The Ecclesiastical Law Society (ELS) is a charity whose object is ‘to promote education in ecclesiastical law for the benefit of the public, including in particular the clergy and laity of the Church of England’. The ELS Committee has recently begun a review of this part of the society's work and this piece is a part of that review. This article seeks to set out what is currently happening and to solicit views on how our education work could be developed. The current education function may be described under three headings.

English courts have historically been wary of deciding cases that rest on contested findings of fact about the practices and doctrines of religions. This is particularly true in defamation cases. However, the recent case of Shergill and others v Khaira and others [2014] UKSC 33 in the UK Supreme Court has narrowed the principle of non-justiciability on the grounds of subject matter. Defamation cases such as Blake v Associated Newspapers Limited [2003] EWHC 1960 (QB) have treated religious doctrine and practice as matters not justiciable per se, even if a determination is essential for the exercise of private or public law rights and obligations. The Supreme Court indicated in Khaira that it may be appropriate for courts to treat such disputes as justiciable. The common law, domestic statute and the European Convention on Human Rights protect the right to reputation, and Khaira indicates that it is time that defamation claims resting on disputes about religious doctrine and practice were entertained by the courts to a much greater extent than recent cases have allowed. However, the judgment has left open the possibility of some religious disputes still being non-justiciable.

This report covers the final three of the groups of sessions of the General Synod elected in 2010.

The jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on religious freedom is well known and is the subject of frequent comment. The aim of this paper is to present an overview of a particular aspect, where the ECtHR had to consider a dispute in which a religious court was involved at an earlier stage. In these cases, nolens volens, the ECtHR had to adjudicate upon the competence and procedure of these courts and tribunals. To date, there have only been nine such cases, of which only three have led to a judgment. Yet, from the remaining six which were declared inadmissible or manifestly ill-founded, there is something to be learned about the approach of the ECtHR to religious courts.

The General Assembly met in Edinburgh from 16 to 22 May, with the Rt Revd Dr Angus Morrison, Minister of the United Parish of Orwell and Portmoak in the Presbytery of Perth, installed as Moderator. Dr Morrison was to be Moderator at the 2014 Assembly; however, he stood down early due to health reason and was re-elected and installed this year. This year's Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly was Lord Hope of Craighead KT PC, who has served successively as Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General in Scotland, then as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and finally as Deputy President of the Supreme Court.

The Church in Wales Review had recommended that the Diocese of Llandaff be designated the permanent archiepiscopal see and that the diocese should have an area bishop with a legally designated area of pastoral responsibility. In his presidential address in September, the archbishop recognised that it was a difficult question but one that needed to be faced because of the dual role of archbishop and diocesan bishop, the relentless workload and the need for the archbishop to be located in Cardiff. It had been the subject of several reports and Governing Body motions in the past but with no change to the present situation.