Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/166

 146 Franchises.'—Waifs. [Ch.VlII. the same be removed from thence, the rates following, (that is to say,) for all ore washt, made clean, and merchantable, where- in is copper, the rate of sixteen pounds per ton ; and for all ore washt, made clean, and merchantable, wherein there is tin, the rate of forty shillings per ton ; and for all ore washt, made clean, and merchantable, wherein there is iron, the rate of forty shillings per ton ; and for all ore washt, made clean, and merchantable, where there is lead, the rate of nine pounds per ton. And in default of payment of such respective sums as aforesaid, the owner of the said mine, wherein such ore shall be found, may sell and dispose of the said ore to his own use." '* Provided always, that nothing contained in tliis act shall alter, determine, or make void the charters granted to the tin- ners of Devon and Cornwall, by any of the Kings and Queens of this realm, or any of the liberties, privileges, or franchises of the said tinners, or to alter, determine, or make void the laws, customs, or constitutions of the stannaries of Devon or Corn- wall, or any oftliem." By the 55 Geo. 3. c. 134. twenty-five pounds per ton, in- stead of nine pounds, is the rate at which the King may exercise the right of preemption of ore in which there is lead. The King may legally grant his right to royal mines, and in the hands of a subject they are a franchise ; but such grant must be in express terms; so that if the King grant to T. S. certain lands, " and the mines therein contained," and royal mines are found in them they do not pass to the sub- ject (^z). 9. Fairs and Markets will be considered in the chapter on 10. By Waifs are to be understood, stolen goods which are waived or thrown away by the thief in his flight, for fear of being apprehended (i). The goods must be tlircmn aiscay by the thief in his flight i and if he previously hide, or leave them any where, with intent to resume the possession, so that they were (a) Plowd. 33G. {b) 1 Bla. Com. 296. not
 * Commerce,^