342 TITHES 



process was completed. Consequently, in catchy seasons the rain 

 often outstripped the slow progress of the tithing-man, and the 

 crops were ruined. 



The collection of tithes in kind, regulated as it was by the subtle 

 and technical distinctions of case-made law, provoked endless bicker- 

 ings, disputes and litigation. If tithe-owners were clergymen, 

 living in their parishes, they naturally welcomed any reasonable 

 system of payment which enabled them to live on friendly terms 

 with their parishoners. Non-resident pluralists, or lay impropriators 

 who let out the tithes to proctors, could better afford to defy the 

 public opinion of the neighbourhood. But they were not always 

 proof against business arguments. The heavy, cost of collecting 

 tithes in kind suggested the commercial prudence of adopting other 

 arrangements. Barns must be built and repaired for the storage of 

 produce. The weekly wages of servants must be met. Waggons and 

 horses, with the necessary cart-sheds and stabling must be provided 

 and maintained. The cost, not only of collecting, but of threshing, 

 dressing and marketing corn had to be met. The net profits of a 

 crop were thus reduced to a minimum by the duplication of expenses. 

 Various forms of payment were therefore substituted for collection 

 in kind. Sometimes, and especially under enclosures of open fields, 

 tithes were extinguished by allotments of land of equivalent value. 

 Sometimes it was considered that the increase of the area of land 

 held in mortmain or the difficult position of clerical landowners 

 were objections to the exchange of tithes for their equivalent in 

 landed property, and a corn-rent was substituted. Sometimes 

 tithes were commuted for a composition calculated on the acre or 

 on the pound of rent paid, and either fixed for a term of years or 

 based on an annual estimate of the value of the crops. Sometimes 

 farmers had the option of taking the tithable portion at the sur- 

 veyor's valuation or leaving it to be collected by the tithe-owner. 

 Sometimes, in a few fortunate parishes, a modus had by immemorial 

 usage taken the place of tithes. Moduses were payments of definite 

 sums, which had been permanently fixed in amount at a time when 

 the purchasing power of money had been far greater than it had 

 since become. They were, therefore, advantageous to the tithe- 

 payer. A modus of Id. on every fleece shorn in the parish was no 

 real equivalent to a tenth of the value of the wool. 1 



1 For various methods of collecting tithes in the different counties 1793- 

 1815, see Appendix VII. 



