vestry thereof. But the Vestries Act, 1818,[135] only applies to ancient parishes. Consequently there is no plural voting in the quasi-vestry of a new parish, nor need the notice summoning a vestry meeting be given on a Sunday three clear days before the meeting.[136] But in other respects a vestry or a meeting in the nature of a vestry in a new parish is regulated by the same procedure as in an ancient parish. Since the abolition of compulsory church rates in 1868, and the transfer of their secular duties to other bodies, the functions of these vestries or meetings, whether in old or in new parishes, have been for the most part confined to the election of churchwardens and the approval, or the contrary, of applications for faculties.[137] In some places under a local Act or by the adoption of the Vestries Act, 1831,[138] the functions of the vestry are exercised by a select vestry consisting of a limited number of householders elected by the parishioners. 3. With regard to churchwardens, the general law as to their appointment in ancient parishes is declared by the 89th and 90th Canons. They are to be chosen, if possible, by the joint consent of the minister and parishioners. But if these cannot agree upon the choice, the minister is to choose one and the parishioners another. A stipendiary curate being at the time in charge of the cure stands in the place of the incumbent in the choice of churchwardens.[139] The election is to be annual, in Easter week; but the same persons are re-eligible for any number of years. By custom, however, there may be only one churchwarden or more than two; and, as is the case in the City of London, both may by custom be elected by the parishioners, or by the lord of the manor, or one by the incumbent and the other by the outgoing churchwardens. The election ordinarily takes place at the Easter vestry, but an election at another time is valid.[140] The election of both churchwardens is the act of the whole vestry, whether the minister and parishioners agree in their choice, or the minister chooses one and the parishioners the other. In the latter alternative, therefore, the vote of the minister is exhausted in choosing his own warden, and he cannot also vote as a parishioner in the election of the other warden; though if there is an equality of votes in this election, he apparently can, as chairman of the vestry, decide it by a casting vote.[141] In the case of all churches built under the Church Building or New Parishes Acts, except those which have no district attached to them, two churchwardens are to be annually chosen at Eastertide, one by the minister and the other by the persons entitled to attend and vote at a meeting in the nature of a vestry for the parish or district attached to the church.[142] If the church has no district attached to it, the choice of the second warden is vested in the pewrenters, or, if there are no rented pews, the minister selects