Acts: 1790

The principal acts of the general assembly, convened at Edinburgh, May 20, 1790.

I. Sess. 1, May 20, 1790.—The King's Commission to David Earl of Leven produced, and ordered to be recorded.

The General Assembly, &c.

II. Sess. 1, May 20, 1790.—The King's most gracious Letter to the General Assembly, presented to them by his Majesty's Commissioner.

George, R., &c.

III. Sess. 3, May 22, 1790.—The General Assembly's Answer to the King's most gracious Letter.

May it please your Majesty, &c.

IV. Sess. 9, May 29, 1790.—Commission of the General Assembly to certain Ministers and Ruling Elders for discussing Affairs referred to them.

The General Assembly, &c.

V. Sess. 9, May 29, 1790.—Commission to some Ministers and Ruling Elders for the Reformation of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and for Managing his Majesty's Royal Bounty for that end.

The General Assembly, &c.

VI. Sess. 8, May 28, 1790.—Overture respecting the Ordination of Elders.

(Re-transmitted.)

VII. Sess. ult., May 31, 1790.—Act appointing the Diet of the next General Assembly.

The next General Assembly of this National Church is appointed to be held within the New Church Aisle of Edinburgh, on Thursday, the 19th day of May 1791.

Collected and extracted from the Records of the General Assembly, by
Andrew Dalzel, Cl. Eccl. Scot.

The following is appended to the printed Acts of 1790, but it does not appear that any proceedings were founded thereon.—Ed. 1843.

Sess. 8, May 28, 1790.

PROPOSALS for the Melidration of Glebes, submitted by the General Assembly to the consideration of the Church.

1. That every minister of the Church of Scotland who shall hereafter be admitted and come to the enjoyment of the full benefice of a parish, shall be liable to pay, in the manner after mentioned, to his last predecessor, or his heirs, executors, or assignees, for all the fences, dikes, ditches, or hedges, enclosing and subdividing his glebe; provided always, that such fences, &c., be done according to a plan seen and approved by the Presbytery in whose bounds the glebe lies, and inserted in a separate register kept by them for that purpose, before such fences, &c. were begun.

2. That within one calendar month after a successor shall be admitted and come to the enjoyment of the full benefice of a parish, all the fences, dikes, ditches, and hedges, enclosing and subdividing a glebe, shall be valued according to their worth at that time, by four competent and sworn comprisers; two of whom to be chosen by the successor, and two of them by the last incumbent, or his heirs, &c.; the said four comprisers having power to choose an oversman, if need be, and their sentence shall be final.

3. That the whole sum at which the fences, &c., enclosing and subdividing a glebe, may be valued, shall be paid by the successor, or his heirs, &c., to the last incumbent, or his heirs, &c., in seven equal parts or instalments; i.e. the first seventh part of said sum shall be paid as above, by the successor, &c., at the first term of Whitesunday that shall happen after he hath been entitled to his second year's stipend.

4. That no successor, or his heirs, &c., shall be liable to pay to his predecessor, or his heirs, &c., above the sum of fifty pounds sterling for all the fences, &c., enclosing and subdividing his glebe.

5. If any minister of the Church of Scotland shall die, or be translated to another parish, after he shall have begun, and before he shall have finished the enclosures and subdivisions of his glebe; in either of these cases, the said minister, or his heirs, &c., shall be entitled to payment in manner above mentioned, according to a comprisement made as above, from his successor, &c., for whatever fences, dikes, ditches, or hedges, he shall have made on his glebe during his incumbency, at the sight of the Presbytery, in the manner above mentioned.

6. That the fences, &c., by which the glebe is enclosed and subdivided, shall be maintained, during a vacancy, from the profits of the glebe. Also, that whoever possesses the glebe during a vacancy, shall pay to the last incumbent, or his heirs, &c., one seventh part of the sum at which the fences, &c., are valued at the last incumbent's death, and that annually during their possession, at first martinmas after separation of the crop from the ground.

7. That if the foregoing propositions are approved by the majority of the Presbyteries of this Church, an application be made to Parliament for enacting the same into a law, and that the expense of carrying the bill through both Houses of Parliament be raised by a contribution of six shillings from each minister of this Church. to be collected by the moderator of each Presbytery or Synod, and remitted within a limited time to the Procurator of the Church, or some banker in Edinburgh.