the term "benefice" is defined to mean "benefice with cure of souls" and no other, and therein to comprehend all parishes, perpetual curacies, donatives, endowed public chapels, parochial chapelries and chapelries or districts belonging or reputed to belong, or annexed or reputed to be annexed, to any church or chapel. The Pluralities Acts Amendment Act 1885 superseded these, however, and enacted that by dispensation from the Archbishop of Canterbury, two benefices can be held together, the churches of which are within of each other, and the annual value of one of which does not exceed £200. Current usage A benefice or living in the Church of England describes any ecclesiastical parish or group of ecclesiastical parishes under a single stipendiary minister, as well as its related historical meaning. The term dates from the grant of benefices by bishops to clerks in holy orders as a reward for extraordinary services. The holder of a benefice owns the "freehold" of the post (the church and the parsonage house) for life. Such a life freehold is now subject to certain constraints. To comply with European Regulations on atypical workers, the parson's freehold is being phased out in favour of new conditions of service called "common tenure". See also In commendam Chopchurch Concordat of Worms Statutes of Mortmain Cestui que Tithe Glebe Notes References Bibliography Ganshof, F. L. “Benefice and Vassalage in the Age of Charlemagne”. Cambridge Historical Journal 6, No. 2 (1939): 147–175. Hollister, C. Warren, ed. Medieval Europe: A Short History. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994) ODCC = Cross & Livingstone, Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (OUP, 1974) Tierney, Brian. The Crisis of Church and State 1050–1300. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Medieval Academy of America, 1988). Catholic Church and finance Anglicanism Canon law of property