ABSTRACT
The law of the Church of England, being the law of the established Church, is part of the law of the land in England, and there has, since time immemorial, been an overlap and a tension between the responsibilities of the Church and the responsibilities of the State. As generations have passed, the State has taken away from the Church jurisdiction over private morality, defamation, family law and criminal conduct of the clergy. It has even, over the years, had a go at regulating clerical practice in church, but we are unlikely to see again the State taking an interest in what clergy believe and teach, and how they conduct public worship. And the means by which the Church of England regulates the behaviour of its clergy has recently entered a new phase of codification and procedure.
