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PLURALITY (0. Fr. pluralitd, Late Lat...

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 857 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PLURALITY (0. Fr. pluralitd, See also:Late See also:Lat. pluralitas, plural number)  , in a See also:general sense, a word denoting more than one; applied particularly to the holding of two or more offices by the same See also:person (called then a pluralist) . In ecclesiastical See also:law, See also:plurality or the holding of more than one See also:benefice or preferment was always discountenanced, and is now prohibited in See also:England by the Pluralities See also:Act 1838, as amended by the Pluralities Act 185o and the Pluralities Acts See also:Amendment Act 1885 . By the latter act a See also:provision was made that two benefices might be held together, by See also:dispensation of the See also:archbishop on the recommendation of the See also:bishop, if the churches be within four See also:miles of each other, and if the See also:annual value of one does not exceed £200 (see BENEFICE) . It was formerly a practice to evade enactments against plurality by means of commendams, i.e. by committing or commending a benefice to a holder of other benefices until an See also:incumbent should be provided for it . Cornmendams were abolished by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will . IV. c . 77, § 18) . See also See also:Colt v . Bishop of See also:Coventry, 1613, Hob . 140 seq., where much learning on the subject will be found . In elections, particularly where there are three or more candidates, and no one See also:candidate receives an See also:absolute See also:majority of votes, the excess of votes polled by the first candidate over the second is often termed plurality, especially in the See also:United States .

End of Article: PLURALITY (0. Fr. pluralitd, Late Lat. pluralitas, plural number)
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PLURALISM (Lat. plus, plures, many, several)
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