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mortmain (c), though there are many statutory exceptions to this latter disability (d).

[III. As to the alienation of church property.-At common law, though an ordinary tenant for life could make no alienation to hold good beyond his own life, yet some tenants for life, where the fee simple was in abeyance, might (with the concurrence of such as had the guardianship of the fee) make leases of equal duration with those granted by tenants in fee simple; and this, in particular, was the case in regard to incumbents of livings, whether rectors or vicars, provided they obtained the consent of the patron and ordinary (e), or (in case the living was donative) the consent of the patron alone (ƒ). So also bishops and deans, and such other sole ecclesiastical corporations as were seised of the fee simple of lands in their corporate right, might (with the concurrence and confirmation of such persons as the law required) have made leases for years, or for life, estates in tail, or in fee, without any limitation or control. Such leases or estates might have been made by archbishops and bishops, with the confirmation of the dean and chapter; and by deans, archdeacons, and prebendaries, with the confirmation of the bishop and chapter (g), although, if the deanery was donative, the consent of the king alone was required (h). And corporations aggregate (e.g., a dean and chapter) might have made what estates they pleased in their church or other

(c) Wats. C. L. 372, 374.

(d) 29 Car. 2 (1677); c. 8; Queen Anne's Bounty Act, 1706, s. 4; 1714, ss. 4, 21; Clergy Residences Repair Act, 1776; Queen Anne's Bounty Act, 1803; Gifts for Churches Act, 1811; Glebe Exchange Act, 1816; Clergy Residence Act, 1826; Augmentation of Benefices Act, 1831; Church Building Acts, 1838, 1839; Queen Anne's Bounty Act, 1840; Ecclesi

astical Commissioners Act, 1841;
Episcopal and Capitular Estates
Acts, 1851 and 1859; Ecclesiastical
Leasing Act, 1858, s. 2.

(e) Co. Litt. 44; Bac. Ab. Leases (E.); Vivian v. Blomberg (1836), 3 Bing. N. C. 311.

(f) 1 Roll. Abr. 481.

(g) Dean of Ely v. Stewart (1740), 2 Atk. 44; Wats. C. L. ch. 44.

(h) Comp. Incumb. 371.

[lands, without the confirmation of any other person whatsoever. But the powers of ecclesiastical persons in regard to alienation have now been greatly altered by

statute..

For, first, by the enabling statute 32 Hen. VIII. (1540) c. 28, persons seised in fee simple in right of their churches. might make leases for three lives or twenty-one years, so as to bind their successors, provided they observed the several requisites and formalites prescribed by that statute; but by the disabling statute, 1 Eliz. (1559) c. 19, all grants or leases by archbishops and bishops were made void, unless they were for no longer terms than twenty-one years or three lives from the making, and unless they reserved, at the least, the old accustomed yearly rents. Secondly, by force of the statute 13 Eliz. (1571) c. 10 (explained and enforced by the statutes 14 Eliz. (1572) cc. 11 and 14, and 18 Eliz. (1576) c. 11), ecclesiastical corporations, such as cathedrals, collegiate churches, and the like, including also parsons, were restrained from making any grants or leases of their lands, unless under the following regulations :-(1.) They must not, in general, have exceeded twenty-one years, or three lives, from the making; (2.) The accustomed rent, or more, must have been reserved thereon; (3.) Where there was an old lease in being, no concurrent lease could have been made, unless where the old one would expire within three years; and (4.) No lease was to be made without impeachment of waste. Thirdly, ecclesiastical persons with cure of souls were restrained from charging their benefices so as to render them liable for any payment thereout, even in their own time (); and this was by force of the statute 13 Eliz. (1571) c. 20, under which statute it was held, that an instrument framed as a lease, but amounting in substance and design to a charge, was illegal and void. And not only a completed charge, but

(i) Bac. Abr. Leases (F.).

[any voluntary agreement to charge, was equally void (k).] But loans made to incumbents by the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty are now excepted from the 13 Eliz. (1571) c. 20.

Such, from the reign of Queen Elizabeth to that of King William the Fourth, continued to be the state of the law in this matter, subject only to the partial relaxations from time to time introduced by various Acts of Parliament. But in the reign last mentioned, a new series of statutes on the subject of alienation by ecclesiastical persons commenced; and this legislation has continued. also (more or less) throughout the past and present reigns.

First, by the Ecclesiastical Leases Act, 1836 (as amended by another Act of the same session), relative to the renewal of church leases, no ecclesiastical corporation may grant any new lease by way of renewal, until one or more of the persons for whose lives it was granted shall be dead; and then only for the surviving life or lives, together with such new life or lives as shall make up the number, not exceeding three, for which the original lease was granted. And where the previous lease was for forty, thirty, or twenty-one years, the renewed lease may not be granted until fourteen, ten, or seven years of the first term shall have expired respectively; and there can be no renewal for life, where the original lease was for years only.

Secondly, by the Ecclesiastical Leases Act, 1842 (with reference to farming leases) an incumbent may, with the consent of his patron and bishop, demise for a term not exceeding fourteen years any part of the glebe or other church land, provided the best rent that can be gotten be reserved, and be made payable quarterly, and provided no fine or foregift be taken for the lease, and the lessee be

(k) Hawkins v. Gathercole (1855), 24 L. J. Ch. 332; Ex parte Arrowsmith (1878), 8 Ch. D. 100;

McBean v. Deane (1885), 30 Ch. D. 520.

not made dispunishable for waste, and the lease contain such covenants as to cultivation, management, and other matters, as the Act particularly specifies (). But no such lease is to be valid, unless it excepts the house of residence, and at least ten acres of land (m).

But, thirdly, by the Ecclesiastical Leasing Act, 1842, the lands or houses of a benefice may now be demised on an improving and repairing lease for any term not exceeding ninety-nine years; and leases or licences with respect to watercourses, wayleaves, railroads, and other like easements upon or over the property (n), or with respect to the mines, minerals, or quarries (o), of ecclesiastical persons, may be made or granted, the provisions of the Act being duly observed. And by the Capitular and Episcopal Estates Act, 1851 (p), ecclesiastical corporations may, with the approval of the Church Estates Commissioners, sell to their lessees the reversion of the corporation in the premises comprised in the lease; or may enfranchise any copyhold or customary land held of any manor belonging to the corporation; or may effect exchanges with their lessees; or may, on the other hand, purchase the interest of such lessees in any corporation lands, or the interest of any holder of copyhold or customary land belonging to the manor. And by the Ecclesiastical Leasing Act, 1858, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners may approve under their seal the lease of any part of the lands or other property of any ecclesiastical corporation, aggregate or sole, (except such as are in the Act specially excepted,) for such considerations, and for such terms, and under such covenants or agreements on the part of the lessees, and generally in such manner as to the commissioners shall seem advisable. But, by the Ecclesiastical

(/) 5 & 6 Vict. c. 27, s. 1.

(m) Sect. 2.

(n) 5 & 6 Vict. c. 108, s. 4.

(0) Sect. 6; Doe d. Brammall v.

Collinge (1849), 7 C. B. 939

(p) Amended by Acts of 1854, 1858, 1859; and Ecclesiastical Commissioners Acts, 1860 and

1868.

Commissioners Act, 1860, no lands assigned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as the endowment of any see may be granted by the archbishop or bishop otherwise than from year to year, or for a term of years in possession not exceeding twenty-one years, at the best annual rent that can be reasonably gotten, without fine, the lessee not to be dispunishable for, or exempted from liability in respect of, waste. And in every such lease, such or the like covenants, conditions, and reservations are to be entered into, reserved, or contained for the benefit of the archbishop or bishop and his successors, as under the Ecclesiastical Leases Act, 1842, are to be contained in a lease for the benefit of the incumbent and his successors, or as near thereto as the circumstances of the case will permit. But the archbishop or bishop may, with the approval of the Church Estates Commissioners, grant mining or building or other leases, for such periods, upon such considerations, and generally in such manner as he may think fit; and a portion of the rent reserved on any such lease may be made payable to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (7).

Finally, by the Glebe Lands Act, 1888 (r), the incumbent of any benefice is enabled, on due notice to the bishop of the diocese and to the patron, and with the approval of the Board of Agriculture, to procure a sale of the glebe lands, except the parsonage house and the outbuildings, and garden or other land necessary for the convenient enjoyment thereof. If, however, the bishop or patron objects to the sale, and the Board should consider the objection a good one, the sale is not to proceed (ss. 2, 3). But if a sale is effected, the land is sold free from all incumbrances thereon (s. 6), and also from all annual charges (s. 7); these incumbrances and charges being respectively transferred to the sale proceeds, which proceeds are payable to the Board of Agriculture (s. 4), who

(g) 23 & 24 Vict. ss. 2- 8.

124, c.

(r) 51 & 52 Vict. c. 20.

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