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Asinecure (/ˈsɪnɪkjʊər/ or/ˈsaɪnɪkjʊər/; from theLatinsine, 'without', andcura, 'care') is a position with asalary or otherwise generating income that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in themedieval church, where it signified a post without any responsibility for the "cure [care] of souls", the regularliturgical and pastoral functions of acleric, but came to be applied to any post, secular or ecclesiastical, that involved little or no actual work. Sinecures have historically provided a potent tool for governments or monarchs to distributepatronage, while recipients are able to store up titles and easy salaries.
A sinecure can also be given to an individual whose primary job is in another office, but requires a sinecure title to perform that job. For example, theGovernment House Leader in Canada is often given a sinecure ministry position so that they may become a member of theCabinet. Similar examples are theLord Keeper of the Privy Seal and theChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, whose holders areex officio members of thePrivy Council and may therefore be admitted to theCabinet of the United Kingdom (which is formally the executive committee of the Privy Council). Theminister without portfolio is a frequent example of this sinecure, often employed to givecabinet-level positions to enough members of all partners in acoalition government. Other sinecures operate aslegal fictions, such as the British office ofCrown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, used as a legal excuse forresigning from Parliament.
Sinecure, properly a term ofecclesiastical law for abenefice without thecure of souls, arose in theEnglish Church when therector had no cure of souls nor resided in theparish, the work of the incumbent being performed by avicar.[1] Such sinecure rectories were expressly granted by the patron. They were abolished byParliament under theEcclesiastical Commissioners Act 1840.[2][3]
Other ecclesiastical sinecures were certaincathedral dignities to which no spiritual functions attached or incumbencies where by reason of depopulation and the like, the parishioners disappeared or the parish church was allowed to decay. Such cases eventually ceased to exist.[4]
The term is also used of any office or place to which salary,emoluments, ordignity, but no duties, are attached. The British civil service and the royal household, for example, were loaded with innumerable offices which, by lapse of time, had become sinecures and were only kept as the reward of political services or to secure voting power in Parliament. They were prevalent in the 18th century, but were gradually abolished by statutes during that and the following centuries.[5]
Below is a list of extant sinecures by country.[6]
| Political offices in the UK government |
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| List of political offices |
Christian churches:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sinecure".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 147; see last three sentences.The British civil service and royal household were loaded.....
