after the old form; but although the knowledge that opposition might be offered has been a safeguard against improper nominations, e.g. in the case of Samuel Clarke the Arian, confirmation has never been refused since the Reformation. In 1628, Dr. Rives, acting for the vicar-general, declined to receive objections made to Richard Montagu's election to the See of Chichester on the ground that they were not made in legal form. An informal protest against the confirmation of James Prince Lee as Bishop of Manchester in 1848 was almost immediately followed by another in due form against that of Renn Hampden, Bishop-elect of Hereford. The vicar-general refused to receive the objections and an application to the Queen's bench for a mandamus was unsuccessful, the judges being divided two against two. References Canon law Anglicanism