This Decision by the Privy Council in 1871 ruled that the Eastward Position, the Mixed Chalice, wafer bread, and Eucharistic Vestments were illegal in the Church of England. It was ignored throughout England by Ritualist priests as being unbinding because of its secular source. It was named for the Reverend John Purchas (1823-1872), vicar of St. James's Church, Brighton, who was accused and tried on account of his practising these controverted usages in his parish. The Purchas Judgment was a precursor of the Public Worship Regulation Act of 1874.

The Position of the Celebrant at the Holy Communion, as ruled by the Purchas Judgment. Considered in a Letter to the Lord Bishop of Winchester.
By Morton Shaw. London: Rivingtons, 1874.

Of related interest

Altare Christianum or, The dead Vicars Plea. Wherein the Vicar of Gr[antham]. being dead, yet speaketh, and pleadeth out of Antiquity, against him that hath broken downe his Altar. Presented, and humbly submitted to the consideration of his Superiours, the Governours of our Church. London, 1637.

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