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ΠΑΓΚΥΠΡΙΟΣ ΔΙΚΗΓΟΡΙΚΟΣ ΣΥΛΛΟΓΟΣ
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(V2) 1 CLR 8
1891 July 23
[SMITH, ACTING C.J. AND TEMPLER, ACTING J.]
CONSTANDINO DIANELLO
Plaintiff,
v.
KYRILLOS PAPADOPOULOS AS
BISHOP OF KYRENIA
Defendant.
CONTRACT BY BISHOP-RESPONSIBILITY OF PROPERTY OF SEE-ASSENT OF ARCHBISHOP TO CONTRACT-VOLUNTARY SUBSCRIPTIONS.
C., a bishop, promised certain subscriptions to a school, raising the money for that purpose by giving a bond, the payment of which was guaranteed by the plaintiff. C. died, and the plaintiff, having been compelled to pay the bond, brought an action against the defendant who had succeeded C. in the bishopric.
HELD: That the debt not having been incurred by C. for the necessities of the See, the defendant was not liable to pay the debt out of the income of the See.
APPEAL from the District Court of Nicosia.
The plaintiff sued to recover monies paid by him as guarantor of a bond given by Chrysanthos, late Bishop of Kyrenia, deceased, to the Anglo-Egyptian bank.
The late Bishop of Kyrenia in order to pay certain subscriptions promised by his predecessor and himself to the school at Nicosia, borrowed monies from the bank, the repayment of which was guaranteed by the plaintiff. He now sought to recover these monies from the present defendant on the ground that the debt was a debt of the See of Kyrenia. The defence was, that the bishop could not borrow monies so as to make the property of the See answerable for the debt without the assent of the Archbishop and an extract from the codex of the Archbishop was put in evidence to show that this was the rule of the Church.
The District Court dismissed the action on this ground.
The plaintiff appealed.
Diran Augustin, for the appellant: Immemorial custom obliges bishops to subscribe to schools, and the debt in this case was one for which the property of the See of Kyrenia is answerable. There is no law which justifies the judgment of the District Court on the ground on which it was given. The extract of the codex of the Archbishop has no binding force on the Court. The point has already been decided by this Court in Christofaki Androniko v. The Egoumenos of Chrysioreatissa, 27 February, 1886, (not reported).
The Queen's Advocate: The case cited is distinguishable, inasmuch as the bonds there sued on, purported to be given to secure monies borrowed for the needs of the See, and there was no evidence and no suggestion that the monies were not so borrowed. The defendant said, that by custom the consent of the Archbishop was necessary, but did not support this contention by reference to any law. I cannot contend that the codex of the Archbishop has any binding effect on the Courts: but I contend that subscriptions to schools are purely voluntary matters for which the property of the See cannot be made answerable. The plaintiff's remedy is against the personal representatives of Chrysanthos.
A bishop has a life interest only in the income of the See, and cannot, under any circumstances, enter into contracts which will bind his successor.
Judgment: We think that this appeal must be dismissed. We do not agree with the opinion of the District Court that a bishop cannot bind the property of the See by contracts entered into by him unless he obtains the authority of the Archbishop. Neither are we inclined to go so far as the Queen's Advocate, and say that a bishop is unable to make the property of the See answerable in the hands of his successor for contracts he may have entered into. If, for instance, a man had been employed to repair the bishop's place, there seems to be no reason why after the death of the bishop, his successor should take the benefit of the work that had been done, without being under any obligation to pay for it. It is, however, not necessary to give any decision on these points in the present case, because it appears to us that the subscriptions promised by the late bishop Chrysanthos to the school at Nicosia cannot be regarded in any way as obligations on the See. They were purely personal matters for which the property of the See cannot be made answerable.
Appeal dismissed.