[tody of the temporalities 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 sovereign, 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 dissolution of abbeys, the crown had the custody of the temporalities 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. Another reason may also be given why the policy of the law hath vested this custody in the sovereign because, as the successor is 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 sovereign, not the temporalities themselves, but the custody of the temporalities, till such time as a successor is appointed, with power of taking to himself all the intermediate profits, without any account to the successor; and with the right of presenting, (which the crown very frequently exercises,) to such benefices and other preferments as fall within the time of vacation (ƒ). 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 14 Edw. III. st. 4, c. 4 and 5, the king may, after the vacancy, lease the temporalities to the dean and chapter; saving to himself all advowsons, escheats, and the like. Our antient kings, and particularly William Rufus, were not only remarkable for keeping the bishoprics a long time vacant (g), for the sake of enjoying the temporalities, but also committed horrible waste on the woods and other parts of the estate; and, to crown all,

(f) Stat. 17 Edw. 2, c. 14; F. N. B. 32.

(g) An instance of this occurred as late as the reign of Queen Eliza

beth, who kept the see of Ely vacant nineteen years, in order to retain the revenue.-- Strype, vol. iv. 351. (Christian's Blackstone.)

[would never, when the see was filled up, restore to the bishop his temporalities again, unless he purchased them at an exorbitant price. To remedy which, King Henry the first (h) granted a charter at the beginning of his reign, promising neither to sell, nor let to farm, nor take anything from, the domains of the Church, till the successor was installed. And it was made one of the articles of the great charter (i), that no waste should be committed in the temporalities of bishoprics, neither should the custody of them be sold. The same is ordained by the statute of Westminster the first (k): 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 temporalities 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, 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 temporalities quite entire and untouched from the crown; and at the same time does homage to his sovereign; and then, and no sooner, he has a fee simple in his bishopric, and may maintain an action for the profits (1).]

II. [The next branch (m) is also of an ecclesiastical kind, and consists in the first-fruits and tenths of all spiritual preferments in the kingdom; both of which shall be considered together.

(h) Matth. Paris.
(i) 9 Hen. 3, c. 5.
(k) 3 Edw. 1, c. 21.
(1) Co. Litt. 67, 341.

(m) Blackstone notices' (vol. i. p. 284), as two other branches of the royal revenue, first, the right of the crown to a corody out of every bishopric, that is, the right to send one of the royal chaplains to be maintained

by the bishop, or to have a pension allowed him till the bishop promotes him to a benefice (vide sup. vol. 1. p. 648, n. (h)); secondly, the right of the crown to the tithes arising in extra-parochial places: but the former, he apprehends to be fallen into total disuse; and he doubts if either of them is properly to be considered as a part of the royal revenue.

[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 the fifth and John the twenty-second, about the beginning of the fourteenth century. The first-fruits, primitiæ or annates, were the first year's whole profits of the spiritual preferment, according to a rate or valor made] in the time [of Pope Innocent the fourth, by Walter, Bishop of Norwich,] and were afterwards advanced in value, in the time of Pope Nicholas the fourth, under a taxation by the king's precept; which valuation (called that of Pope Nicholas) was begun in 1288, and finished in 1292, and [is still preserved in the Exchequer (n). The tenths, or decima, 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 misapplication of that precept of the Levitical law, which directs (o), 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 these pretensions of the pope met with a vigorous resistance from the English parliament; and a variety of acts were passed to prevent and restrain them, particularly the statute 6 Hen. IV. c. 1, which calls the payment of first-fruits a horrible mischief and damnable custom. But the popish clergy, blindly devoted to the will of a foreign master, still kept the papal claims on foot; sometimes more secretly, sometimes more openly and avowedly so that in the reign of Henry the eighth, it was computed, that in the compass of fifty years 800,000

(n) 3 Inst. 154; Report on Public Records; Phillips on Evidence, vol. i. p. 384, 6th edit., where it is also observed, that this taxation of Pope Nicholas is an important document, because all the taxes, as well those paid to our kings as those to the pope,

were regulated by it, till the survey
made in the twenty-sixth year of
Henry the eighth; and because the
statutes of colleges, which were
founded before the Reformation, are
still interpreted by this criterion.
(0) Numb. xviii. 26.

[ducats had been sent to Rome for first-fruits only. And, as the clergy expressed this willingness to contribute so much of their income to the head of the church, it was thought proper, (when in the same 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 statute 26 Hen. VIII. c. 3.] By this statute (confirmed by 1 Eliz. c. 4), it was enacted, that commissioners should be appointed in every diocese, to certify the value of every ecclesiastical benefice and preferment, and that according to this valuation, the firstfruits and tenths should be collected and paid in future. This Valor Beneficiorum was accordingly made (p), and is that commonly called the King's Books, by which the clergy are at present rated.

[By these last-mentioned statutes all vicarages under ten pounds a year, and all rectories under ten marks, are discharged from the payment of first-fruits: and if, in such livings as continue chargeable with this payment, the incumbent lives but half a year, he shall pay only one quarter of his first-fruits; if but one whole year, then half of them; if a year and a half, three quarters; and if two years, then the whole; and not otherwise.] The archbishops and bishops have four years allowed for the payment, and shall pay one quarter every year, if they live so long upon the bishopric. But other dignitaries of the church pay upon the same principle as rectors and vicars. [Likewise by the statute 27 Hen. VIII. c. 8, no tenths are to be paid for the first year, for then the first-fruits are due: and by other statutes of Queen Anne, in the fifth and sixth years of her reign, if a benefice be under fifty pounds per annum clear yearly value, it shall be discharged of the payment of firstfruits and tenths.

Thus the richer clergy being, by the criminal bigotry of their popish predecessors, subjected at first to a foreign exaction, were afterwards, when that yoke was shaken off,

(p) This valor will be found in Ecton's Thesaurus.

[liable to a like misapplication of their revenues, through the rapacious disposition of the then reigning monarch: till at length the piety of Queen Anne restored to the Church what had been thus indirectly taken from it. This she did, not by remitting the tenths and first-fruits entirely; but, in a spirit of the truest equity, by applying these superfluities of the larger benefices to make up the deficiencies of the smaller. And to this end she granted her royal charter, which was confirmed by the statute 2 & 3 Anne, c. 11, whereby all the revenue of first-fruits and tenths is vested in trustees for ever, to form a perpetual fund for the augmentation of poor livings. This is usually called Queen Anne's bounty, which has been still further regulated by subsequent statutes (q).]

III. [The next branch of the ordinary revenue of the sovereign (which, as well as the subsequent branches, is of a lay or temporal nature,) consists in the rents and profits of the demesne lands of the crown. These demesne lands, terræ dominicales regis, being either the share reserved to the crown at the original distribution of landed property, or such as came to it afterwards by forfeitures or other means, were antiently very large and extensive; comprising divers manors, honors, and lordships, the tenants of which had very peculiar privileges, as has been shown in a former book of these Commentaries, when we spoke of the tenure in antient demesne (r). At present they are contracted within a very narrow compass, having been almost entirely granted away to private subjects. This has occasioned the parliament frequently to interpose; and particularly, after King William the third had greatly impoverished the crown, an act passed (s),] by the effect of which, and of subsequent

(q) As to Queen Anne's bounty, see 5 Ann. c. 24; 6 Ann. c. 27; 1 Geo. 1, st. 2, c. 10; 3 Geo. 1, c. 10; 43 Geo. 3, c. 107; 45 Geo. 3, c. 84, s. 4; 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 45; 1 & 2 Vict. c. 20; c. 23, ss. 3, 4;

c. 106, ss. 72, 119; c. 107, s. 10; 2 & 3 Vict. c. 49; 3 & 4 Vict. c. 20; c. 113, s. 76; 4 & 5 Vict. c. 39, s. 4; et 6 & 7 Vict. c. 37.

(r) Vide sup. vol. 1. pp. 224, 225. (s) 1 Anne, st. 1, c. 7, s. 5; see also