Section 12 Mode of declaring a “free manse.”

After the completion of the works ordered in the course of any proceedings for the building, rebuilding, or repairing of any manse, it shall be competent for any heritor of the parish to move the sheriff to declare it a “free manse”; and if the sheriff shall be satisfied that the manse is in a state of thorough repair, he shall find and declare accordingly, and his decree shall have the same force and effect as a decree in similar terms pronounced by a presbytery before the passing of this Act would have had: Provided always, that such decree shall have effect only till the expiration of fifteen years from its date, or until the appointment of a new minister to the parish, whichever event shall first happen.