In English law, quare impedit is a form of action by which the right of presentation to a parish is tried. It is typically brought by a patron against a bishop who refuses to appoint the patron's nominee as a priest.
It gets its name from the words of the ancient writ that started the proceeding until the 19th century. This writ was directed to the sheriff, instructing him to command the defendant to permit the plaintiff to present an appropriate candidate, or else to show "why he hinders" (Latin: quare impedit) the plaintiff in the exercise of his rights. The writ of quare impedit was one of the few real actions preserved by the Real Property Limitation Act 1833, and survived up to 1860. It was abolished by the Common Law Procedure Act 1860, and proceedings in quare impedit were changed to make them as similar as possible to those in other real actions.
A proceeding of quare impedit is now usually brought against a bishop to try the legality of his refusal to institute a particular clerk. The bishop must fully state upon the pleadings the grounds on which he refuses. Quare impedit is peculiarly the remedy of the patron; the nominee's remedy is the proceeding called duplex querela in the ecclesiastical court. The action is not barred till the expiration of sixty years, or of three successive incumbencies adverse to the plaintiff's right, whichever period is the longer (Real Property Limitation Act, 1833, 29).
Where the patron of a benefice is a Roman Catholic, one of the universities presents in his place (1689, i Will. & Mary, sess. i, c. 29). By 13 Anne c. 13 (1714), during the pendency of a quare impedit to which either of the universities is a party in right of the patron being a Roman Catholic, the court has power to administer an oath for the discovery of any secret trust, and to order the cestui que trust to repeat and subscribe a declaration against transubstantiation. In Scotland the effect of a quare impedit is attained by action of declarator. In the United States, owing to the difference of ecclesiastical organization, the action is unknown.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.