Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/326

 310 der to hire mercenary troops and pay their contingent expenes) it became thereupon a matter of national complaint; and king John was obliged to promie in his magna carta, that no cutage hould be impoed without the conent of the common council of the realm. This claue was indeed omitted in the charters of Henry III, where we only find it tipulated, that cutages hould be taken as they were ued to be in the time of king Henry the econd. Yet afterwards, by a variety of tatutes under Edward I and his grandon , it was provided, that the king hall not take any aids or talks, any talliage or tax, but by common aent of the great men and commons in parliament.

the ame nature with cutages upon knights-fees were the aements of hydage upon all other lands, and of talliage upon cities and burghs. But they all gradually fell into diue, upon the introduction of ubidies, about the time of king Richard II and king Henry IV. Thee were a tax, not immediately impoed upon property, but upon perons in repect of their reputed etates, after the nominal rate of 4s. in the pound for lands, and 2s. 6d. for goods; and for thoe of aliens in a double proportion. But this aement was alo made according to an antient valuation; wherein the computation was o very moderate, and the rental of the kingdom was uppoed to be o exceeding low, that one ubidy of this ort did not, according to ir Edward Coke, amount to more than 70000𝑙. whereas a modern land tax at the ame rate produces two millions. It was antiently the rule never to grant more than one ubidy, and two fifteenths at a time; but this rule was broke through for the firt time on a very preing occaion, the Spanih invaion in 1588; when the parliament gave queen Elizabeth two ubidies and four fifteenths. Afterwards, as money funk in value, more ubidies were given; and we have an intance in the firt parliament of 1640, of the king's deiring twelve ubidies of the commons, to be levied in Rh