Court of Peculiars

The Court of Peculiars is one of the ecclesiastical courts of the Church of England. The court sits with a Dean, who is also the Dean of the Arches. The Registrars are the Joint Provincial Registrars. The Court of Peculiars deals with all legal matters from peculiar parishes^[a] in the province. Until 1545, ecclesiastical judges were required to have a degree in canon law; thereafter, they only needed a doctorate in civil law. Binding precedent was only introduced into the ecclesiastical courts in the nineteenth century.

List of deans of the court

• Sir Philip Wilbraham-Baker, c. 1938–1955
• Sir Henry Willink, 1955–1970
• Walter Wigglesworth, 1971–1972
• Sir Harold Kent, 1972–1976
• Kenneth Elphinstone, 1977–1980
• Sir John Owen, 1980–2000
• Sheila Cameron, 2000–2009
• Charles George, 2009–

Notes

1. A peculiar parish is a parish outside the jurisdiction of the diocese in which it is located, see royal peculiar.^[1]