In the
Church of England, the
ecclesiastical courts that formerly decided many matters such as disputes relating to marriage, divorce, wills, and defamation, still have jurisdiction of certain church-related matters (
e.g. discipline of clergy, alteration of church property, and issues related to churchyards). Their separate status dates back to 1072, when the
Normans, under
King William I, split them off from the mixed secular/religious county and local courts used by the Saxons. By the time of "
King Richard I, — a distinction was established between Courts Temporal and Courts Ecclesiastical." The first comprehensive set of canon laws that form the basis of Anglican canon law come from the
Canons of Edgar, a set of early eleventh-century ecclesiastical regulations produced in
Anglo-Saxon England by
Wulfstan,
Archbishop of York. They were in fact
not written by
King Edgar; but his good governance was inspiration for Wulfstan. The
Canons of Edgar have been called "a synthesis of church doctrine on pastoral care and clerical behaviour for use by parish priests." Wulfstan's sources included the writings of
Aelfric,
Theodulf of Orleans,
Amalarius of Metz, and
Pope Leo IV, In contrast to the other courts of England, the law used in ecclesiastical matters is at least partially a
civil law system, not
common law, although heavily governed by parliamentary statutes. Since the
Reformation, ecclesiastical courts in England have been royal, or "Crown courts." Canon law and lawyers dealt with
probate, matrimonial, and
admiralty cases until their jurisdiction was removed to the
common law courts in the mid-19th century. In 2002 a Legal Advisors Consultation meeting at Canterbury concluded:(1) There are principles of canon law common to the churches within the Anglican Communion; (2) Their existence can be factually established; (3) Each province or church contributes through its own legal system to the principles of canon law common within the Communion; (4) these principles have strong persuasive authority and are fundamental to the self-understanding of each of the member churches; (5) These principles have a living force, and contain within themselves the possibility for further development; and (6) The existence of the principles both demonstrates and promotes unity in the Communion. == Examples by jurisdiction ==