The tenets of legal positivism have never fitted the law of the Church very well. The classical canon law admitted the creation of law by custom, the termination of law by desuetude, and the bending of law by dispensation. The principal theme of this historical investigation is that the last of these retained a hold on the law and practice of the Church of England after the Reformation. Indeed it continues to play a part in promoting ‘the unity of the Church and the salvation of souls’ (p. 13). This book begins with a survey of the ancient doctrine of economy in the eastern Churches and the practice of dispensation in the western. It then moves to English evidence, showing that dispensations from the letter of the law, while limited in some areas by Reformation statutes, were also retained in others. The Master of the Faculties issued most of them in the name of the archbishop of Canterbury. It then argues that the history of both the ritualist controversies in the nineteenth century and ecumenical efforts in the twentieth are best understood as examples of dispensation in action. In most such cases, bishops have issued permission for deviation from the ordinary course of the law. For instance, they responded to parliament's rejection of the 1928 Prayer Book by declaring that they would not prosecute clergy who used it in the conduct of worship services. So it happened in fact. This can only have been an act of dispensation. In our own time, the same tool has been used in promoting reconciliation between Churches. Ordinary rules have been stretched or bent for that reason. There are, or course, evident dangers in the use of dispensations, and the author is not blind to them. They can become simply another source of revenue for church officials if they become a matter of routine. They can also become a charter for anarchy if allowed without discrimination. ‘Anything goes’ does not come within the orbit of ecclesiastical economy. Rightly used, however, dispensations are not incompatible with a regime designed to secure order within the Church. Their long history, although uneven, demonstrates their value and staying power. One of the merits of this sensible book is to show dispensation's potential through examining its past.