This article attempts an overview of the application of the law of charities to religion. Charity law is currently subject to revision. The advancement of religion has been one of the traditional charitable purposes defined as such in the common law. In this area of law both the courts and the Charity Commission have applied a neutral approach toward all religious denominations. This approach is in principle consistent with the content of the Human Rights Act 1998. Nevertheless the growth of religious pluralism in society and the appearance of new religions and groups generate many doubts about the definition of religion as charity. On the one hand, the courts have offered a theistic definition of religion, which is not applicable to all religious groups. On the other, in every charitable purpose some element of public benefit must be present. For religious purposes the courts assume the presence of a public benefit unless the contrary is shown, but it is not clear that all religious practices are beneficial to the community. The aim of this article is to promote a discussion about the definition of religion as a charitable purpose, to identify the problems connected with the growth of religious pluralism, and to offer some remarks about the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on the law of charities.

In December 1994 the Revd Philip LS Barrett BD MA FRHistS FSA, Rector of Compton and Otterbourne in the Diocese of Winchester, successfully submitted a dissertation to the University of Wales College of Cardiff for the degree of LLM in Canon Law, entitled ‘Episcopal Visitation of Cathedrals in the Church of England’. Philip Barrett, best known for his magisterial study, Barchester: English Cathedral Life in the Nineteenth Century (SPCK1993), died in 1998. The subject matter of this dissertation is of enduring importance and interest to those engaged in the life and work of cathedrals, and the Editor invited Canon Peter Atkinson, Chancellor of Chichester Cathedral, to repare it for publication in this Journal, so that the author's work might receive a wider circulation, but at a manageable length. In 1999 a new Cathedrals Measure was enacted, following upon the recommendations of the Howe Commission, published in the report Heritage and Renewal (Church House Publishing 1994). The author was able to refer to the report, but not to the Measure, or to the revision of each set of cathedral Statutes consequent upon that Measure. While this limits the usefulness of the author's work as a point of reference for the present law of cathedral visitations, its value as an historical introduction remains.

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 enables same-sex couples to enter into a status that provides very many of the same rights and responsibilities that married couples have in respect to each other and the wider community. This paper first considers the extent of the legal similarities between civil partnerships and marriage; that is to what extent civil partnerships are 'same-sex marriage' in practical effect. Secondly it considers to what extent the conceptual understanding of civil partnerships within the Act reflects the current conception of marriage within English law; that is the extent to which civil partnerships are 'same-sex marriage' in theory. Thirdly, and finally, some of the specific dilemmas for the Church of England in the light of this are considered.

Attempt is made to trace the work and role of the parish clerk from menial monastic beginnings to its emergence in the thirteenth century as a canonically recognised office–probably the oldest unordained office at the parochial level in the English church and the last vestigial survival of Minor Orders. In parallel is developed the story of the coming together of London parish clerks as a guild or fraternity, radically distinguished from the merchant, craft and service guilds, and of the grant to that fraternity of ‘clerici et literati’– with its unique livery and ethos–of the first of its six Royal Charters. The duties and activities of mediaeval parish clerks and the constitution of their Company are considered along with its possessions, especially its Bede Roll. Attention is paid to the understanding of Purgatory and the devastating effects of the Chantries Act 1548. The parish clerk's changing role following the Reformation is examined within the prevailing continuities and discontinuities. New duties in relation to Registration and Bills of Mortality are marked in addition to the parish clerk's increasing social involvement in the civil affairs of the parish. The decline in the parish clerk's duties from the nineteenth century is studied and its effect on the office, the London Company and the ancient parishes of old London, from which the Company is exclusively recruited.

Recent scandals in the churches relating to the abuse of children and vulnerable adults have led to a desire to protect those to whom the churches minister by putting in place safeguards which screen out those not suitable to work in this capacity. For the Roman Catholic Church, the implementation of the Nolan Report has been a key part of this process, together with the setting up of the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults(COPCA). The Conference of Religious (the representative body of priests, sisters and brothers who belong to religious orders) has also been involve in ongoing dialogue with diocesan bishops about how the recommendations of the Nolan Report might best be implemented At the same time, concerns have been raised about whether some of the measures being implemented compromise important principles of privacy and confidentiality. This discussion looks at this from the particular viewpoint of a nun1 who does not work with children or vulnerable adults, and explores whether she is required to undergo checks by the Criminal Records Bureau simply by virtue of being a nun.

On 24 February 2005 the House of Lords delivered a significant judgment on freedom of religion, parental rights to religious freedom, corporal punishment and children's rights. This paper examines R (Williamson) v Secretary of State for Education and Employment. It argues that the House of Lords adopts a much more generous approach to freedom of religion or belief than the European Court of Human Rights. But it is also critical of the argument derived from children's rights.

The Central European University in Budapest played host to a meeting of experts engaged in a continuing conversation on the subject of Islam in the European Union. The event was sponsored by Brigham Young University and convened by Professor Cole Durham, a leading expert in religious freedom particularly in relation to countries of the former Soviet Bloc. Contributors included Louis-Leons Christians and Rik Torfs (Louvain), Guy Haarscher (Brussels), Fikret Karcic (Sarajevo), Atanas Krusteff and Daniel Smilov (Sofia), Patrick Macklem (Toronto), Alain Garay (Pari Emmanuel Tawil (Lyons), Richard Puza (Tubingen), Stefan Messmann, Andras Sajo and Balas Schanda (Budapest), Tore Lindholm (Oslo), Zoila Solis (Zaragoza), Murat Ozsunay (Istanbul), and Mark Hill and Jon Heard (Cardiff).