204

LAWS OF MARYLAND

Ch. 97

copies thereof shall be retained by the vestry, delivered
to. the priest and filed with the ecclesiastical authority
as is required with respect to the original contract.

Until a copy of the original contract, duly executed
by both parties, is filed with the ecclesiastical
authority, no license to the priest to officiate in the
parish shall issue.

The vestry shall also have power, by and with the
consent of the rector, to appoint one or more assistant
ministers on like terms, conditions and provisions.

(f)   Notice of vacancy in parish rectorship.

The vestry, or if it fail to do so, the

churchwardens, or one of them, shall notify the

ecclesiastical authority of the diocese of a vacancy in
the parish rectorship forthwith.

(g)   Other powers and duties.

The vestry shall have such other powers and duties,
not herein specifically set forth, as may be lawfully
implied to give full force and effect to the aims and
objects for which it was declared to be a body corporate
as well as such other duties as may be required by any
general or diocesan canonical mandate.

(h) Personal liability of vestrymen.

No member of a vestry shall be personally liable for
a debt, contract or other obligation of the parish unless
he shall in writing assume personal liability therefor.

305. Powers, duties and obligations of rector.

(a)   Possession of property of parish.

The rector shall be entitled to the use and control
of the church and parish buildings with the appurtenances
and furniture thereof for the purpose of his office and
the full and free discharge of the functions and duties
pertaining thereto, and, unless he otherwise contract
with the vestry, he shall have the possession and the
right to occupy and freely use the rectory and grounds
thereof, and the furniture and books therein, if any, and
all glebes and other property belonging to the parish,
and he shall be entitled to the benefits thereof during
the time he shall officiate in the parish as rector.

(b)   Care in use of property.

In his use of the property of the parish the rector
shall exercise the same care that an ordinarily prudent
person would exercise in the care of his own property.

(c)   Entry of vital statistics in register.