Aston Cantlow Parochial Church Council v Wallbank

Aston Cantlow Parochial Church Council v Wallbank [2003] UKHL 37 is a UK constitutional law case, concerning judicial review.
Facts.
Wallbank and other ‘lay rectors’ claimed they were not liable to pay costs to repair their parish church, and that this would be a violation of their right to property in ECHR Prot 1, art 1. The public authority was a parochial church council of the Church of England.
Judgment.
The House of Lords held the parochial church council was not a core public authority under the ECHR and its case law on religious bodies. The parochial church council was not a hybrid public authority either, but the issue had to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. The council was seeking to enforce a duty to pay for church repairs, and this was effectively a ‘civil debt’, and so a private, not a public obligation. 
Lord Nicholls said this:
Lord Hope said this: