w 



DOXU'U.i:. 



DOMICILE. 



We ahall now aay a few word* on the UIK and consequence* of the 

 Snrrev notation the king acquired an exact knowledge of 



the |ion*aiiini of the crown. It afforded him the name* of the land- 

 holder*. It furnished him with the mean* of ascertaining the military 

 strength of the country ; and it pointed out the possibility of increasing 

 th* revenue in some C*M, and uf liyutfining the demands of the tax- 

 collector* in other*. It wa* moreover a register of appeal for those 

 whose title* to their property might be disputed. 



Appeal* to the decision of this Survey occur at a very early period. 

 Peter of Blois notice* an appeal of the monks of Croyland to it in the 

 reign of Henry I. Others occur in the Abbreviatio Placitorum from 

 the time of John downward. In Liter reigns the pleading* upon 

 ancient demesne are extremely numerous : and the proof of ancient 

 demesne still rests with the Domesday Survey. Other cases in which 

 its evidence is yet appealed to in our court* of low, are in proving the 

 antiquity of nulls, and in letting up prescriptions IB rum dtcimavdo. 

 By stat 9 Edw. II., called Articuli Cleri, it was determined that 

 prohibition should not lie upon demand of tithe for a new mill. The 

 mill, therefore, which is found in Domesday must be presumed older 

 than the 9th Edw. II., and is, of course, discharged, by ita evidence, 

 from tithe. 



On the discharge of abbey -lands from tithes, as proved by Domes- 

 day, it may be proper to state that Pope Paschal II. at an early period, 

 exempted generally all the religious from paying tithes of lauds in 

 their own hands. This privilege was afterwards restrained to the four 

 favoured Orders, the Cistercians, the Templars, the Hospitallers, and 

 the Premonstratensians. So it continued till the fourth Council of 

 Lateran in 1215, when the privilege was again restrained to such lands 

 as the abbeys had at that time, and was declared not to extend to any 

 after-purchased lands. And it extends only to lands dnm propriii 

 manil/iu cvlnntur. From the paucity of dates in early documents, the 

 Domesday Survey is very frequently the only evidence which can be 

 adduced that the land* claiming a discharge were vested in the 

 monastery previous to the year expressed in the Lateran Council. 



Although in early times, Domesday, precious as it was always 

 deemed, occasionally travelled, like other records, to distant parts, till 

 1896 it wa* usually kept with the king's seal, at Westminster, by the 

 aide of the Tally Court in the exchequer, under three locks and keys, 

 in the charge of the auditor, the chamberlains, and the deputy- 

 chamberhuns of the exchequer. In the last-mentioned year it w.n 

 deposited among other valuable records in the Chapter-house, where it 

 still remains. 



The two most important works for the student of the Domesday 

 Survey are Kelham's ' Domesday Book illustrated,' 8vo, Lond. 1788, 

 and the ' General Introduction ' to the survey, reprinted by command 

 of his Majesty under the direction of the commissioners on the Public 

 Records, 2 vols., 8vo, 1833, accompanied by fresh indices. A translation 

 of the whole, under the title of ' Dom-Boc,' was undertaken early 

 in the present century by the Rev. William Bawdwen, vicar of Hooton 

 Pagnell, in Yorkshire, who published Yorkshire, with the counties of 

 Derby, Nottingham, Rutland, and Lincoln, in 4to, Doncaster, 1809, 

 followed by the counties of Middlesex, Hertford, Buckingham, Oxford, 

 and Gloucester, 4to, Doncaster, 1812; but the work went no further. 

 County portion* of this record will be found translated in most of our 

 provincial histories; the belt are undoubtedly those in Dugdale's 

 Warwickshire, Nichols's Leicestershire, Hutchimt's Dorsetshire, Hash's 

 Worcestershire, Bray and Manning's Surrey, Clutterbuck's H< 

 shirr, Surtees' Durham, Ormerod'g Cheshire, and Baker's Northamp- 

 tonshire, u far as it was published. Mr. Henry Penruddocke 

 Wy tidbiiin published Wiltshire, extracted from Domesday Book, 8vo, 

 Balisb. 1708, and the Rev. Richard Warner, Hampshire, 4 to, Lond. 

 178V. Warwickshire has been published more recently by Mr. Reader. 

 There are numerous other publications incidentally illustrative of 

 Domesday topography, which the reader must seek for according to 

 the county a to which he may desire information. 



1'iiMHll.K. In the Roman law IfamirUium. Many jurists have 

 attempted to define domicile, but they have scarcely succeeded in so 

 doing; the question, whether one domicile has been abandoned and 

 another acquired depends so much upon act* and intention in each 

 particular case, that no general rule will universally apply. A domicile 

 might be described as " a residenco at a particular place, with an 

 evident intention to remain there." 



The fo. lowing rules appear to comprise the generally adopted prin- 

 ciples on the subject : 



being guardian, might change the domicile of her children, provided it 

 was not done for a fraudulent purpose, which would be presumed in 

 the absence of any reasonable motive. In Scotland, a minor, after the 

 age of puberty, ia not personally under the control of his guardian, 

 and may change his domicile by his own act. 



3. A married woman follows the domicile of her husband. 



4. A widow retains the domicile of her late husband till she acquires 

 another. 



5. The place where a man resides is, for a great many purposes, to 

 be considered his domicile, and, primd faat, is to be taken to be so till 

 other facts establish the contrary. 



6. Every person of full age, who removes from one place to another, 

 with the intention of making the latter his place of permanent resi- 

 dence, constitutes it his domicile. 



7. The domicile of origin must be considered to prevail till the 

 party has not only acquired another, but manifested and carried into 

 effect an intention of abandoning his former domicile, and adopting 

 another as his sole domicile. But the domicile of origin cannot be 

 preserved by a mere floating intention of returning to it at some 

 future period, or revived by a mere abandonment of the acquired 

 domicile, unless perhaps where the party dies I'M ilincre towards the 

 intended domicile. " It is to be remembered," says Sir William Scott 

 (Lord Stowell), " that the native character easily reverts, and that it 

 requires fewer circumstances to constitute domicile in the case of a 

 native subject than to impress the national character on one who is 

 originally of another country." 



8. An acquired domicile is not lost by mere abandonment, but con- 

 tinues until a subsequent domicile U acquired, which can be done only 

 animo et fiirtn. 



9. A married man's domicile is generally taken to be where the 

 residence of his family is ; unless this conclusion is controlled by 

 circumstances, such as proof that he has altogether abandoned his 

 family, or that their place of residence is temporary : but 



10. If a man, whether married or not, has two places of residence 

 at different times of the year, that will be esteemed his domicile whi. li 

 he himself selects, describes, or deems to be his home, or which 

 appears to be the centre of his affairs ; for example, that of a noble- 

 man or country gentleman, his residence in the country that of a 

 merchant, his residence in town. 



11. Residence in a place, to produce a change of domicile, must be 

 voluntary. Thus, if it be produced by constraint, as by banishment, 

 arrest, or imprisonment, it cannot affect the domicile. For the same 

 reason a person abroad in the service of the state does not change his 

 domicile. But it has been held that a Scotchman entering the .-< 



of the East India Company acquires a domicile in India, which (like a 

 domicile acquired in any of the colonies) is in legal effect the same as a 

 domicile in England. (Craigie r. Lewin, 3 Curt. Eccl. Rep. 447.) 



12. It was held in the Roman law that a man might, under certain 

 circumstances, be said to have no domicile, as when he quits one place 

 of residence with the intention of fixing himself in another. But this 

 is not admitted in our law, in which, as before stated, it is held that 

 the former domicile is not lost till the new one is acquired animo et 

 facto. And in the possible case of a man of unknown origin acquiring 

 two contemporaneous domiciles under the same circumstances, the Ux 

 loci rei rita would probably prevail tx neceuitate in questions as to his 

 personal property. 



Thus it appears that domicile, considered in relation to the civil 

 status of the jjerson, is of three kinds 1st, domicile of origin, 

 depending on that of the parents at the time of birth ; 

 domicile of choice, which is voluntarily acquired by the party ; and, 

 3rd, domicile by operation of law, as that of a wife, arising from 

 



Personal property must be distributed according to the law of the 

 country in which the deceased was domiciled at the time of death. 

 So also, according to our present law, a will u treated as valid or not, 

 as it is or is not executed in conformity with the law of the country 

 in which the testator died domiciled. The validity of a marriage will 

 depeud on the law of the country in which it takes place, provided the 

 parties thereto are bund fide domiciled in that country, but the resort 

 to a foreign country for the purpose of benefiting by the laxity of 

 foreign law in respect of marriage will not avail, unless there be a bond 

 fide domicile in that foreign country. In England every person, 

 whether native or foreigner, who is for the time being within England, 

 is amenable to the jurisdiction of its civil courts, and may sue or be 



