Composition of tithes. Tithe in kind. Land is rated according to it. only their net annual value, after allowing adequately for necessary expences, which is the proper subject of the rate. Great tithes are either gathered in kind, or paid by composition amongst the tenan-. try, to raise the rent contracted for with the tithe landlord. The rate upon the latter mode is easily ascertained, the rent charged being the rateable annual value of the tithe; which is assessed in the same proportion of poundage, as on rent payable to the proprietor of the soil, where the ground is tenanted; or according to the supposed annual value when occupied by the owner. Where tithes are gathered in kind, their rate must be estimated from the value of the produce, making due allowance for trouble in collecting, and for greater risk and trouble in housing, thrashsmall ing out, and marketing so many quantities of produce. The value of tithes is, in some measure, regulated by the value of the land on tithe upon which they are exacted; and as all titheable lands are worth less rent to the pro prietor by the value of such tithes, so those which are tithe-free, or partly exempt, are in the same proportion rendered more valuable, and rateable in a higher degree. The question, whether land is titheable or exempt, is of importance to the landlord in fixing the rent, and is of the same consequence in fixing the rate. "Where the parson lets his tithes to the tenant of the land from whom they are due, it seems that the former is to be considered as the occupier, and rated to the poor as such. For it has been observed, that the letting is but an agreement with the tenant of the land to retain the tithes, and he is to be considered either as a person who buys them, or as one excused from paying any; and the clergyman continues occupier in point of law. When the parson, or his farmer, receives a sum of money in lieu of tithe; that is, in law, a receipt of the tithe, with this only difference, that it is a tithe in kind. In the case of a composition, as this is, or a modus, it was never thought but that the The parson for tithes is rateable let singly to tenants. A person farming the tithes is rateable for them. Exemption from tithe. parson was occupier of the tithe, there being no colour to charge the tenant of the land. "Also if one farms the parson's tithes, and agrees, by parol, with the tenant of the land, that in consideration of his paying so much, he shall retain the tithes for the year, and gather in the whole crop without dividing; this is not an underlease of a thing, which lies only in a grant, and the tithe farmer is the occupier to be rated, and not the parson or tenant of the land." Exemption from tithe arises either from composition, modus, or immemorial custom. Lands, which belonged to any of the monasteries, dissolved by the 31 Hen. 8., are now free from tithe; but this privilege does not extend to lands belonging to the lesser monasteries, which were dissolved by the 27 Hen. 8. In some places it has been customary, time out of mind, to give in lieu of tithe, an equivalent in work and labour, as by gathering the eleventh or twelfth cock of hay instead of the tenth, giving the difference for the trouble of making the hay. By the statute of 13 Eliz. no parson or vicar shall make a conveyance or composition of the estate of their churches for a Tithes canfor a longer not be taken term than for the par son's life or 21 years. longer period than their lives, or twentyone years. But for the above, or any lesser term, tithes may be contracted or compounded for betwixt the rector or lay impropriator, and the proprietor of the land, which will be binding to both parties, and prevent any gathering in kind during the term. The small moduses, which are not Moduses. paid in lieu of tithe, hay, or small tithes, were fixed previous to the 13 Eliz., and have been continued down to the present time, without being altered or affected by that Act. "For a modus or equivalent to be good, it must be certain and invariable; it must be beneficial to the parson; it must be permanent and durable; and, lastly, it must be a fair and equitable composition, and such as has existed time out of mind. Time out of mind, as explained in the first part, is considered to commence from the Tithe must be deducted from the value of land in lay ing rate on titheable land. are esti mated. beginning of the reign of Richard I., or before the year 1189." In ascertaining the rent of land subject to tithes, the value of the latter must be deducted from the annual value of the use of the soil. The same steps must be taken in estimating the rate. The proportion which each bears to the other, is regulated by local circumstances, and the extent of the liability of land to tithe on its produce. How tithes The following estimates may serve to give an idea of the manner in which the proportions of tithe are ascertained. On regular arable farms, where about one-third of the land is kept in permanent grass, and on which full tithes are due, one-fifth part of the annual value or rent that the farm would be worth if tithe-free is deemed a fair compensation; that is, land free from tithe, and worth 35s. per acre, is only worth 28s. per acre if subject to the payment of all tithes, leaving the difference 7s., which is one-fifth of the whole, as the value of the full tithes. Suppose a farm of one hundred acres be |