cmap. 1] THE CHURCH IN THE DOMINIONS 1427 
witnesses on oath, though not to summon them. In South 
Australia no legislation was passed, but the bishops and 
slergy bound themselves in 1855 by what was called a 
‘ consensual compact ’, establishing a synod and binding the 
slergy to obey its regulations. 
In the case of South Africa a bishopric of Cape Town was 
established in 1847 with power of visitation only, the Cape 
being then a Crown Colony and the Tasmanian question 
of jurisdiction having been determined. In 1850 to 1853 
a representative Parliament was instituted in the Cape. 
Then letters patent were issued in 1853 after the constitu- 
tion of the Parliament reconstructing the bishopric, while a 
bishopric of Natal was created and the bishopric of Graham's 
Town was carved out of Cape Town, with powers of visitation. 
This was the state of affairs prevailing when three most 
important cases were decided which finally determined 
the position of the ecclesiastical law in the Colonies. In the 
case of Long v. The Bishop of Cape Town,* decided by the 
Privy Council, Mr. Long, the appellant, who was an incum- 
bent of a parish in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 
refused to obey certain orders given by the bishop of the 
diocese in the exercise of his episcopal authority, and for 
such disobedience he was first suspended and then deprived. 
It was held by the Judicial Committee that, after the grant 
of a constitutional government in the Cape, the letters patent 
were invalid for the purpose of conferring either ecclesiastical 
or civil jurisdiction. They then considered whether there 
could be set up a contract between Mr. Long and the bishop: 
They held that Mr. Long, by taking the oath of obedience 
to the bishop, and by accepting a licence to officiate, and 
the appointment to the living, under a deed which contem- 
plated the removal of the incumbent for any lawful cause, 
did voluntarily submit himself to the authority of the bishop 
to such an extent as to enable the bishop to deprive him of his 
benefice, this being decided on the basis of contract. But they 
decided that Mr. Long had not been guilty of any such 
t 1 Moo. P. C. (N. 8.) 411. Cf. ex parte King, 2 Legge, 1307 ; Blachford, 
Legal Development of the Colonial Episcopate ; Adderley, Colonial Policy, 
pp. 395-404; Forsyth, Cases and Opinions in Constitutional Law, chap. ii.