THE STANNARIES OF CORNWALL. 299 



howevei- raiist liave heen common — and wliat was the remefly if 

 any adventiirer failed to contribute liis portion of material? I 

 should think it probalile that tlie practice which was formulated 

 so distinctly in 26 Geo. II, art 11, and which in all its essential 

 features was incorporated into stat, 6 and 7 \Vm, TV, c. 106, 

 and is the present procedure of the court in 2)urser's suits, 

 was put in force. In 1752 the practice of contributing- in specie 

 had probably ])econie obsolete, no allusion is made to it whilst 

 procedure is laid down to meet the case of the adventurer who 

 refused to contribute his due proportion of the amount of costs 

 incurred upon making' up the three monthly account. Upon 

 refusal to pay, his tin stuff was to be sold. If that proved 

 insufficient his shaie, or so nivich of it as might be necessarA' 

 was to be solfl by auction, the balance after payment of debt 

 and costs to be paid over to the adventurer, but if the share 

 was of no value it was to be divided among.st the rest of the 

 adventurers in proportion to their shares. 



The old practice which we have just noticed of adventurers 

 severally bringing- in their own proportion of material (and it 

 would seem of labour also) accounts naturally for the provisions 

 of the next article, art. 6) which lays it down that a party to 

 whom any money shall be due for goods or wages shall onlj' 

 sue the person who contracted for the goods and the labour. 

 We know that in time it became usual for the purser to 

 represent the adventurers in the contracts made for the mine, 

 and hence arose the established practice of making the purser 

 the defendant in creditor's suits. This illustrates in a pointed 

 manner the gradual substitution of a consolidated company with 

 its agent for the looser association of older times. 



Having fixed each adventurer with liability on his own 

 contracts this article 6 proceeds with great particularity to enact 

 that if he should be compelled to pay more than his proportion 

 he shall have contribution against the rest, and that if any 

 person shall be in arrear of their costs after the account is taken 

 their tin and tin stuff shall be sequestered and remain as security 

 until the matter is tried. The last paragraph indicates again 

 the origin of the purser's suits to which reference has already 

 been made. 



