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Appendix A: AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE BISHOP, 1885

(Statutes of Ontario, 1885, Chapter 88)

Whereas the House of Bishops of the Church of England in Canada, with the assent of the Incorporated Synod of the Diocese of Toronto, in the year 1873 set apart a certain portion of the said Diocese of Toronto, being within the Province of Ontario, and comprising the then Districts of Muskoka and Parry Sound, Manitoulin, Algoma District, East and West, and so much of the District of Nipissing as belonged to the Diocese of Toronto, as a new and missionary diocese to be known as the Missionary Diocese of Algoma;

 

And whereas the Right Reverend Frederick D. Fauquier, Doctor of Laws, now deceased, was elected, consecrated and appointed first Bishop of the said Missionary Diocese of Algoma of the Church of England in Canada, in the year 1873, and held such office until the time of his death, whereupon the Right Reverend Edward Sullivan, Doctor of Divinity, was elected, consecrated and appointed to fill the vacancy in such office, and is the present Bishop of the said Diocese;

 

And whereas the said Diocese of Algoma is still a missionary diocese, and no Synod, Assembly, Convocation or other body comprising representatives of the clergy and laity therein has ever been convened or organized;

 

And whereas in the absence of such a body it is expedient that provision should be made for the management and control of the property, affairs, and interest of the said Church in matters relating to and affecting only the said Church and the officers and members thereof;

 

And whereas there are no rectory lands within the limits of said Diocese;

 

And whereas diverse lands situate within said diocese have been granted to the successive incumbents of said bishopric, to each and his successors in office, for various purposes in connection with the said Church in said diocese, in belief that the bishop of said diocese is and was a corporation sole;

 

and it is expedient to make provision in respect thereof;

 

Therefore Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

 

1. The Bishop of the Diocese of Algoma of the Church of England in Canada, for the time being, and his successors, shall be a corporation sole, by and with the name aforesaid, with perpetual succession and all the powers and privileges contained in sub-section 24 of section 8 of The Interpretation Act, and every power and capacity in respect of real or personal property now enjoyed by any incorporated synod of any diocese of the said Church of England in Canada.

2. The Bishop of the Diocese of Algoma for the time being shall have the management of the property, affairs and interests of the said Church in his diocese in matters relating to and affecting only the said Church and the officers and members thereof; and shall have the administration and control of all property, real, personal and mixed which now is or hereby or hereafter may be vested in him or conveyed to him for the use or endowment of his See or vested in or conveyed to him or any other person or body as trustee, for the use of endowment, benefit or advantage of the said Church in his diocese in general, or of any particular church, chapel, parish, living, parsonage, institution, mission, congregation, person or persons, or otherwise howsoever, of the said Church in the said diocese, or for other purposes appertaining to said church in his diocese or in general, or appurtenant to any particular parish, mission, or other person or portion of or in connection with said Church in said diocese, with power to lease, exchange, mortgage, encumber, sell, alien and convey the same in the absence of any express provision to the contrary in the deed or document whereby such property is given or granted, or such trust created as aforesaid; provided always that the rent, proceeds, purchase money or income so realized or raised, of the property so received in exchange shall be held on the same general or special trusts as attached to the property in its unconverted form; and no purchaser shall be liable for the application of any moneys or other considerations given by him on any sale, exchange or other conversion or security made or given under the provisions of this Act.

3. The Bishop of the Diocese of Algoma for the time being may take over and receive from any person or body corporate now or hereafter holding and desirous of transferring the same any property of what description soever vested in such person or body on any of the trusts for any of the purposes aforesaid, and hold the same to and upon the trust, uses, and purposes which heretofore attached to it, and upon the completion of such transfer such person or body shall be discharged and freed from any liability arising from the future execution of the said trusts.

4. The Bishop for the Diocese of Algoma for the time being shall have and is hereby invested with the like corporate rights, powers, patronage and privileges as by any Act or Acts of this Province or of the late Provinces of Canada or Upper Canada are conferred on any Bishop of the said Church of England in Canada, or any Church Society or Incorporated Synod in any Diocese of the said Church; and the several clauses and provisions of the said Acts shall be read, taken and applied, in so far as the same may be applicable, to the Bishop of the Diocese of Algoma for the time being; but nothing in the said Acts contained shall be taken to confine, restrict or lessen the powers, rights, and privileges hereby conferred on the Bishop of Algoma for the time being.

5. Nothing herein contained shall be taken or construed to affect or alter the rights of the parties as declared in an action lately pending in the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice, known as Labatt v. Campbell as to the legacies in questions therein, or shall affect or alter the rights of the parties in any case in which a claim adverse to the right of any of the said grantees has been made in any court, or in any case where any party entitled to claim on the death of the grantee has heretofore alleged his claim by written notice to either of the said Bishops, or in the case of real estate by such notice or by taking adverse possession.

6. Subject to the provision of the next preceding section, all deeds, conveyances and letters patent heretofore made to the said the Right Reverend Frederick D. Fauquier or to the said Right Reverend Edward Sullivan purporting to convey lands or any interest therein to either of them and his successors as such Bishop of the said diocese of Algoma, shall be a valid and effectual for the purpose of vesting the same in the corporation by this Act created, as if such corporations had been created and in existence at the time at which such deeds, conveyances and letters patent were made.

 

(Assented to 30th March, 1885)