The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-26 00:00:00

THE LIADILITT Or TITHES TO THE BEWEES RATE.-

IMPORTANT DICTION.

Mr. BLOT% the receiver the stipend of the living of
St. Olive, Southwark, under a writ of sequestration, the
Rev. A. Kenny being the incumbent, attended to receive
the judgment of the court, in the cue of a summons, for
payment of a rate levied upon the stipend of the rector,
amounting to 101. and 61. arrears of a form. r rate, which
had been allowed to stand over until the judgment of the
court was given upon several cues in which the liabilitj of
tithe rent charges was involved.
The CHAIRMAN said that in this question of the rate-
ability of tithes several cues are involved, amongst others
that of the Rev. Mr. Baker, the vicar of Fulham; the
Rev. Mr. Jackson, the vicar of Battersea; the Rev. Mr.
Sketchley, vicar of St. Paul's, Deptford; the present,
which is a benefice under sequestration, that of St. Olave,
Southwark, of which the Rev. A. Kenny is the incumbent,
and many others. In some of these cases there have been
appeals in regular form, while in others the parties have
not appealed, but appeared to the summons. The decision,
however, in the One class of cases will of courts govern the
others. I have inquired into the practice of the several
commissions which existed before the establishment of the
present Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, and bays
also looked diligently into the law of the case. And I must
say that considerable diSlculty has been experienced by us
in arriving at a conclusith. But we have, es it was our
duty to do, arrived at the best we could, and, upon the
fullest consideration I have been enabled to give to the
subject, I think we ere bound to remit the rate in all these
cases. Therefore, I propose that in all those cases where
there have been appeals, those 'appeals shall be allowed ;
and in the others, when the parties have appeared upon
the summons, but have not paid the rates, I think also we
ought, under the circumstances, to allow the remission. In
the case now more directly before the court, that of Mr.
Bloyd, the circumstances differ in some respects from the
others, though I believe our conclusion in respect to it must
be the same. It appears that in this case the Rev. Mr.
Kenny is the rector of St. Olive's, in the Borough, and
the rating under the Tithe Commutation Act having been
found insufficient for the support of the incumbent, provi-
sion has been snide under a local act for raising a stipend
for the rector by means of a rate levied upon the perish. This
stipend, it appears, has been rated to the poor, and the question
we have to consider is, whether it stands upon the same
footing is ecclesiastical tithes ? Upon the best considera-
tion I have been able to give to that question, I must say,
that I think it does. It seems that the stipend here is given
in lieu of tithes, all tithes being abolished in the parish, and
I think the fair construction of the act is, that it should he
placed 'men the same footing. as to its liability to pay the
rate, as the fund for which it is the substitute. I find, too,
on looking into the old records of the commission for Surrey
and Kent, that no rate has been paid hitherto upon this
fund, and therefore I think it comes fairly under the
exemption clause, the 76th section of the Metropolitan
Sewers Act. But it appears, further, that the income is
not received bythe incumbent himaelf,but by another person,
in consequence of the benefice having been sequestered.
Now, a see restration is a sort of ecclesiastical execution, and
the arty in possession under such execution would, of
course, retain all the rights and liabilities that the locum-
bent would himself have, in respect to the stipend, were he
still in possession. The order then in this case will be, for
the reasons I have stated, that the deficiency be allowed.
Mr. BLoYD—Since I have been in possession under the
sequestration the rate has been imposed upon the parsonage-
house.

The CHAIRMAN—Yu; that stands upon a totally different
footing to the stipend. There have been various opinions
prevailing for a long time as to the law in respect to the
rateability of tithes, and the decision in this case will settle
a class of cases which have been standing over for several
years.
The remaining business of the commission was confined
to the hearing of summonses, issuing warrants against de.
faulten, receiving presentments of nuisances and reports of
defective drainage, end other formal matters.