Lord ELDON,.. ....Lord Chancellor. Sir WILLIAM GRANT,..... ...Master of the Rolls. CASES IN CHANCERY, &c. 1813, 53 Geo. 3. The WARDEN and MINOR CANONS of ST. KETTLE v. The WARDEN and MINOR CANONS THE of ST. PAUL's. 1813, May 11, 15. Decree for HE Bill in the first of these Causes, filed by the Warden and Minor Canons of St. Paul's and their Tithes in LonLessees, stated their Title as Parson and Proprietors of don at 2s. 9d. in the Church of St. Gregory, under Letters Patent, 24 Hen. 6th, to all Tithes, &c. within that Parish; and the der the Statute Decree made on the 23d of February, 1545, in pursuance the Pound un 37 Hen. 8. c. 12: the Occu piers not proving any certain customary Payment in lieu of Tithes; which Payment will exempt an individual House, if usually made a sufficient Time to acquire the Character of customary; though within Time of Memory, and not general through the Place or Parish. Mere Non-payment of the Tithes under the Statute is not an Answer; as it would not be to the Claim of Tithe at Common Law. An Issue refused under the Circumstances: 1st, Mis-pleading; the Defendants not stating customary Payments by their Answer; but adopting ore tenus Payments, disclosed by the Answer to their cross Bill, instead of moving for Leave to file a supplemental Answer: 2dly, the Improbability of establishing those Payments after two unsuccessful Trials at Bar in another Cause. VOL. II. B of 1813. The WARDEN and MINOR CANONS of ST. PAUL'S 0. KETTLE. of the Act of Parliament for Tithes in London (a); by which it was directed, that the Inhabitants of London should pay Tithes at the Rate of 2s. 9d. in the Pound. The Bill also stated the Act of Parliament (b) for rebuilding the City of London, uniting the Parishes of St. Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, and St. Gregory, and the Act (c), fixing among others the Tithes of those Two Parishes at £120; both those Acts saving expressly the Right of the Plaintiffs, Parson and Proprietors of the Church of St. Gregory, to receive all Tithes, &c. within that Parish, as before; and the Bill prayed an Account of Tithes due from the Defendants, Occupiers of Houses within the Parish. The Defendants by their Answer, stating their Belief, that at the Time of the Decree of 1545 less Sums than 2s. 9d. in the Pound had been accustomed to be paid for Tithes in respect of the Houses, occupied by the Defendants, or the Scites thereof, insisted, that they ought to pay only such Sums as had been so accustomed to be paid at the Time of the Decree; and "as Evidence of such "accustomed Payments," they alledged, that no Tithes or yearly Payments in the Nature of Tithes have ever since the said Decree been paid at or after the Rate of 2s. 9d. in the Pound Rent; and, as farther Evidence, that it does appear from Documents in the Possession of the Plaintiffs, that from the Year 1595 to the Year 1763 (with such Interruption only in 1661 as after mentioned,) Leases of the 12. (a) Stat. 37 Hen. 8. c. (b) Stat. 22 Ch. 2. c. 11. tends both to lay Impropriators and spiritual Persons, while the Stat. of Charles applies to preaching Ministers only. Ward v. Hilder, Gwill. 538. Tithes of the said Parish were from Time to Time let to certain Inhabitants in Trust for the Parish at large, at annual Rents; which varied but little before 1630; and have since that Period been invariable; and upon Fines, calculated, except in three Instances, after the Rate of £50 upon every Renewal, where fourteen Years of the former Lease were unexpired; whereas, if the said Tithes had been payable at the Rate of 2s. 9d. in the Pound, the Fines and Rents upon such Renewals would continually have increased; and would even in 1661 have amounted to nearly ten Times the Value so paid by the Parish to the Warden and Minor Canons as Fine and Rent; and, as farther Evidence, that it did appear from the Records of the Court of Exchequer, that in 1661 the Warden and Minor Canons granted a Lease of the Tithes of the said Parish to Thomas Morris and Ann his Wife for twentyone Years; that Morris and his Wife in 1661 filed their Bill in the Court of Exchequer against Turner and other Inhabitants of St. Gregory, claiming Payment of Tithes after the Rate of 2s. 9d. in the Pound, or according to the ancient accustomed Payments, if such there were; and that the Defendants in that Suit by their Answers insisted, as these Defendants now insist, that there existed at the Time of the Decree in Hen. 8, a certain accustomed Payment for the Premises respectively occupied by them less thau after the Rate of 2s. 9d. in the Pound. The Answer farther stated, that upon the Hearing of that Cause Issues were directed, to try the Fact of such accustomed Payments; upon the Trial of which Issues it was ordered, with Consent, that a Juror should be withdrawn and the Difference referred to the then AttorneyGeneral; that no Traces are to be found of the Award, made by the Attorney-General: but it does appear by Documents in the Possession of the Plaintiffs, that the Claim to Tithes after the Rate of 2s. 9d. in the Pound was abandoned; B 2 1813. The WARDEN and MINOR CANONS OF ST. PAUL'S v. KETTLE. |