Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/41

 Ch. 3. the poeions of the church being, by this and other means, every day diminihed, the diabling tatute 13 Eliz. c. 10. was made; which prevents, among other piritual perons, all parons and vicars from making any conveyances of the etates of their churches, other than for three lives or twenty one years. So that now, by virtue of this tatute, no real compoition made ince the 13 Eliz. is good for any longer term than three lives or twenty one years, though made by conent of the patron and ordinary: which has indeed effectually demolihed this kind of traffick; uch compoitions being now rarely heard of, unles by authority of parliament.

, a dicharge by cutom or precription, is where time out of mind uch perons or uch lands have been, either partially or totally, dicharged from the payment of tithes. And this immemorial uage is binding upon all parties, as it is in it's nature an evidence of univeral conent and acquiecence; and with reaon uppoes a real compoition to have been formerly made. This cutom or precription is either de modo decimandi, or de non decimando.

A modus decimandi, commonly called by the imple name of a modus only, is where there is by cutom a particular manner of tithing allowed, different from the general law of taking tithes in kind, which are the actual tenth part of the annual increae. This is ometimes a pecuniary compenation, as twopence an acre for the tithe of land: ometimes it is a compenation in work and labour, as that the paron hall have only the twelfth cock of hay, and not the tenth, in conideration of the owner's making it for him: ometimes, in lieu of a large quantity of crude or imperfect tithe, the paron hall have a les quantity, when arrived to greater maturity, as a couple of fowls in lieu of tithe eggs; and the like. Any means, in hort, whereby the general law of tithing is altered, and a new method of taking them is introduced, is called a modus decimandi, or pecial manner of tithing. Rh