Reg. 33. F. N. B. 49. N. the writ of juris utrum, which is, "pa"rati sacramento recognoscere utrum sit libera eleemosina pertinens "ad ecclesiam, an laicum feodum," sheweth, that the glebe and tithes belong unto churchmen and ecclesiastical persons, and not unto laymen.

Seld. Hist. 112. The council of Lateran holden in the

year

1028

hath this canon: 66 Decimas quas in usum pietatis concessas esse cano"nica authoritas demonstrat, a laicis possideri apostolicâ authoritate "prohibemus. Sive enim ab episcopis, vel regibus, vel quibuslibet per"sonis eas acceperint, nisi ecclesiæ reddiderint, sciant se sacrilegii "crimen incurrere." And this canon is iterated in the general council of Lateran holden in the year 1139.

Id. 113, 114. And however it is clear that anciently the use of infeodations or conveyances of the perpetual right of tithes into lay hands was frequent; and are stiled in the canon laws decima laicis in feudum concessæ, and feudales, and infeudata, and were mere lay possessions and determinable before the secular judge; yet, since the year 1180 and the council of Lateran, which is, "Prohibemus

ne laici decimas cum animarum suarum periculo detinentes in alios "laicos possint aliquo modo transferre; si quis vero receperit, et ec"clesiæ non reddiderit, christianá sepulturá privetur;" the infeodation of tithes hath ceased, and the canon hath been received for a binding law.

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Id. 107-8. An epistle of Peter, abbot of Clugny, to St. Bernard, abbot of the Cistertian order at Clairvaux, about the monks of Clugny their possessing of a large number of parochial tithes. The Cistertians had divers complaints made against them, and one was upon this very point in these words: "Ecclesiarum parochialium primi"tiarum et decimarum possessiones quæ ratio vobis contulit ? cum hæc "omnia non ad monachos, sed ad clericos, canonicá sanctione pertine"ant: illis quippe quorum officii est baptizare, et prædicare, et reliqua, quæ ad animarum pertinent salutem, gerere, hæc concessa sunt, ut non "sit necesse eis implicari secularibus negotiis; sed, quia in ecclesiá labo❝rant, in ecclesiá vivant." And the abbot gave his reason for their enjoying of tithes thus: "Quia monachi ex maximá parte fidelium "saluti invigilant, licèt sacramenta minimè ministrant, æstimamus ip"sorum primitias, decimas, et oblationes, et quæque beneficia eos dignè [447] posse suscipere, quoniam et reliqua populo Christiano a presbyteris "faciunt exhiberi." And another of greater note than this abbot, viz. Peter Damien, pretends special charity towards the poor for sufficient reason why monasteries and hermitages had tithes given to them: "Ut copiosiora" saith he, " alimenta proficiant, dantur in "monasteriis et eremis decimæ quorumcunque proventuum, non modo pecorum, sed et ornicum pariter et ovorum.”

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Supra 167.

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Id. 128. Alexander the third directed the bishop of Amiens to decree, that a gift of tithe by an abbot into lay hands was void, quoniam sanctuarium de jure hæreditario possideri non debet.

Id. 123. Tithes are called Res dominicæ, and Dominica substantia, and Dei census; and by the ancients are stiled Patrimonia pauperum, Tributa egentium animarum, Stipendia pauperum, hospitum, peregrinorum; and the clergy were not to use them quasi suis, but quasi commendatis, as the words are of the council of Nantes. And Pope Alexander the third, in an epistle to the bishop of Rheims, saith, Non ab hominibus, sed ab ipso Deo sunt institutæ; and in another to the bishop of Amiens, he calleth them Sanctuarium.

'Lindwood (a) in his title De locato et conducto, cap. Licet, &c. ver. Portiones, saith, "Ante illud concilium" (which was the council of Lateran holden under Alexander the 3d.) "bene potuerunt laici de"cimas in feudum retinere, et eas alteri ecclesiæ vel monasterio dare; 66 non tamen post tempus dicti consilii." And with this agree 10 H. 7. 18. 7 E. 6. Dy. 84. 2 Rep. 44.

The preamble of the statute of 32 H. 8. c. 7. doth recite, that divers of the king's subjects being lay persons, having parsonages, vicarages, and tithes, cannot by the order and course of the ecclesiastical laws of this realm sue in any ecclesiastical court for the wrongful withholding and detaining of the said tithes or other duties; nor cannot by the order of the common laws of this realm have any due remedy against any person or persons, their heirs or assigns, that wrongfully withhold or detain the same. And by this statute there is a remedy provided for laymen.

2 Rep. 44. in the bishop of Winchester's case it is resolved, that none by the common law hath capacity to take tithes but only spiritual persons, or persona mixta: and regularly, no mere layman was at common law capable of them, but in special cases; for no layman, but in special cases, may sue for them at the common law in court christian, or for subtraction of them. But, it was there resolved, that he was capable of a discharge of tithes at the common law in his own lands, as well as a spiritual man; for the parson, patron, and ordinary might at the common law discharge a parishioner of tithes in his land; or he may be discharged by composition; but may not prescribe in non decimando, as a spiritual person may do.

2 E. 4. 15. A temporal man may not have an action in court christian for tithes and one that taketh a lease of tithes may have his remedy at the common law for his tithes taken away, and the court shall not be ousted of jurisdiction; for the lessee hath them as a lay chattel and in his own right.

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25 H. 8. Br. Jurisdiction 95. If the lord of a manor claimeth the tithes of such lands in D. to find a chaplain in D. and the parishioners claim them also for the same purpose; dicitur pro lege, the lay court shall have jurisdiction between them, and not the spiritual court. 2 Rep. 46. Pigot and Heron's case, a layman owner of tithes Supra 200. in this manner.

7 E. 6. Dy. 83, 84, 85. It appeareth, that since the statute of 32 H. 8. c. 7. a layman may have tithes, and may bring an assise or other real action for them, as he may do of any other temporal inheritance.

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Lindwood in his title De locato et conducto, and chapter on the constitution of John Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, Ecclesiæ ne conferantur, &c. and ver. Nisi personis ecclesiasticis, saith, " Quòd persona ecclesiastica dicitur, non solum persona ordinata ad quæcunque alia ministerio ecclesiastico deputata. Unde Conversi, "Pænitentes, Templarii, et Hospitalarii, ministerio ecclesiastico deputati, dicuntur Persona Ecclesiastica. Item quæcunque personæ "regulares dicuntur Personæ Ecclesiastica. Cum itaque hujusmodi 66 personarum ecclesiasticarum plures sint in statu laicali, et non cle"ricali, quales sunt Templarii et Hospitalarii, et multi qui dicuntur "Conversi, apparet, quòd talibus laicis ecclesiæ possunt tradi ad firmam. "Et ubi simplicitèr statuitur, ne laicus ecclesias teneat ad firmam, non distinguendo, utrum sit laicus professione et habitu, necne. Sed illud puto intelligendum de his, qui sunt merè laici tam habitu quam pro"fessione. Nam Conversi, et alii prædicti divino officio mancipati, " licèt non sint ordinati, tamen ratione professionis et habitús differ"unt ab aliis laicis. Et regulariter, verum est, quod laici non pos"sunt, nec debent tenere ecclesias ad firmam. — Clerico seculari defi"ciente, ob magnam necessitatem poterit episcopus dispensare, ut ecclc"sia committatur laico per viam firmæ ad tempus."

66

66

66

"In

Lindwood in the same title, cap. "Licet bone," &c. ver. 66 suos usus," 66 Decimæ, et alia in ecclesiis obvenientia non sunt laicis "concedenda, viz. ut oblationes vel decimas habeant per viam tituli, et 66 jure suo. Secùs tamen est, si in laicum transferatur mera facultas facti, scil. perceptionis fructuum per viam firmæ. Nam merum facti "exercitium sine titulo bene cadit in laicum: potest enim laicus esse procurator in causis spiritualibus." And in the same chapter, "Asserunt non ligari," "Beneficium tenetur ut proprietas, non "autem ut beneficium, quando non obtinetur per institutionem canoni"cam, nec consideratur vacatio per mortem prælati; sed commoditas "fructuum percipiendorum aliquibus conceditur per superiorem alio,

utputa, vicario curam animarum inibi gesturo. Et beneficia tenent "non ut beneficia, sed ut proprietatem, quorum cura exercetur per "vicarium perpetuum constitutum in eisdem." And in the same chapter, "Portiones," "Ha portiones potuerunt pervenisse ad locum

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"religiosum de concessione etiam laici, cum solius Diocesani consensu "de decimis vel proventibus quas laicus talis ab ecclesiá aliâ habuit in feudum ab antiquo. Et hoc verum, si tales portiones decimarum eis "donatæ fuerunt ante Concilium Lateranense, quod celebratum fuerit anno Domini 1180. tempore' Alexandri tertii. Nam ante illud "Concilium bene potuerunt laici decimas in feudum retinere, et eas "alteri ecclesiæ vel monasterio dare, non tamen post tempus dicti "Concilii."

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In the same chapter, "Appropriationum," " Appropriatio locum "habet in omni casu quo ecclesia tenetur ut proprietas, sive agatur de "ipsius totalitate, sive de ejus parte. Et appropriatio in largo modo "sumpta sonat in casum illum quo beneficium detur in usus proprios. "Sed hic adverte, quod quandoque jura loquuntur de casu vel jure do"nationis ecclesiæ factæ loco religioso, vel alteri; quandoque de casu "vel jure unionis sive annexionis factæ tali loco. Et in appropri"ationum literis solet superior uti his terminis, Unimus, annecti"mus et incorporamus, et eam in proprios usus perpetuò obtinendam "concedimus: quæ omnia et singula quandam diversitatem im

66

66

portant, aliás esset nugatio et inculcatio terminorum, quod repro"batur in jure. Et multiplex est unio. Fit enim unio ecclesiarum, "quando una subjicitur alteri: et per talem unionem non præjudi"catur diœcesano cui suberat, nisi fiat de ejus consensu; etiamsi con"firmetur per Papam, nisi id in confirmatione exprimatur. Fit " etiam unio ecclesiarum sic quod unus sit prælatus ambarum; et tunc "utraque remanet in statu suo ut prius, exceptá solâ prælaturâ. Fit " etiam unio duarum ecclesiarum ad invicem, et tunc consuetudines et privilegia, qua in alterá earum habentur meliora et humaniora, "tenenda sunt. Fit quoque unio ecclesiarum, cum conventualis in " cathedralem eligitur, et idem est prælatus utriusque. Et hanc facit [450 ] "solus Papa.-Ecclesiæ parochialis ad religiosum locum propriè non "fit unio, sed potius donatio. Nam unio propriè locum habet in "rebus quæ sunt ejusdem naturæ, utputa, in duobus prioratibus, vel "in duabus administrationibus vel obedientiis, in quibus religiosi "subjectionem habent. Sed verum est, quòd ecclesia parochialis "sæcularis, et cui solet deserviri per clericos sæculares, non est “ ejusdem naturæ cujus est ecclesia regularis; unde inter res propriè "non cadit unio, licèt fructus talis ecclesiæ possint incorporari aliis "fructibus ecclesiæ regularis, sic ut religiosi ipsos fructus percipiant "in usus proprios, reservatá congrua sustentatione pro ministris in "tali ecclesiá deservituris."

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Lindw. tit. De Judiciis, (a) cap. "Item omnes," ver. "Personas "ecclesiasticas," "Personæ ecclesiastica sunt Clerici, in quocunque "ordine constituti: præter quos etiam comprehenduntur sub his per

(a) Cha. 2. fo. 94, a.

"sonis ecclesiasticis Templarii, Hospitalarii, Conversi, et quilibet "Religiosi."

And so it appeareth by all these books of the canon law, that, until the council of Lateran, laymen were capable of tithes in point of pernancy; and infeodations might be made unto them, and, by consequence, appropriations: but, after the council of Lateran, those that were mere laymen were not capable of tithes in point of pernancy, although Monks, Templars, Hospitallers, and such other ecclesiastical persons were, as not being accounted Laici within the prohibition of that council. And this council being received in England, as it appeareth by Lindwood, 2 Rep. 44. 32 H. 8. c. 7. 2 E. 4. 15. and Br. Jurisdiction 95. it was part of the law of England.

Dav. 70 b. (a) Those canons which were received, accepted and used in any christian realm or commonwealth, by such acceptation and usage have obtained the force of laws in such particular realm or state, and are become part of the ecclesiastical laws of that nation. And therefore those that were embraced, allowed, and used in England, were made by such allowance and usage part of the ecclesiastical laws of England; and the interpretation, dispensation, and execution of those canons, so become part of the laws of England, belong only to the king of England, and his magistrates, within his dominions.

7 H. 8. Croke (b) 181, 182. 184. It appeareth that the decrees and canons made by the pope, which were not received here in England, do not any ways bind: but it is admitted, that if they were received here in England, they would bind, as part of the law of England.

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26 E. 3. 55. 29 E. 3. 44. The constitution of pluralities is received as part of the law of England, and thereupon by the acceptance of a second benefice the first is void. 24 E. 3. 30. 4 Rep. [451]

75. 79.

29 E. 3. 44. The sheriff upon a writ of accompt returneth, Clericus est beneficiatus, non habens laicum feodum, and no capias might be granted against him, because it appeared that he had a benefice. Bracton, c. 2. "Leges Anglicana et consuetudines approbata con"sensu utentium, et sacramento regum confirmata mutari non poterunt, nec destrui sine communi consensu et consilio eorum omnium quorum "consilio et consensu fuerunt promulgatæ : in melius tamen converti 66 possunt, etiam sine eorum consensu, quia non destruitur quod in me"lius commutatur."

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11 H. 4. 76. If the king doth grant unto a man, that he shall hold his land after such time as he is entered into religion and pro