INHIBITION (from

See also:

• LAT

Lat. inhibere, to restrain, prevent)  , an act of restraint or prohibition, an English legal term, particularly used in ecclesiastical law, for a writ from a superior to an inferior court, suspending proceedings in a case under appeal, also for the suspension of a jurisdiction of a bishop's court on the visitation of an archbishop, and for that of an archdeacon on the visitation of a bishop . It is more particularly applied to a form of ecclesiastical censure, suspending an offending clergyman from the performance of any service of the Church, or other spiritual duty, for the purpose of enforcing obedience to a monition or order of the bishop or judge . Such inhibitions are at the discretion of the ordinary if he considers that scandal might arise from the performance of spiritual duties by the offender (Church Discipline Act 186o, re-enacted by the Clergy Discipline Act 1892, sect . 1o) . By the Sequestration Act 1871, sect . 5, similar powers of inhibition are given where a sequestration remains in force for more than six months, and also, by the Benefices Act 1898, in cases where a commission reports that the ecclesiastical duties of a benefice are inadequately performed through the negligence of the incumbent .