A quoad sacra parish is a type of parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 which is used for ecclesiastical purposes only. Quoad sacra translates from Latin as 'concerning sacred matters'. This type of parish can be distinguished from the 'parish proper' a parish combining both civil and eccesiastical functions.

Ordinary civil parishes were designated as parishes quoad omnia (concerning all matters being parishes quoad civilia et sacra (concerning civil matters and sacred matters. Typically, a number of quoad sacra parishes could exist within a single civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

, each often maintain its own parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

.

Role

Whilst generally ecclesiastical, the distinction between eccesiastical and civil parishes was often blurred. Civil parishes, had the duty of setting church rates in addition to their civil roles in the provision of education, sanitation and the poor law.

Legislation

Particular Acts of Parliament which created quoad sacra parishes in Scotland are the New Parishes (Scotland) Act 1844, the United Parishes (Scotland) Act 1868 and the United Parishes (Scotland) Act 1876.