An Act to amend the Ecclesiastical Laws of The Bahamas, and for other purposes.

[This Act may be cited as the Disestablishment Act.]

1.

2. That upon the commencement of this Act the legal estate in all churches and chapels within the Bahama Islands dedicated to, or which are in any manner held to the use of the said United Church of England and Ireland, as such Church has been recognised by law in The Bahamas, and which have been heretofore considered or dealt with as public property shall vest in the Commissioners to be hereinafter named upon trust to hold, preserve, and maintain such chapels and churches with their respective appurtenances for the celebration of public worship and for the performance of other religious services according to the rites and ceremonies of the United Churches of England and Ireland, or by whatever style or title such Church shall hereafter be known in the United Kingdom, as such rites or ceremonies are now or may hereafter be recognised and established by law in the said United Kingdom.

3. That the Bishop of the Diocese for the time being, the Incumbent of Christ Church, Saint Matthew, and Saint John for the time being, together with five laymen being members of the said United Church of England and Ireland, to be selected and appointed as hereinafter provided for, shall form a Board of Commissioners, and such Board is hereby constituted a corporate body under the style of the Commissioners of the Church of England in the Bahamas for the purposes by this Act declared.

4. That the lay members of the said Board shall in the first instance be nominated by the Governor-General, but all vacancies which shall occur among such lay members by death, resignation, removal from The Bahamas, or by any member ceasing to be a member of the Church of England as the same shall be established by law in the United Kingdom, shall be filled up by the remaining or continuing Commissioners in such manner as may by any rule made by the Commissioners for the purpose be provided for.

6.

7. Whereas, in consequence of the alterations by this Act made in the system of Church Endowment, it is expedient that the division of The Bahamas into parishes should be retained only for civil purposes, be it enacted that, from and after the coming into operation of this Act, no ecclesiastical character shall attach to the division of The Bahamas into parishes as provided for by any Act of the General Assembly of these islands, but such division shall be held and construed as solely denoting the division of The Bahamas into districts for civil purposes only.