Only firms that act for the Church of England can be said to practice “Ecclesiastical Law” in its real sense. This is because the Church of England’s Measures have, as part of the United Kingdom legislation, the status of law.

Advice is provided to the Diocese of Portsmouth through its’ Diocesan Registrar. The Diocesan Registrar and Bishop’s Legal Secretary for the Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth (which covers 141 parishes within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight) is Brutton & Co’s Hilary Tyler.

The services are varied but include, by way of example, advice relating to:

• Regulatory requirements for the Clergy
• Local parish church and parochial church council issues
• Land law matters, including transfers and other deeds affecting churches, parsonages and glebe land
• Requirements for marriage within the Anglican Church
• Consecration of churchyards and cemeteries within the Diocese
• Faculty jurisdiction (approval for work on churches and in churchyards)
• Exhumations