HOUSE OF
LAITY OF GENERAL SYNOD
[MEMBERSHIP OF THE HOUSE OF
LAITY]*1
35. (1) The House of Laity
of the General Synod shall consist of -
(a) the members elected by the diocesan electors of
each diocese as hereinafter provided;
(b) two members chosen by and from the members of
religious communities having their mother house in either province
in such manner as may be provided by a resolution of the General
Synod;
(c) such ex-officio and co-opted members as are
hereinafter provided.
(d) not less than three nor more than four members
elected or chosen in such manner as may be determined by the Forces
Synodical Council as soon as practicable after any dissolution of
the General Synod, being actual communicants, provided that the
total number of persons elected or chosen to serve on the General
Synod by virtue of this sub-paragraph, paragraph 1(d) of the
provisions relating to the Convocation of Canterbury of Canon H 2
and paragraph 1(bb) of Canon H 3 shall not exceed seven.
(2) For the purposes of this Part of these rules the
diocese in Europe shall be deemed to be a diocese in the Province
of Canterbury.
(3) For the purposes of this Part of these rules,
the diocesan electors of a diocese other than the diocese in Europe
shall be the members of the houses of laity of all the deanery
synods in the diocese other than:
(a) persons co-opted to the deanery synod under rule
24(7); or
(b) persons who are lay members of a religious
community with separate representation in the General Synod under
paragraph 1(b) of this rule.
(4) The diocesan electors of the diocese in
Europe shall be such number of persons elected by the annual
meetings of the chaplaincies in the said diocese as may be
determined by the bishop's council and standing committee of the
said diocese, and any lay person who is:
(a) an actual communicant as defined in rule
54(1)'
(b) of eighteen years or upwards, and
(c) a person whose name is entered on the electoral
roll of such a chaplaincy'
shall be qualified for election as a diocesan
elector by the annual meeting of that chaplaincy.
(5) The qualifying date for lay members of religious
communities under paragraph (1)(b) of this rule and for diocesan
electors under paragraphs (3) and (4) of this rule shall be 6.00
a.m. on the date of the dissolution of the General Synod, save that
when a casual vacancy is being filled, the qualifying date shall be
6.00 a.m. on the date on which the nomination papers are
issued.
(6) The register of lay electors shall be open to
inspection at the diocesan office and any errors and omissions in
the list may be corrected until the close of nominations.
Thereafter no names may be added or removed until the declaration
of the result of the election and those persons whose names are
entered in the register shall be the qualified electors entitled to
vote in that election.
ELECTIONS
OF MEMBERS
Number of
Elected Members
36. (1) The total number of
members directly elected and specially elected from the dioceses in
the Province shall not exceed 136 for Canterbury and 59 for York
and no diocese shall have fewer than three directly elected members
(except the diocese in Europe which shall elect two members, and
the diocese of Sodor and Man which shall elect one member). The
representatives of the religious communities referred to in rule
35(1)(b), the elected or chosen persons referred to in rule
35(1)(d), ex-officio and co-opted members (as defined in rule 42)
shall be additional to the said total number.
In this rule the term 'specially elected' means …
the representatives of the Channel Islands elected in accordance
with the provisions of the Channel Islands (Representation) Measure
1931 and such persons shall be included in the said total
number.
(2) The total number of members to be
elected by the diocesan electors of all the dioceses shall be fixed
by resolution of the General Synod not later than the last day of
February in the fifth year after the last preceding election of the
House of Laity (but subject as hereinafter provided), and the
resolution shall apportion the number so fixed to the Provinces of
Canterbury and York in a proportion of 70 to 30 or as nearly as
possible thereto and shall divide the number among the dioceses
(using such divisor method as may from time to time be specified
for the purpose by the Business Committee of the General Synod) so
that the number of members to be elected by the several dioceses
are as nearly as possible proportionate to the total number of
names on the rolls of the parishes of the diocese in question.
[(3) repealed.]
(4) The number of members of the House of Laity to
be elected by each diocese, when fixed by the General Synod as
aforesaid, shall forthwith be certified to the secretaries of the
diocesan synods.
(5) If the General Synod is at any time dissolved …
before the fixing of numbers under this rule by the General Synod …
, the General Synod or the Presidents thereof may give directions
with respect to the fixing and certifying of the numbers of members
to be elected to the House of Laity by each diocese, and the
directions may provide that the numbers so fixed and certified on
the last previous occasion shall be deemed to have been fixed and
certified for the purpose of the election following the
dissolution, and the directions may, if the dissolution is known to
be impending, be given before it occurs.
Qualification of Elected
Members
37. (1) Subject to the
provisions of rule 1(4) and of rule 46(A), a lay person shall be
qualified for election for any diocese by the diocesan electors of
the diocese if -
(a) he is an actual communicant as defined in rule
54(1) but as if, in that definition, for the words "whose name is
on the roll of a parish and" there were substituted the word
"who";
(b) he is of eighteen years of age on the date of the
dissolution of the General Synod or, when a casual vacancy is being
filled, on the date on which the nomination papers are issued in
accordance with rule 39(3);
(c) his name is at 6.00 a.m. on the date of
dissolution of the General Synod or, when a casual vacancy is being
filled, on the date on which the nomination papers are issued in
accordance with rule 39(3), entered on the roll of any parish in
the diocese or, in the case of a cathedral which is not a parish church, on the community roll or, in the
case of Westminster Abbey, St George's Chapel, Windsor and the
cathedral church of Christ in Oxford is a person who at any time
within the period of two months beginning one month immediately
before that date is declared by the dean of the cathedral church to
be an habitual worshipper at that cathedral church.
[(1A) repealed.]
[(2) repealed.]
(3) Where a diocese is divided into two or more
areas in accordance with rule 38(2), any person who under this rule
is qualified for election for the diocese shall be qualified for
election for any such area whether or not the parish on whose roll
his name is entered, or the cathedral church on whose community
roll his name is entered, is situated in that area, but no person
shall be nominated for more than one such area at the same
time.
Electoral
Areas
38. (1) Subject to any
division of a diocese under this rule every diocese shall be an
electoral area for the purposes of elections to the House of
Laity.
(2) So far as is consistent with any rule made under
the Standing Orders of the General Synod under rule 39(8) and
subject to paragraph (3) of this rule, a diocesan synod may, for
the purposes of any election, divide a diocese into two or more
areas, and apportion the number of members of the House of Laity to
be elected for the diocese among such areas, and the election shall
be conducted in each area as if such area were a separate diocese.
Where a diocese is so divided, a diocesan elector who is a
representative of the laity shall vote in the area to which the
body by which he was elected belongs, and a diocesan elector who is
not a representative of the laity shall vote in such area as the
diocesan synod may decide. Any such division shall remain in force
until it is revoked by the diocesan synod.
(3) If a diocesan synod decides to divide the
diocese into two or more areas in pursuance of this rule the
division shall be made in such manner that the number of members to
be elected in any such area will be not less than three.
Conduct
of Elections
39. (1) Subject to any
directions by the General Synod or the Presidents thereof,
elections to the House of Laity shall be carried out during the
three months immediately following any dissolution of the General
Synod and shall be so carried out in each diocese
during such period within the said three months as shall be fixed
by the archbishops of Canterbury and York.
(2) The presiding officer in each diocese or each
area of a diocese shall be the registrar of the diocese or a person
appointed by him with the approval of the registrar of the
province, except that, if the said registrar is a candidate in the
election, the presiding officer shall be a person appointed by the
registrar of the province. The expenses of the elections shall be
paid out of diocesan funds.
(3) On receipt of the names and addresses of the
qualified electors from the diocesan electoral registration officer
the presiding officer shall ensure that in respect of the election
-
(i) those persons are sent or given nomination
papers; and
(ii) only such persons are sent or given voting
papers at the address entered against their names in the register
of electors.
The presiding officer shall also send nomination
papers to any other person who requests them.
(4) Every candidate must be nominated and seconded
by diocesan electors qualified to vote in the area in which the
candidate is seeking to be elected. All nominations shall be in
writing, shall include the year of the candidate's birth and a
statement as to whether the candidate is seeking re-election and,
if so, as to the dates of the candidate's previous service and
shall be delivered either by post, by facsimile transmission or in
person to the presiding officer of the area, together with evidence
of the candidate's consent to serve, within such period, being a
period of not less than twenty-eight days ending on such date as
may be specified by the presiding officer, provided that where a
nomination paper has been sent by facsimile transmission the name
of the candidate shall not appear on the voting paper unless the
original nomination paper has been received by the presiding
officer within three days of the closing date for nominations.
(5) It shall be the duty of the presiding officer
-
(a) to scrutinise nomination papers as soon as they
have been lodged and he shall, without delay, inform the candidate
concerned whether the nomination is valid. Where the nomination is
invalid the presiding officer shall give his reasons for so ruling
and if, by the close of the nomination period, no valid nomination
is received, the candidate shall be excluded from the election;
(b) to supply free of charge to a duly nominated
candidate in the election one copy of the names and
addresses of the qualified electors (including, if an elector has
authorized the use of an electronic mail address, that address)
within seven days of receiving his written request.
(6) If any of the candidates so request the
presiding officer shall despatch to every elector election
addresses from those candidates being not more than one sheet of A4
paper. One copy of the address shall be provided by the candidates
at their own expense and be delivered or sent by electronic mail to
the presiding officer by such date as he shall determine being not
less than seven days after the close of nominations. The presiding
officer shall be under no obligation to despatch to electors
election addresses which are received after the due date or which
are not in the prescribed form.
(7) It shall be the duty of the presiding officer in
any election under these rules to seek to ensure that during the
period beginning with the date on which nominations are invited and
ending on the last date for the return of voting papers, no papers
or other literature except election addresses prepared by the
candidates under paragraph (6) of this rule shall be circulated to
the electors by him or by or under authority of the diocesan synod
or in the deanery synod or distributed at a synod meeting which in
his opinion are likely to prejudice the election. The rural dean
and the lay chairman and secretary of the deanery synod shall also
be under a duty to seek to ensure that during the election period
no papers or other literature form part of an official circulation
or are distributed at a synod meeting which in the opinion of any
of them are likely to prejudice the election.
(8) Subject to rule 51, if more candidates are
nominated for any area than there are seats to be filled, the
election shall be conducted by voting papers by the method of the
single transferable vote under rules to be made from time to time
as provided by the Standing Orders of the General Synod. Every
voting paper, which shall include the year of birth of each
candidate and a statement as to whether the candidate is seeking
re-election and, if so, as to the dates of the candidate's previous
service, shall be marked and signed on the reverse thereof by the
elector and shall be returnable to the presiding officer within
such period, being a period of not less than twenty-one days after
the date on which the voting paper is issued, as that officer may
specify, provided that a voting paper sent by facsimile
transmission shall not be counted as a valid vote.
(9) A candidate or a person nominated by him has the
right to be present at the counting of the votes in order to
scrutinise the count but shall take no part in it. The presiding
officer shall give not less than seven days' notice in writing to
each candidate of the time and place at which the votes are to be
counted.
(10) Where within seven days of a count
being completed the presiding officer is of the opinion that a
recount should take place because of a possible irregularity or
inaccuracy in the count, he may, with the concurrence of the
registrar of the province, order such a recount and shall give
notice in writing to each candidate of the time and place at which
the votes are to be recounted.
(11) A full return of the result of any election and
of the result sheet shall be sent by the presiding officer within
four working days of the declaration of the result to every
candidate in the election, the Clerk to the General Synod and an
election scrutineer appointed by the Business Committee of the
General Synod. The scrutineer shall have power within ten days of
the declaration of the result to order a recount of the voting
papers if in his opinion this might be material to the result of
the election.
(12) The result sheet shall be publicly displayed in
the diocesan office in such manner as the bishop may approve and at
the General Synod office until the end of the first group of
sessions of the new Synod as the Clerk to the General Synod may
direct.
(13) The presiding officer in each area shall ensure
that the valid voting papers received by him for the purposes of
any election to the House of Laity are preserved for a period of
not less than two years beginning with the date of the
election.
[Duties
and Payment of Presiding Officers]*2
40. (1) Rules defining the
duties to be undertaken by the presiding officers in connection
with elections to the House of Laity shall be prepared by the
provincial registrars acting jointly, but no such rules shall have
effect unless approved by the lay members of the Business Committee
of the General Synod.
(2) A presiding officer shall be entitled to such
fees for the performance by him of the duties aforesaid as may be
specified in any order for the time being in force made under the
Ecclesiastical Fees Measure 1986; and where with the prior
agreement in writing of the bishop's council and standing committee
the presiding officer or any other person performs any other duties
in connection with elections to the House of Laity he shall be
entitled to such fees as may be specified in the agreement.
Term of
office of membership of General Synod and other bodies
41. The term
of office of elected members of the House of Laity, of the members
elected or chosen under rule 35(1)(d) above and of members chosen
by the lay members of religious communities shall be for the
lifetime of the General Synod for which they are elected or chosen,
but without prejudice to their acting under Article 3(4) of the
Constitution1 during the period
of the dissolution of the General Synod or to their continuing to
be ex-officio members of other bodies constituted under these rules
during that period.
EX-OFFICIO AND CO-OPTED MEMBERS OF
THE HOUSE OF LAITY
42. (1) The following
persons, if they are not in Holy Orders, shall be ex-officio
members of the House of Laity -
(a) the Dean of the Arches and Auditor;
(b) the Vicar-General of the Province of
Canterbury;
(c) the Vicar-General of the Province of York;
(d) the three Church Estates Commissioners;
(e) the Chairman of the Central Board of Finance;
(f) the Chairman of the Church of England Pensions
Board;
(g) the members of the Archbishops' Council who are
actual communicants.
(2) The House of Laity shall have power to co-opt
persons who are actual lay communicants of eighteen years or
upwards to be members of the House of Laity:
Provided that -
(a) the co-opted members shall not at any time exceed
five in number; and
(b) no person shall be qualified to become a co-opted
member unless not less than two-thirds of the members of the
Standing Committee of the House of Laity shall have first consented
to his being co-opted, either at a meeting of the Standing
Committee or in writing.
(3) Except in regard to their appointment, the
ex-officio and co-opted members shall have the same rights and be
subject to the same rules and regulations as elected members: …
Where such members are on more than one electoral
roll, they shall choose the parochial church council of which they
are to be a member.
(4) Co-opted members shall continue to be members of
the House of Laity until the next dissolution of the General Synod,
but without prejudice to their acting under Article 3(4) of the
Constitution2 during the period
of the dissolution or to their continuing to be ex-officio members
of other bodies constituted under these rules during that
period:
Provided that the House of Laity may, in the case
of any co-opted member, fix a shorter period of membership.
(5) The House of Laity may make standing orders for
regulating the procedure of and incidental to the appointment of
co-opted members and otherwise for carrying this rule into
effect.
Notes
*1 This header does
not appear in the statutory text.
*2 This header does
not appear in the statutory text.