Chap. 8.] the KING's REVENUE. 280 Clergy

Chap. 8.] THE KING's REVENUE. 280 clergy. I shall only here observe that this is now done in consequence of the statute 25 Hen. VIII, c. 20. As head of the church, the king is likewise the dernier resort in all ecclesiastical causes; an appeal lying ultimately to him in chancery from the sentence of every ecclesiastical judge: which right was restored to the crown by statute 25 Hen. VIII c 19, as will more fully be shewn hereafter. (34) CHAPTER VIII. OF MHE KING'S REVENUE. HAVING, in the preceding chapter, considered at large those branches of the king's prerogative, which contribute to his royal dignity, and constitute the executive power of the government, we proceed now to examine the king's fiscal prerogatives, or such as regard his revenue; which the British constitution hath vested in the royal person, in order to support his dignity and maintain his power: being a portion which each subject contributes of his property, in order to secure the remainder. This revenue is either ordinary or extraordinary., The king's ordinary revenue is such as has either subsisted time out of mind in the crown; or else has been granted by parliament by way of purchase or exchange for such of the king's inherent hereditary revenues, as were found inconvenient to the subject. When I say that it has subsisted time out of mind in the crown, I do not mean that the king is at present in the actual possession of the whole of this revenue. Much (nay, the greatest part) of it is at this day in the hands of subjects; to whom it has been granted out from time to time by the kings of England: which has rendered the crown in some measure dependent on the people for its ordinary support and subsistence. So that I must be obliged to recount, as part of the royal revenue, what lords of manors and other subjects *frequently look upon to be their own absolute inherent rights; because [*282] they are and have been vested in them and their ancestors for ages, though in reality originally derived from the grants of our ancient princes. I. The first of the king's ordinary revenues which I shall take notice of is of an ecclesiastical kind; (as are also the three succeeding ones) viz.: the custody of the temporalties of bishops: by which are meant all the lay revenues, lands and tenements (in which is included his barony,) which belong to an archbishop's or bishop's see. And these, upon the vacancy of the bishopric, are immediately the right of the king, as a consequence of his prerogative in church matters; whereby he is considered as the founder of all archbishoprics and bishoprics, to whom during the vacancy they revert. And for the same reason, before the dis- solution of abbeys, the king had the custody of the temporalties of all such abbeys and priories as were of royal foundation (but not of those founded by subjects) on the death of the abbot or prior. (a) Another reason may also be given why the policy of the law hath vested this custody in the king; because, as the successor if not known, the lands and possessions of the see would be liable to spoil and devastation if no one had a property therein. Therefore, the law has given the king, not the temporalties themselves, but the custody of the temporalties, till such time as a successor is appointed; with power of taking to himself all the intermediate profits, without any account of the successor; and with right of presenting (which the crown very frequently exercises) (a) 2 Inst. 15. (34) Appeals are now taken in these cases to the judicial committee of the privy council 179 282 FROM BIsmOPRIcs, TITHES, ETC. [Book I. to such benefices and other preferments as fall within the time of vacation. (b) This revenue is of so high a nature that it could not be granted out to a subject, before, or even after, it accrued: but now by the statute 15 Edw. III, st. 4, c. 4 and 5, the king may, after the vacancy, lease the temporalties to the dean and chapter; saving to himself all advowsons, escheats, and the like. Our ancient kings, and particularly William Rufus, were not only remarkable for r*2 , 3 ] keeping the bishoprics a long time *vacant, for the sake of enjoying t J the temporalties, but also committed horrible waste on the woods ana other parts of the estate; and to crown all, would never, when the see was filled up, restore to the bishop his temporalties again, unless he purchased them at an exorbitant price. To remedy which, King Henry the First (c) granted a charter at the beginning of his reign, promising neither to sell, nor let to farm, nor take any thing from the domains of the church, till the successor was installed. (1) And it was made one of the articles of the great charter, (d) that no waste should be committed in the temporalties of bishoprics, neither should the custody of them be sold. The same is ordained by the statute of Westminster the first; (e) and the statute 14 Edw. III, st. 4, c. 4, (which permits, as we have seen, a lease to the dean and chapter,) is still more explicit in prohibiting the other exactions. It was also a frequent abuse that the king would, for trifling, or no causes, seize the temporalties of bishops, even during their lives, into his own hands: but this is guarded against by statute 1 Edw. III, st. 2, c. 2. This revenue of the king, which was formerly very considerable, is now by a customary indulgence almost reduced to nothing: for, at present, as soon as the new bishop is consecrated and confirmed, he usually receives the restitution of his temporalties quite entire, and untouched, from the king; and at the same time does homage to his sovereign: and then, and not sooner, he has a fee sim- ple in his bishopric, and may maintain an action for the profits. (f) II. The king is entitled to a corody, as the law calls it, out of every bishopric, that is, to send one of his chaplains to be maintained by the bishop, or to have a pension allowed him till the bishop promotes him to a benefice. (g) This is also in the nature of an acknowledgment to the king, as founder of the see, since he had formerly the same corody or pension from every abbey or priory of [*2841 royal foundation. (2) It is, I *apprehend, now fallen into total disuse ; [ J though Sir Matthew Hale says, (h) that it is due of common right, and that no prescription will discharge it. III. The king also, as was formerly observed, (i) is entitled to all the tithes arising in extraparochial places : (k) though perhaps it may be doubted how far this article, as well as the last, can be properly reckoned a part of the king's own royal revenue; since a corody supports only his chaplains, and these extraparochial tithes are held under an implied trust, that the king will distribute them for the good of the clergy in general. IV. The next branch consists in the first-fruits, and tenths, of all spiritual preferments in the kingdom; both of which I shall consider together. These were originally a part of the papal usurpations over the clergy of this kingdom; first introduced by Pandulph, the pope's legate, during the reigns of King John and Henry the Third, in the see of Norwich; and afterwards attempted to be made universal by the popes Clement V and John XXII, about the beginning of the fourteenth century. The first-fruits, primitit, or annates, (b) Stat. 17 Edw. H. c. 14. F. N. B. 82. (c) Matt. Paris. (d) 9 Hen. III. c. 5. (e) 3 Edw. I. c. 21. C)co. Litt. 67, 341. (g) F. N. B. 280. (h) Notes on F. N. B. above cited. (i) Page 113. 2 Inst. 647. (1) [But Queen Elizabeth kept the see of Ely vacant nineteen years, in order to retain the revenue. Strype, vol. 4, 351.] (2) [So where the foundation was not royal, it was usual for the founders to give their heirs a corody, viz.: a charge upon the particular monastery or abbey sufficient to prevent them from starving. And those persons, disinherited of the lands by their relations, were there subsisted during life.] 180 Chap. 8.] REVENUE FROM BISHOPRICS, ETC. 284 were the first year's whole profits of the spiritual preferment, according to a rate or valor made under the direction of Pope Innocent IV, by Walter, bishop of Norwich, in 38 Hen. III, and afterwards advanced in value by commission from Pope Nicholas III, A. D. 1292, 20 Edw. I; (1) which valuation of Pope Nicholas is still preserved in the exchequer. (m) (3) The tenths, or decimce, were the tenth part of the annual profit of each living by the same valuation; which was also claimed by the holy see, under no better pretence than a strange mis- application of that precept of the Levitical law, which directs (n) that the Levites "should offer the tenth part of their tithes as a heave-offering to the Lord, and give it to Aaron the high priest." But *this claim of the pope [*25 met with a vigorous resistance from the English parliament; and a L*2851 variety of acts were passed to prevent and restrain it, particularly the statute of 6 Hen.

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