232                               Laws of Maryland                       [Ch. 195

Whereas, The original Vestry Act of 1798, relating to the organ-
ization and administration of the Vestries of the Parishes of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of Maryland, has been
heretofore amended by Chapter 189 of the Acts of 1823; Chapter 50
of the Acts of 1922; Chapter 498 of the Acts of 1945 (applicable only
to the four Maryland Counties within the Diocese of Washington);
Chapter 711 of the Acts of 1949; Chapter 136 of the Acts of 1828;
Chapter 509 of the Acts of 1922 (applicable only to the four Mary-
land Counties within the Diocese of Washington); Chapter 20 of
the Acts of 1827; Chapter 196 of the Acts of 1833; and Chapter 462
of the Acts of 1951 (applicable only to Baltimore City and the ten
Maryland Counties comprising the Diocese of Maryland); and

Whereas, The original Vestry Act and the several amendments
thereto, with the exception of the amendments set forth in detail
in said Chapter 462 of the Acts of 1951, now codified as Sections
267 to 288, inclusive, of Article 23 of the Code (Edition of 1951),
have not been included in said Code, but have, nevertheless, con-
tinued to be in force and effect; and

Whereas, The purpose of this Act is to include in said Code much
of the substance of the provisions of the original Vestry Act and
its several amendments, together with certain further amendments
set forth in this Act affecting the Parishes of the Diocese of Easton
only, which experience has shown are desirable for greater flexi-
bility in the administration of the secular affairs of said parishes
because of the vast changes in conditions and circumstances as well
as geographical concepts on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and
elsewhere during the last century and a half, which said amend-
ments have not, however, impaired the historical concept of vestry
laws or changed the basic principles of the nature, powers, duties
and functions of the several Vestries in the Diocese of Easton, except
in so far as such have been deliberately liberalized by these present
amendments in an effort to grant each Parish greater opportunity
and duty to govern its own parochial affairs; and

Whereas, (a) The Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church
in the Diocese of Easton, as hereinafter referred to, was incorpo-
rated by Chapter 23 of the Acts of 1870, and amended by Chapter
147 of the Acts of 1878, and by Chapter 596 of the Acts of 1908,
and by said Chapter 23 of the Acts of 1870 was granted the same
power and authority granted by law to the Convention of the Prot-
estant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Maryland, incorporated
by Chapter 67 of the Acts of 1840, and amended by Chapter 17 of
the Acts of 1856; and as to ecclesiastical matters the several Parishes
in the Diocese of Easton are governed by the constitution and canons
of said Diocese and the constitution and canons of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in the United States of America, but with respect
solely to secular matters, the Vestries of said Parishes in the Diocese
of Easton as corporate bodies are subject to the laws of the State; and

(b) The word "Parish" as originally used in the Vestry Act
referred particularly only to territorial limits in relations to churches
of the Parish respectively but by common usage the term as now
used, dependent upon context, sometimes refers to the church congre-
gation rather than territorial limits; and