i879-] 
285 
of the West of England . 
1837 the different Courts were consolidated into one Court, 
which now periodically meets at Truro, and exercises in many 
respeCts similar jurisdiction over Stannary matters to that of 
theCourtsof Chancery, Common Law, and Equity overothers. 
The right possessed by the monarch of pre-emption, or of 
buying any tin raised in the two counties at his own price 
and in preference to anybody else, and often exercised in the 
Middle Ages to a very oppressive extent, was, together with 
many other Stannary prerogatives, abolished by two ACts 
passed in the reign of William and Mary,* whilst the dues 
on tin payable to the Duchy of Cornwall were only cancelled 
so late as the year 1838.+ 
One of the oldest and most extraordinary privileges of 
the West of England tinners was the very widely observed 
custom of “ bounding,” which may perhaps remind our 
readers of the practice of “ beating the bounds ” still ob- 
served by many municipal authorities in England. In 
Cornwall and Devonshire all land was formerly considered 
either as being in “ severall ” or in “ wastrell,” the former 
term being applied to lands enclosed or built upon, and the 
latter to those lying waste or open. By the “ bounding” 
custom any person might enter upon the “ wastrell ” of 
another, and mark out by four “ boundaries ” any certain 
area. A written description of the land bounded, and the 
name of the “ bounder, had then to be recorded in the 
nearest Stannary Court, and a notice given to the owner of 
the soil. The “ bounding ” had then to be proclaimed in 
three successive open Courts, and if no objection were raised 
against it a writj was given to the bounder, investing him 
with the exclusive right to search for and appropriate to his 
own use all tin or tin-ore found within the described limits, 
upon the condition that he pay to the landowner (in Corn- 
wall) a fifteenth part in kind of the quantity of tin raised. 
The four corners of the land bounded were generally marked 
by a pole being ereCted at each, with a furze-bush at the 
top, and it is told amongst the miners that on May-day 
* 1 Wm. and Mary, c. 30, and 5 Wm. and Mary, c. 36. 
f By Adi 1 and 2 Vic., c. 102, which substituted for the dues an equivalent 
sum payable from the U. K. Consolidated Fund. For further particulars on 
this point see Appendix to the Stannary case of Vice v. Thomas (London : 
Saunders and Benning, 1843). The Stannary duty in Cornwall from the time 
of Richard Earl of Cornwall (granted to him by Charter in nth of 2 d. III.) 
had been 40s. for every 1000 wt. of tin raised, and in Devonshire from 
time immemorial 15s. 6d. for every 1000 wt. of tin raised. There was also a 
custom of stamping or “ coining ” each block of tin raised and smelted in the 
distridl with the Duchy arms. This was also abolished in 1838. 
X Several of these are still in existence. One is preserved in the Museum 
of Practical Geology, and Royal School of Mines, Jermyn Street. 
