c u s 
c u s 
c u s 
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CUSCUTA, dodder, a genus of thedigy- 
nia order, in the tetrandria class of plants, 
and in the natural method ranking under 
those of which the order is doubtful. The 
■calyx is qua dr i (id ; the corolla monopetalous ; 
the capsule bilocular. There are four spe- 
cies, one of which is a native of Britain, viz. 
the Europtea, dodder, hell-weed, or devil’s- 
guts. This is a very singular plant, almost 
destitute of leaves, parasitical, creeping, fix- 
ing itself to whatever is next to it. It de- 
cays at the root, and afterwards is nourished 
by the plant which supports it. Hops, flax, 
and nettles, are its common support, but 
principally the common nettle. Its blossoms 
are white. As soon as tin 1 shoots have twined 
about an adjacent plant, they send out from 
their inner surface a number of little vesicles 
or .papillae, which attach themselves to the 
bark or rind of the plant. By degrees the 
■longitudinal vessels of the stalk, which appear 
to have accompanied the vesicles, shoot from 
their extremities, and make their way into 
the softer plant, by dividing the vessels, and 
insinuating themselves into the tenderest part 
of the stalk; and sodntimately are they united 
with it, that it is easier to break than to dis- 
engage -them from it. The whole plant is 
bitter. It affords a pale reddish colour. 
Cows, sheep, and swine, eat it ; horses refuse 
it ; goats eat it reluctantly. 
CUSSONIA, a genus of the pentandria 
digynia class and order. The petals are 
three-cornered; margin of the receptacle 
divided into a five-toothed calyx. There are 
two species, natives of the Cape. 
GUSTO DE ad/niUcndo, i\nd custods mno- 
tn-ndo, are writs for the admitting or removing 
of guardians. 
CUSTOM, is a law or right, not written, 
which being established by long use, and 
•the consent of our ancestors, has been and 
is. daily practised. If it is to be proved by 
fesord, the continuance of a hundred years 
w ail -serve. Custom is either general or par- 
ticular. General, when allowed through all 
-England. Particular is that which belongs 
to "this pr that county, as gavelkind to 
Kent. See Gavelkinp 
General customs which are used through- 
out England, and are the common law, are 
to be determined by the judges : but parti- 
cular customs, such as are used in some cer- 
tain towns, boroughs, cities, &c. shall be de- 
termined by a jury. 1 Inst. 110. But the 
Judges of the courts of king’s-bench and 
common-pleas, can overrule a custom, 
though it be one of the customs of London, 
if against natural reason. 1 Mod. 212. 
Custom of London. The ancient city 
of London, being the metropolis and chief 
town for trade and commerce within the 
kingdom, it was necessary, that it should 
have certain customs and* privileges for its 
better government, which though derogatory 
front the general law of the realm, yet, being 
for the benefit of the citizens, and for the 
advantage of those who trade to and from the 
City, have not only been allowed good by 
the judgments in the superior courts, but 
have also been confirmed by several acts of 
parliament. 
The customs of London differ from all 
others in point of trial, for if any of the cus- 
toms are pleaded and denied, and issue is 
taken thereupon, the existence of such cus- 
toms shall be tried by a writ directed to the 
mayor and aldermen, to certify whether 
there is such a custom or not, and they 
shall make their certificate by the mouth of 
the recorder. 
These customs of Twin don relate to di- 
vers particulars with regard to trade, appren- 
tices, widows, orphans, and a Variety of other 
matters ; the custom relative to the distribu- 
tion of a freeman’s estate, extends only to 
cases of intestacy, Or express agreements 
made in consideration of marriage. It is a 
custom of London, that where a person is 
educated in one trade, lie may set up ano- 
ther ; that where a woman uses a trade, 
without her husband, she is chargeable alone, 
as a feme sole merchant, and if condemned, 
shall be put in prison till she pays the debt ; 
likewise the bail for her are liable, if she' 
absent herself, and the husband, in these! 
cases, shall not be charged. If a debtor be 
a fugitive, by the custom of London, he 
may be arrested before the day, in order to 
find better security, &c. 'I hose are cus- 
toms of this city, different from those of 
oilier places. 
Custom of merchants. If a merchant 
gives a character of a stranger to one who 
sells him goods, he may be obliged to sa- 
tisfy the debt of the stranger for the . goods 
sold, by the custom of merchants. And 
when two persons are found in arrears, upon 
an account grounded on the custom of mer- 
chants, either of them may be charged to 
pay the whole sum due. See Bills of Ex- 
change, Bankrupts, Insurance, &c. 
Customs, taxes levied upon goods when 
exported from or imported into a state. This 
mode of raising a public revenue is of great 
antiquity, as it may be traced back to the 
time ot Solomon ; but in modern times- it 
has been extended by different states to al- 
most every article of .commerce. It is a 
mode of taxation generally less objected to 
Ilian any other, as most persons pay their 
share of the duty in the price of the article 
from which it arises, without distinguishing 
the tax ; if, however, these duties are high, 
they, become a great impediment to foreign 
trade, and give rise to smuggling ; of this 
truth the Dutch were well convinced, and 
long derived great commercial advantages 
from the very low duties they imposed on 
the importation and exportation of merchan- 
dize. Duties on goods imported into a 
country were originally laid upon the sub- 
jects of the realm under the pretence of de- 
fraying the charges of guarding the coasts 
from pirates; and upon foreign merchants 
for the liberty given them by the sovereign 
of trading in his dominions. The custom- 
house duties in Great Britain are principally 
levied either according to the supposed 
value of the different commodities conform- 
ably to particular rates, or in proportion to 
the weight or measurement of the articles, 
making some difference according to the 
country whence the goods are brought, and 
giving advantages to tiie ships belonging 
to and manned by British subjects over 
those of a different description. 
I'he customs of England were formerly 
divided into three branches : viz. 1st, The 
duties upon wool and leather ; 2. A duty 
upon wine, which being imposed at so much 
a ton was called a tonnage ; and 3. A duty 
upon all other goods, which being imposed 
at so much in the pound of their supposed 
value, was called a poundage. In the 47th 
Edward HI. a duty of sixpence in the pound 
was imposed on all goods exported or im- 
ported, except woo!, wool-febs, leather, and 
wine, on which particular duties had been 
granted before. In 1 4th Rich. II. it was 
raised to one shilling in the pound, but three 
years afterwards was again reduced to six- 
pence. It was raised to eight-pence in 2d 
lien. IV. and in the fourth year of the same 
prince to one shilling, from which time to 
tne 9th of Wil. 111. it continued at one 
shilling; in the pound. Tire duties of ton- 
nage and poundage were generally granted 
by the same act, and were called the sub- 
sidy of tonnage and poundage. The subsidy 
of poundage having continued so long at 
Is. in the pound or at live per cent, a sub- 
sidy came in the language of finance to de- 
note a general duty of this kind at live per 
cent. These duties on the estimated value 
of goods imported or exported being liable 
•to great inaccuracy and irregularity, the 
value of the different articles of commerce 
w as ascertained by a book of rates, and com- 
puted on the quantities : there was a mode 
also by which duties were imposed on goods 
not rated ; this was by a proportion on the 
real value as sworn to by the merchant. 
These principles once adopted, were pur- 
sued in every new subsidy ;. till the various 
additional duties imposed on articles of fo- 
reign trade in almost every year of war since 
the Revolution, with the occasional repeal of 
some of the old duties, and the different 
bounties and drawbacks allowed on export- 
ation, caused an accumulation of perplexity, 
which in time had rendered the custom-du- 
ties a complete mass of confusion, attended 
with infinite inconvenience and delay in bu- 
siness. To remedy this evil, in the begin- 
ning of 1787, all the old duties were abolish- 
ed, and a single duty on each article sub- 
stituted in their stead. This arrangement, 
which was at tire same time extended to the 
excise and stamp duties, may perhaps he rer 
corded as the most useful financial measure 
of Mr. Pitt’s administration ; and it is much 
to be regretted that although the same prin- 
ciple lias been since resorted to, the many 
new duties which the exigencies of tile state 
have rendered necessary, have again de- 
stroyed in some degree the simplicity ef- 
fected, which had been attended with great 
practical convenience. 
The progress of this branch of revenue 
shews the vast importance of foreign trade, 
if considered merely as furnishing a conve- 
nient mode of taxation. In the reign of 
king John, the whole of the duties payable 
by merchants in this country were farmed 
for 1000 marks. From some acts of Henry 
III. it appears that considerable frauds were 
committed in the revenue of customs ; it 
began however to increase, and in the -reign 
of Edward ill. the customs of the port of 
London alone amounted to 12,000 marks 
per annum. In 1590, the produce of the 
customs was considerably improved ; and in 
1(51 3 it amounted to £ 148,075 7 s. 8d. of 
which £ 109,572 18s. Ad. was collected in 
the port ot London, while only £ 38,502 
9 v. Ad. was received from, all the other ports 
of England. Of the total, a£l6,79-i 16 s. 2d. 
arose Irom duties outward, and fo61,280 1 H*. 
6d. from duties inward. By the act of union 
in 1706, the customs of Scotland are stated 
