Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 443

from the Signification it must necessarily bear to make different
Clauses of this very Act consistent.
I make use of the word present in Compliance with the Act,
but Strictly Speaking the Churches in Maryland are not pre-
sentative but Donative a Donation once made creates as Last-
ing a right as Institution or Induction both the Clerk and
Church being exempt from Ordinary Jurisdiction Cookes
Inst. 344.
The Restriction with Respect to Pluralities made in the
third Clause of the Act of Assembly is Conformable to the
Canons of the Church, and the Statute Law of the Kingdom
of England.
By a Canon made in the Council of Lateran holden under
Pope Innocent the 3^d in the year 1215 it is Ordained,
" That whosoever shall take any Benefice with Cure
of Souls, if he before shall have obtained a Like Bene-
fice shall ipso Jure be'deprived thereof, and if he shall
Contend to Retain the same he shall be deprived of
the other, and the patron of the former, immediately
after his Accepting the Latter shall Bestow the same on
whom he shall think worthy. Hughes. 16. Gibbs 903.
And Legatine Constitutions to the same Purport were made
and Published in England, in the Times of the Legate of
Gregory the 9^th and of Othobon afterwards Pope Adrian the
5^th who was Legate to Clement the fourth, as well as Pro-
vincial Institutes to the Same Effect by Several Arch Bishops,
all which Canons and Constitutions were not however intended
to hinder or take away Pluralities, but to render Dispensa-
tions necessary, for a Clerk was allowed to hold as many
Dignities or Benefices as he Could get with the Pope's dis-
pensation which was easily obtained from his Legate or Nuncio
on paying the Sums Required. Burns Ecc. Law.
Notwithstanding this Canon a Latitude is allow'd to parsons
To hold two Livings under £8 a year in the King's Books with-
out a Dispensation, as not falling under the Subsequent Clause
of 21. H. 8. C. 13. that is all but the last are voidable at the
will of the Patron & Bishop, ipso Jure, but not ipso facto, void
and this Advantage is Seldom taken against the Parson. A
similar Usage has prevailed in this Province. The Rectors of
S' Anns have for many years in several Instances held the
Rectory thereof together with an Appointment to another
Parish which Appointment being voidable at the Will of the
Ordinary, does not annul the Induction
And these Precedents, in which the Practice and Custom of
the Church in England and Maryland so nearely Coincide,
must have their Weight.
Pluralities were further restrained by the Statute of 21. H.
8. C. 18.