‘The word Visitatio … denotes that act or office of the bishop, or of some other ordinary, going his circuit throughout his diocese or other district, with a full power of inquiring into such matters as relate to the government and discipline of the Church, and sometimes of correcting abuses and punishing excesses committed by his subjects … Visitation, as we would use the word here, implies some act of jurisdiction and coercive authority …’

“The claim to have succeeded in covering every side of Church life at the conclusion of the herculean labour of codification on this scale would indeed be a bold one, and one very uncongenial to the spirit of English law”, comments the report entitled ‘The Canon Law of the Church of England’. Despite the production of a Code of Canon Law for the Church of England, the provisions of law as applying to the Church of England are much more complex, involving not only the provisions of the Code, but also Common Law, Statute Law, judicial decisions and occasional survivals from Mediaeval Canon Law. For this reason although the ecclesiastical courts of the Church of England and of the Roman Catholic Church have common origins and features, there are also many differences, not only in structure, but in the material that comes before them.

In Act Three of Shakespeare's King Richard III the Duke of Buckingham asks Cardinal Bourchier to try and persuade Elizabeth Woodville to release the young Duke of York from sanctuary at Westminster. In the event of such tactics failing, Buckingham wishes Lord Hastings to accompany the Cardinal to Westminster and ‘… from her jealous arms pluck him perforce.’ The Cardinal's initial reaction is one of horror:

‘…if she be obdurate

To mild enteraties god in heaven forbid

We should infringe the holy privilge

Of blessed sanctuary not for all this land

Would I be guilty of so deep a sin.’

A recent biography of Enoch Powell quotes him as using an interesting metaphor to illustrate the way in which the House of Commons can control the Treasury:

Many churches contain an old chest with three locks. The keys to those locks were held by the parson and the two churchwardens, and they were all different. Only, therefore, by the co-operation of all three could anything be extracted from the parish chest.

Education (Student Loans) Act 1990. This Act is controversial because it challenges the established assumption that, subject to means tests, the government should fund fees and maintenance of all students taking first degrees. It envisages a proportion of such cost being met in future as a loan repayable by the student after graduation. The loans may be provided in respect of ‘courses of higher education’ as defined in a Schedule to the Act. These include first degrees and further training courses for teachers or youth and community workers. Thus first degrees in theology and post graduate courses for teachers of Religious Education would be covered. Post graduate degrees are not generally eligible although courses up to first degree level which could be funded would seem to include training for ordination. Loans can only be made in respect of universities and other designated institutions.