Excerpt from Churchwardens' Accounts of Pittington and Other Parishes in the Diocese of Durham: From A. D. 1580 to 1700 The light thus thrown on the origin and progress of the system of appropriated pews is of peculiar interest at the present day, now that the principle of free and open churches is being so laudably contended for in many quarters. It seems un doubted that, by the common law, the naves of our parish churches are free to all parishioners, and that all have an equal right to accommodation there, subject, however, to the power of the churchwardens, as officers of the Ordinary, to assign them places. But, on the other hand, a sort of recognised property in pews appears to be of such old standing, and so confirmed in past times by the Courts Ecclesiastical, that it is not surprising that many of those who have had their own exclusively appro priated pews have been found slow to acquiesce in a return to the more ancient and better way. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.