WLR 567
1960


Ecclesiastical

1 Citers


 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v Henning (Valuation Officer) [1962] 1 WLR 1091
1962
CA
Lord Denning MR, Donovan and Pearson LJJ
Rating, Ecclesiastical
The court was asked whether a Mormon Temple was a public place of worship. Lord Denning MR rejected an argument that the Temple was merely a church hall: "The short answer is that this temple is not a church hall, chapel hall nor a similar building. It is not in the least on the same footing as a church hall or chapel hall. It is a very sacred sanctuary, quite different from a building of that category." Donovan LJ said that the Temple was: "far too important in the life of the Mormon Church" to be described as a building similar to a church hall or chapel hall.
1 Citers



 
 In re St John's, Chelsea; 1962 - [1962] 2 All ER 850; [1962] 1 WLR 706
 
The Parochial Church of St. Philip With St Luke (Pastoral Measure) v The Church Commissioners [1963] UKPC 5
25 Feb 1963
PC

Ecclesiastical
JCPC
[ Bailii ]
 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v Henning (Valuation Officer) [1964] AC 420
1964
HL
Lord Pearce
Rating, Ecclesiastical
The House was asked whether the Mormon Temple at Godstone was exempt from rates as a "place of public religious worship". Held: The words could not apply to places used for religious worship from which the public was excluded.
Lord Pearce said that Parliament was entitled to take the view that religious services which were open to the public provided a public benefit which justified the exemption. He explained that from 1601 churches of the Church of England were not subject to rates and that this exemption was extended by the Poor Rate Exemption Act 1833 to "any churches . . meetinghouses, or premises, or any part thereof that shall be exclusively appropriated to public religious worship". He continued: "By the Act of 1833 the legislature was intending to extend the privileges of exemption enjoyed by the Anglican churches to similar places of worship belonging to other denominations. Since the Church of England worshipped with open doors and its worship was in that sense public, it is unlikely that the legislature intended by the word ‘public' some more subjective meaning which would embrace in the phrase ‘public religious worship' any congregational worship observed behind doors closed to the public.
I find it impossible, therefore, to hold that the words ‘places of public religious worship' includes places which, though from the worshippers' point of view they were public as opposed to domestic, yet in the more ordinary sense were not public since the public was excluded.
. . Furthermore, it is less likely on general grounds that Parliament intended to give exemption to religious services that exclude the public, since exemptions from rating, though not necessarily consistent, show a general pattern of intention to benefit those activities which are for the good of the general public. All religious services that open their doors to the public may, in an age of religious tolerance, claim to perform some spiritual service to the general public . . "
Rating and Valuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1955 7(2)(a)
1 Cites

1 Citers



 
 United States v Seeger; 8-Mar-1965 - 380 US 163 (1965)
 
In re St John's Church, Bishop's Hatfield [1967]
1967


Ecclesiastical

1 Citers


 
The Parochial Church Council of St. Martin, Lincoln (Pastoral Measure) v The Church Commissioners (JCPC) [1968] UKPC 26
12 Nov 1968
PC
Hodson, Upjohn, Donovan LL
Ecclesiastical
Opposition to measure for merger of parishes and closure of church.
[ Bailii ]
 
Regina v Registrar General, Ex parte Segerdal [1970] 1 QB 430
1969
QBD
Lord Parker CJ, Ashworth and Cantley JJ
Family, Administrative, Ecclesiastical
The Church of Scientology challenged the refusal of the Registrar General to register its chapel at East Grinstead as a place of meeting for religious worship. Held: The challenge failed.
Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 2
1 Citers


 
In re St Mary the Virgin, Woodkirk [1969] 3 All ER 952; [1969] 1 WLR 1867
1969


Ecclesiastical

1 Citers


 
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