CHAPTER THE EIGHTH

OF THE KING's REVENUE.

HAV

AVING, in the preceding chapter, confidered at large thofe branches of the king's prerogative, which contribute to his royal dignity, and conftitute the executive power of the government, we proceed now to examine the king's fifcal prerogatives, or fuch as regard his revenue; which the British constitution hath vested in the royal perfon, in order to fupport his dignity and maintain his power: being a portion which each fubject contributes of his property, in order to fecure the remainder.

The

THIS revenue is either ordinary, or extraordinary. king's ordinary revenue is fuch, as has either fubfifted time out of mind in the crown; or else has been granted by parliament, by way of purchase or exchange for fuch of the king's inherent hereditary revenues, as were found inconvenient to the subject.

WHEN I fay that it has subsisted time out of mind in the crown, I do not mean that the king is at present in the actual poffeffion of the whole of this revenue. Much (nay, the greatest part) of it is at this day in the hands of fubjects; to whom it has been granted out from time to time by the kings of England: which has rendered the crown in fome measure dependent on the people for it's ordinary support and subsistence. So that I must be obliged to recount, as part of the royal revenue, what lords of manors and other fubjects frequently look upon to be their own abfolute inherent rights; because they are and have been vested in them and their anceftors for ages, though in reality originally derived from the grants of our antient princes.

I. THE first of the king's ordinary revenues, which I fhall take notice of, is of an ecclefiaftical kind; (as are alfo the three fucceeding 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 fee. And thefe upon the vacancy of the bishoprick are immediately the right of the king, as a confequence of his prerogative in church matters; whereby he is confidered as the founder of all archbishopricks and bifhopricks, to whom during the vacancy they revert. And for the fame reafon, before the diffolution 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 1. Another reafon may also be given, why the policy of the law hath vested this cuftody in the king; because as the fucceffor is not known, the lands and poffeffions of the fee would be liable to fpoil 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 fuch time as a fucceffor is appointed; with power of taking to himself all the intermediate profits, without any account of the fucceffor; and with the right of prefenting (which the crown very frequently exercises) to fuch benefices and other preferments as fall within the time of vacation : This revenue is of fo high a nature, that it could not be granted out to a fubject, before, or even after, it accrued: but now by the ftatute 15 Edw. III. ft. 4. c. 4 & 5. the king may, after the vacancy, lease the temporalties to the dean and chapter; faving to himself all advowsons, escheats, and the like. Our antient kings, and particularly William Rufus, were not only remarkable for keeping the bishopricks a long time vacant, for the fake of enjoying the temporalties, but alfo committed horrible wafte on the woods and other parts of the eftate; and to crown all, would never, when the fee was filled up, restore to the bishop his temporalties again unlefs he purchased them at an exorbitant price. To remedy

82 Inft. 15.

b Stat. 17 Edw. II. c. 14. F. N. B. 32.

which, king Henry the first granted a charter at the begin ning of his reign, promifing neither to fell, nor let to farm, nor take any thing from, the domains of the church, till the fucceffor was installed (1). And it was made one of the articles of the great charter 4, that no waste should be commit ted in the temporaltics of bishopricks, neither should the cuftody of them be fold. The fame is ordained by the statute of Weftminster the firft; and the ftatute 14 Edw. III. ft. 4. c. 4. (which permits, as we have feen, a leafe to the dean and chapter) is ftill more explicit in prohibiting the other exactions. It was also a frequent abufe, that the king would for trifling, or no causes, seise the temporalties of bishops, even during their lives, into his own hands: but this is guarded against by ftatute 1 Edw. III. ft. 2. c. 2.

I

THIS revenue of the king, which was formerly very confiderable, is now by a cuftomary indulgence almoft reduced to nothing: for, at present, as soon as the new bishop is con fecrated and confirmed, he ufually receives the restitution of his temporalties quite entire, and untouched, from the king; and at the fame time does homage to his fovereign: and then, and not fooner, he has a fee-fimple in his bishop. rick, and may maintain an action for the profits.

II. THE king is entitled to a corody, as the law calls it, out of every bishoprick, that is, to send one of his chaplains to be maintained by the bishop, or to have a pension alloweḍ him till the bishop promotes him to a benefice. This is allo in the nature of an acknowlegemeht to the king, as founder of the fee, fince he had formerly the fame corody or penfion from every abbey or priory of royal foundation. It is, I apprehend, now fallen into total disuse: though fir Matthew

(1) But queen Elizabeth kept the fee of Ely vacant 19 year3, in order to retain the revenue. Strype, 4

Strype, 4 vol. 351.

Hale

Hale fays, that it is due of common right, and that no prefcription will discharge it.

III. THE king alfo (as was formerly observed 1) is entitled to all the tithes arifing in extraparochial places k: though [284] perhaps it may be doubted how far this article, as well as the laft, can be properly reckoned a part of the king's own royal revenue: fince a corody supports only his chaplains, and thefe 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 confifts in the firft-fruits, and tenths, of all fpiritual preferments in the kingdom; both of which I fhall confider together.

THESE were originally a part of the papal ufurpations 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 fee of Norwich; and afterwards attempted to be made univerfal by the popes Clement V and John XXII, about the beginning of the fourteenth century. The firstfruits, primitiae, or annates, 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 bifhop of Norwich in 38 Hen. III, and afterwards advanced in value by commiflion from pope Nicholas III, A. D. 1292, 20 Edw. I which valuation of pope Nicholas is still preferved in the exchequer ". The tenths, or decimae, were the tenth part of the annual profit of each living by the fame valuation; which was alfo claimed by the holy fee, under no better pretence than a ftrange mifapplication of that precept of the Levitical law, which directs, that the Levites "should offer the tenth part of their tithes as a heave-offer"ing to the Lord, and give it to Aaron the high priest." But this claim of the pope met with a vigorous refistance from the

English parliament; and a variety of acts were paffed to prevent and restrain it, particularly the ftatute 6 Hen. IV. c. I. which calls it a horrible mifchief and damnable custom. But the popish clergy, blindly devoted to the will of a foreign mafter, ftill kept it on foot; fometimes more fecretly, fometimes more openly and avowedly: fo that in the reign of Henry VIII, it was computed, that in the compass of fifty years 800,000 ducats had been fent to Rome for firft-fruits only. And, as the clergy expreffed this unwillingness to contribute fo much of their income to the head of the church, it was thought proper (when in the fame reign the papal power was abolished, and the king was declared the head of the church of England) to annex this revenue to the crown; which was done by ftatute 26 Hen. VIII. c. 3. (confirmed by ftatute 1 Eliz. c. 4.) and a new valor beneficiorum was then made, by which the clergy are at prefent rated (2).

By these last mentioned ftatutes all vicarages under ten pounds a year, and all rectories under ten marks, are difcharged from the payment of firft-fruits: and if, in fuch livings as continue chargeable with this payment, the incumbent lives but half a year, he fhall pay only one quarter of his first-fruits; if but one whole year, then

(2) When the first-fruits and tenths were transferred to the crown of England, by 26 Hen. VIII. c. 3. at the fame time it was enacted, that commiffioners fhould be appointed in every diocefe, who fhould certify the value of every ecclefiaftical benefice and preferment in the refpective diocefes; and according to this valuation, the first-fruits and tenths were to be collected and paid in future. This valor beneficiorum is what is commonly called the King's Books; a tranfcript of which is given in Ecton's Thefaurus, and Bacon's Liber Regis.

VOL. I.

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