CHAPTER XVI. 

 TITHES. 



The incidence of tithes under the old law ; the historical origin of tithes ; 

 a free-will offering ; a customary payment ; the appeal to conscience ; 

 ecclesiastical penalties for non-payment ; a legal liability : tithes as 

 parochial endowments ; the Reformation ; the collection of tithes in 

 kind unpopular, and expensive to tithe-owners ; substituted forms of 

 payment ; the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 ; its object and machinery. 



A SERIOUS obstacle to the progress or recovery of agriculture was 

 presented by the incidence of tithe upon the produce of the land. 

 Tithe-owners were sleeping partners in the cultivation of the soil. 

 They contributed neither capital nor labour to the enterprise of the 

 farm ; they risked nothing in the venture. But they shared the 

 profits derived from increased productiveness. While agriculture 

 remained stationary, the burden was light. As soon as farming 

 began to advance, and to demand a greater outlay, the grievance 

 was acutely felt. In times of prosperity the incidence on produce 

 discouraged improvement. In days of adversity, when every penny 

 was important to struggling agriculturists, it retarded recovery. 



Since the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836, much of the ancient 

 law of tithes has retained only an antiquarian interest. But the 

 long history of the payment has left an indelible mark on rural life. 



Historically, tithes were a tenth part, taken yearly, of all produce 

 of the land, of the stock nourished upon the land, and of the clear 

 profits of the personal industry of tradesmen, artificers, millers, 

 and fishermen. In other words, tithes were, as lawyers distinguished 

 them by their sources, predial, mixed, or personal. Predial tithes 

 were derived directly from the soil, such as corn, hay, beans, peas, 

 turnips, hemp, flax, saffron, rushes, fruits, and wood of various 

 kinds. Mixed tithes arose from the increase or produce of animals 

 maintained by the fruits of the earth, as of cattle, sheep, pigs, 

 poultry or their eggs, wool, milk or cheese. Personal tithes on the 



