1254                             LAWS OF MARYLAND                       [CH. 533

or the Constitution and Canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church
or of the Diocese of said Church wherein the parish is located.

312K.

Wherever the vestry of any parish has neglected to procure a com-
mon seal, and until such common seal be procured, the Secretary of
such Parish is authorized to give a certificate of the entry of any
birth, marriage or burial entered in the books of said vestry, under
the hand of such Secretary, which shall be received in evidence in all
courts of justice within this state; provided nevertheless, the said
certificate is accompanied with a certificate of the clerk of the county
court of the county in which said Secretary resides, under the seal
of the said county court, that he knows of his own knowledge, or
that it hath been proven to his satisfaction that the person subscrib-
ing himself as Secretary of such parish is in fact the Secretary as
stated, and that the said certificate was subscribed by said Secretary.

312L.

If the vestry of any parish should think it necessary to take in
subscriptions for the maintenance of their minister or ministers,
reader or readers, or for paying the salaries of such other officers as
the occasions of the parish may require to be appointed, or for any
other parish purposes, it shall and may be lawful for them so to do.

312M.

The vestrymen of every parish in this state for the time being,
shall be, and they are hereby declared to be, one community, cor-
poration and body politic, forever, by the name of The Vestry of the
parish to which they severally belong, and by the same name they,
and their successors, shall and may have perpetual succession, and
shall and may, at all times hereafter, be persons able and capable in
law to purchase, take and hold, to them and their successors, in fee,
. or for any less estate or estates, any lands, tenements, hereditaments,
rents or annuities, within this state, by the gift, bargain, sale or
devise, of any person or persons, bodies politic and corporate, capable
of making the same, and such lands, tenements or hereditaments,
to rent or lease, in such a manner as they may judge most conducive
to the interests of their respective parishes, and also to take and
receive any sum or sums of money, and any kind of goods and
chattels, which may or shall be given, sold or bequeathed, unto them,
by any person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, capable to make
a gift, sale or bequest thereof, and to apply the same for the use of
their respective parishes as herein before directed.

312N.

No vestry shall sell, alien or transfer, any of their estates or
property belonging to their church or churches, without the consent
of five at least of their body, (of which number the rector shall
always be one,) together with the consent of both, the church-
wardens, and in case there be no rector in the parish, then it shall be
necessary to obtain the consent of the Bishop of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in this state for the time being, previous to any
sale, alienation or transfer, of any of the estates or property afore-
said.