Recent years have seen the publication of several books devoted to the law and the Church of England. However, their focus has been a general study of law applicable to a wide range of ecclesiastical matters, activities and subjects – from the Church's established position in the wider environment of civil law, institutional organisation, governance and ministry, through its doctrine, liturgy and rites of passage, to issues of property and finance. These include not only the well-known texts by Mark Hill and David Parrott but also new editions of Halsbury and Moore. There are also works on religion law (both national and international) touching aspects of law relevant to the Church of England – notably by Russell Sandberg and Julian Rivers. However, there are few monographs devoted to specific issues faced by the Church of England and subject to discrete bodies of law within these two categories. Kerry O'Halloran's The Church of England: charity law and human rights is one such study.

In this stimulating book, O'Halloran (an adjunct professor at the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Non-profit Studies, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane) examines the interface between religion, charity law and human rights. As he states, ‘the book concerns a conflict of laws: canon law, charity law and human rights’; the Church of England ‘in its present circumstances’ is chosen as a ‘particularly fruitful case study’ which ‘provides an opportunity to examine the tensions that have now become such a characteristic feature of that interface’ (pp xv–xviii).

The book offers a range of findings. First, it suggests that the Church of England is the primary source of canon-law principles that have played a formative role in shaping civic morality throughout the common-law jurisdictions; the book assesses the emergence of these principles and their enforcement by the state in post-Reformation England. Second, it proposes that of these principles those with the greatest weight were associated with matters of sexuality; family law, in particular, was formulated and applied with regard for the sanctity of the heterosexual marital family, which provided the only legally permissible context for any form of sexual relationship. Third, in the light of this history, the book evaluates implications that now arise for the Church as a consequence of recent reforms in secular charity law and the growth of human rights law. O'Halloran outlines the organisational structures of the Church of England and examines its success in engaging with these issues in the context of Lambeth Conferences, the wider Anglican Communion and ‘the ill-fated’ Covenant initiative.

The book consists of eight chapters. In Chapter 1, ‘Boundaries and interfaces’, there are sections on church and state in pre-Reformation England (monarch and pope, Ecclesia Anglicana, charity, and ecclesiastical and secular jurisdictions); family, religious belief and the state (the formation and termination of marriage, the family, parents and children, and enforcing Christian morality in sexual relations); new forms of collective action mediating between citizen and state (in politics, trade unionism and the professions); and the relationship of the sacred and secular (with regard to science, secularism, commerce, and charities and religion). Chapter 2, ‘Religion, charity and the law’, has sections on concepts, principles and definitions; charity law and religion (including belief in and worship of a supreme being); and religion and public benefit. Chapter 3 addresses ‘Establishing the Church of England’: the historical origins of establishment, consolidating protestantism and (from the late seventeenth century) toleration. Chapter 4, the ‘Governance, organisational structure and theology’ of the Church of England, examines establishment (and its legal, political and religious indices); governance and management (from national institutions such as the General Synod, the Archbishops' Council, the Church Commissioners and the Pensions Board, through dioceses, to the archdeaconry, deanery and parish); ecclesiastical law and church courts; and doctrine, worship and liturgy.

Chapter 5, ‘Anglicanism at home and abroad’, considers challenges facing the church at home (declining numbers, the ordination of women, gay clergy and public benefit issues in charity law), the Anglican Communion (its history and institutions), challenging milestones (such as the ordination of gay clergy and women bishops) and the ‘Covenant crisis and threat of schism’. Chapter 6, ‘The impact of charity law reform’, addresses the drivers and outcomes of reform (including human rights) and the consequences of reform both for religion in general (especially as to public benefit) and for the Church of England in particular (including trading). Chapter 7, ‘The impact of human rights’, explores the human rights legal framework, religious discrimination and particular issues facing the Church of England (such as employment, gay marriage, and gender and sexual inequality). Chapter 8 is entitled ‘Moral jeopardy: the challenges for the Church and for religion internationally’; it discusses canon law, scripture and sexuality; moral imperatives and secularism; family-oriented moral imperatives (Christian legacy, polarisation and religious pluralism); conflict of laws (canon law, charity law and equality law); and judicial guidance based on the Equality Act 2010 and Articles 9 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (belief, subjectivism and discrimination).

O'Halloran's book is deeply thought-provoking and sets out the issues, the pressures on the Church and the applicable legal position systematically, clearly and succinctly. There is a very good general conclusion which methodically proposes lines for further exploration and debate. He clearly establishes that there are dilemmas which currently challenge the moral authority of the Church of England, contemporary ‘moral imperatives’ which threaten the coherence of Christianity. He argues well that the emergence of and legal responses to non-theistic beliefs, gay marriage, same-gender parents, female and gay clergy, and abortion – and other morally charged and deeply divisive topics – demand a reasoned leadership from the Church of England and other religious bodies.

Decisions by the secular courts also contribute to undermining the traditional role of the Church of England. Importantly, ‘religion’, ‘faith’ and other forms of ‘belief’ need to be given a legal definition that more accurately reflects their role in modern multicultural society and such redefinition should appropriately match requirements as to both public benefit (charity law) and exemptions (in tax and equality laws) for all religious entities. O'Halloran proposes that: ‘As the interface between religion, charity law and human rights becomes steadily more fractious, with religious fundamentalism and discrimination acquiring a higher profile, there is now a pressing need for a more balanced relationship between those with and those without religious beliefs’ in ‘a triangulated relationship between the principles of canon law, charity law and human rights law’ (cover blurb).

Three short criticisms may be made. First, the book's title does not do justice to the rich character and breadth of the issues addressed. Charity law and human rights form only one element of the study and do not represent its principal focus: the interface of religion, law and social change, with the Church of England as a case study. Second, while the book uses a range of sociology-style literature, and some basic literature on the law and the Church of England, there is for example no discussion of Russell Sandberg on the meaning of religion in law and society, of Peter Edge on religious pluralism, of Rex Ahdar and Ian Leigh on law, religion and liberal democracy, or of Anthony Bradney on law and faith in a sceptical age. Third, large swathes of the text include propositions that are asserted somewhat dogmatically without any legal or other evidence to substantiate them (for example, paragraphs 1.4.4–1.4.10 on politics, unity, pluralism, the professions, collective rights, legal rights, social justice and trade unions). The absence of a bibliography might also be worthy of critical comment.

In any event, this book is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the social and political pressures faced by the Church of England within the context of both religious and religion law. Kerry O'Halloran has therefore done a great service to the field of law and religion in general, and to the study of law applicable to the Church of England in particular. It is hoped that the academic agenda which he sets in this important volume will form part of the staple diet for study by scholars, students and practitioners in this field. The book is to be thoroughly recommended as an example of the fruits of cross-disciplinary studies which invoke traditional elements of legal, historical, theological, political and social scholarship.