Vestry by parochial church councils. The term "vestry" continues to be used in some other denominations for a body of lay members elected by the congregation to run the business of a church parish, such as in the Scottish and American Episcopal Churches. Within the Church of Ireland the term "select vestry" is used to describe the members of the parish who are elected to conduct the affairs of the parish. The Vestries Acts 1818 to 1853 is the collective title of the following Acts: Vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish
Vestry the vestry committees were not established by any law, and had come into being in an unregulated ad-hoc process, it was highly convenient to allow them to develop. This was convenient when they were the obvious body for administering the Edwardian and Elizabethan systems for support of the poor on a parochial basis. This was their first, and for many centuries their principal, statutory power. With this gradual formalisation of civil responsibilities, the ecclesiastical parishes acquired a dual nature and could be classed as both civil and ecclesiastical parishes. In England, until the 19th century, the parish vestry was in