manors which 17 Geo. 3, c. 53, enacts by sect. 21, as follows:-" And it shall 17 Geo. 3, and may be lawful for any archbishop or bishop of any diocese, c. 53. and also for any ecclesiastical corporation sole or aggregate, being Lords of lord or lords of any manor within which there shall be any waste or contain any common lands, parcel of the demesnes of such manor, lying con- waste lands venient for the house and buildings, and other the purposes of convenient for the purposes this act, to grant a part or parts of such waste or common lands of that act, in perpetuity for the several purposes of this act, leaving suffi- may grant a cient common for the several persons having right of common part thereof in upon such wastes or commons, and obtaining the consent of the lessee of such lands, if the same shall be in lease." perpetuity, &c. The provisions in 43 Geo. 3, c. 108, and 51 Geo. 3, c. 115, Powers under enabling persons, by deed inrolled or by will, to give lands other statutes. not exceeding five acres, or chattels not exceeding in value 5001, for the purpose, inter alia, of supplying mansion houses with glebes for the residence of ministers officiating in churches and chapels, and further enabling any lord of the manor to grant land not more than five acres of the waste of the manor for the same purposes, will be noticed more particularly hereafter (r). Reference should also be made to the provisions of 28 & 29 Vict. c. 69, noticed in a later chapter (y), enabling persons under disability to sell or give lands to the governors of Queen Anne's Bounty for residence-houses, gardens, &c. SECT. 3.-Of Bishops, Deans and Canons. residence &c. The 18th section of 4 & 5 Vict. c. 39, which repeals a former 4 & 5 Vict. provision of sect. 58 of 3 & 4 Vict. c. 113, on the same subject, c. 39. and also a clause of 2 & 3 Will. 4, ch. x., relating to the annexa- Disposal of tion of a house of residence to the archdeaconry of Durham, houses of enacts that, ". . . the dean and chapter of any cathedral or col- bishops, legiate church, with the consent of their visitor, may from time deans, canons, to time sanction and confirm the exchange of houses of residence, or of houses attached to any dignities, offices, or prebends in the precincts of such church, among the canons of such church, or may make any such arrangement to take effect at any future time, or may assign any one of such houses being vacant to any canon willing to accept the same in lieu of the house theretofore occupied by him, and thereupon any house no longer required by any canon may by the said dean and chapter be disposed of, in such way as they shall deem fit, with the consent of their visitor, and of the ecclesiastical commissioners for England, signified under their common seal." By 5 & 6 Vict. c. 26, s. 7, the provisions as to disposal may 5 & 6 Vict. be applied where there has been no exchange. (x) Vide infra, Part IX., Chap. IV. (y) Vide infra, Part V., Chap. VI., Sect. 2. c. 26. 3 & 4 Vict. c. 113. 1 & 2 Vict. c. 23, to residence-houses of deans and 3 & 4 Vict. c. 113, s. 59, enacts that, "It shall be lawful for the ecclesiastical commissioners to authorize any dean or canon Application of of any cathedral church to raise monies on his deanery or canonry, for the purpose of building, enlarging, or otherwise improving the residence-house thereof, on such terms and conditions as the said commissioners, with the concurrence of the bishop and the chapter, shall approve; and all the provisions of " [1 & 2 Vict. c. 23] "shall be applied, mutatis mutandis, to all such cases in which any dean or canon shall be authorized as aforesaid to raise monies on his deanery or canonry for the purpose aforesaid." canons. 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 77. Bishop's houses. Mortgages under 2 & 3 Vict. c. 18. 5 & 6 Vict. c. 26. Episcopal house may in certain cases and sold, or or altered. 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 77, recites that the commissioners under that act recommended that "fit residences be provided for the Bishops of Lincoln, Llandaff, Rochester, Manchester, and Ripon ;" and that, "for the purpose of providing the bishop of any diocese with a more suitable and convenient residence than that which now belongs to his see, sanction be given for purchases or exchanges of houses or lands, or for the sale of lands belonging to the respective sees, and also, where it may be necessary, for the borrowing by any bishop of a sum not exceeding two years' income of his see, upon such terms as shall appear to be fit and proper;" and that "the governors of the bounty of Queen Anne be empowered to lend money upon mortgage to such bishops," and enables schemes to that effect to be made. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 18, the next act passed on this subject, was repealed by 5 & 6 Vict. c. 26; but all mortgages made under it are not affected by the repeal. By 5 & 6 Vict. c. 26, the existing statute, it is provided as follows: Sect. 1. "Whenever it shall appear to be expedient to relieve any bishop having more episcopal houses of residence than one be taken down from any of such houses, or to provide any bishop with a more convenient house of residence or to add to, alter, improve, or may be rebuilt take down and rebuild any episcopal house of residence, or to improve the demesnes thereof, it shall be lawful, by the authority provided in" [6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 77] (z), "with the consent, under the hand and episcopal seal of the bishop, to make such arrangements as may by such authority be deemed most expedient, for selling and conveying to such person or body corporate, and for such consideration as may be approved by the like authority, any episcopal house of residence then belonging to the see of such bishop, or for taking down the same or any part thereof, and selling the site or the materials thereof (as the circumstances may render expedient); or for adding to, altering, improving, or taking down and rebuilding any episcopal house of (z) That is, the ecclesiastical commissioners, submitting a scheme to the Queen in council, and the order in council thereon. Vide supra, p. 27. residence; or for improving the demesnes adjoining to any such c. 77, s. 1, able thereto. state their Sect. 2. "In any scheme which shall be laid before her Commismajesty in council by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for sioners to England under this act, recommending any arrangement for reasons for the taking down or selling any episcopal residence, or changing the alteration. site thereof, the said commissioners shall set forth particularly the grounds and reasons upon which they deem it expedient to offer such recommendation." canons may rebuild. Sect. 5. "It shall be lawful for the dean and chapter, or for Chapters, the dean, or for any canon of any cathedral church, under the deans and authority aforesaid, to purchase any episcopal house of residence purchase and sold under the provisions of this act, or the site of any such alter, take house, or any other house or site, being contiguous or near to down or such cathedral church, or any part of such house or site, and to add to, alter or improve any such house or to take down the same, and to build another house or more houses than one upon the site thereof, or to apply the site of any such house, or any part thereof, by and with the authority aforesaid, to the improvement of the cathedral, or the precincts thereof; and so Provisions of much of " [3 & 4 Vict. c. 113] "as relates to the raising of monies 3 & 4 Vict. by any dean or canon for the purpose of building, enlarging made applicor otherwise improving the residence-house of his deanery or able thereto. canonry, shall be extended so as to make lawful the raising of monies, in the manner and with the authority therein provided, by any dean and chapter, dean or canon, for any purpose of this act." c. 113, s. 59, made the house. Sect. 6. "Any house so purchased by the dean and chapter, Episcopal dean or canon, of any cathedral church, or any house erected house may be upon any site so purchased, may, by the authority aforesaid, deanery or a and with the consent of the dean and chapter, be made the canonical deanery, or the house of residence for any canon of such church; and the house theretofore occupied as the deanery, or any house no longer required as the house of residence of any canon, may be so applied or disposed of, as may by the same authority and with the like consent be determined on." By sect. 8, the purposes of this act are to be within the provisions of 3 & 4 Vict. c. 113, s. 68 (a). (a) Vide supra, p. 185. Fixtures. Insurance. Purchase from persons under disability. 38 & 39 Vict. By sects. 9, 10, pictures, books, or other goods and chattels in any house sold or taken down may be sold, or removed to the new house, and provision is made for certain fixtures, fittings, and other articles being catalogued and made part of the freehold and irremoveable. By sect. 11, provision may be made directing that any residence-houses bought, built or improved under the act shall be insured against fire (6). By sect. 12, corporations and persons having a limited interest or under disability may sell lands for the purposes of that act, the amount to be paid into the bank of England in the name and with the privity of the accountant-general of the Court of Chancery (c), if over 2007., with other provisions similar to those contained in the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 18). By the Bishopric of St. Albans Act, 1879 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 34), reciting that for the reasons therein mentioned the Bishop of Winchester had assented to the sale of the episcopal residence in London attached to the bishopric of Winchester, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners were directed to sell "the episcopal residence attached to the bishopric of Winchester, and situate in the liberties of Westminster, and carry over the proceeds, after deducting the expenses thereof, to the St. Albans Bishopric Endowment Fund” (d). (b) Vide infra, Part V., Chap. V. Now the Paymaster-General. (d) 38 & 39 Vict. c. 34, s. 2. Vide supra, p. 28. CHAPTER III. TITHES AND RENT-CHARGE. SECT. 1.-Introductory. 2.-Of what things Tithes were paid. 3.-Recovery of Tithes before Commutation. 4.-The Tithe Commutation Acts. 5.-Rent-charge substituted for Tithe. 6.-Lammas Lands, Commons in Gross, Gated or Stinted Pastures. 7.-Fruit and Hop Plantations. 8.-Exemption of small Gardens and Tenements. 9.-Personal, House, and Mineral Tithes. 10.-Incidents to Tithe and Rent-charge. 11.-Tithe and Rent-charge exchanged for Land. 12.-Redemption of Rent-charge. 13.-Merger of Rent-charge. 14.-Former Mode of recovering Rent-charge. 15.-Recovery under the Tithe Act, 1891. 16.-Tithes in City of London. 17.-Corn Rents under Local Acts. 18.-Tithe Commission and Board of Agriculture. SECT. 1.-Introductory. Ir is not proposed to discuss the origin of the tithes in England. Summary of A very full treatment is given to the subject by Lord Selborne (a). history. It is enough to say that the payment of tithes was compelled by ecclesiastical censures, enforced by the writ de excommunicato capiendo; that, at least from A.D. 1200, statutory authority for their payment was given first by 27 Hen. 8, c. 20, and 32 Hen. 8, c. 7; then by 2 & 3 Edw. 6, c. 13; that they were for the most part converted into rent-charges upon the land recoverable from the occupier by 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 71, and several acts amending and extending that Act; and that finally the rent-charge has been put directly upon the owner of the land by 54 & 55 Vict. c. 8. These acts will be more fully dealt with in this chapter. (a) Ancient Facts and Fictions concerning Churches and Tithes. See also History of the Law of P. VOL. II. Tithes in England by G. Edwardes 4 F |