The Express.
London, England, 1857-03-27 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH . 27, 1807:-

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
THII3 DAY.

COUNT OF EQUITY.
(Before Vice-Chancellor Kindle'ley.)
CHAMPNITS C. Iit:CHAS.
Thin suit, which mires the question of the right to tithe in
Whitechapel, was heard before his Honour some time since,
and reported in the Erprosa, upon which 00.11.11i011 judgment
was reveesed.
Mr. Fleming, Mr. Lindley, Mr. Burley, Mr. Buxton, and
Mr. Huhoyd appeared for the parties.
The Vow-Chancellor now delivered judgment. Ili, Ho•
tour said, this was • Lill filed by the rector of the pariah of
Whiteehapel, a parish shoats partly within and pertly with-
out the City of London, The four defendente were occupier,
of home. situate in that part of the pariah which was without
the City. The plaintiff taught by hie bill to recover from the
defendante certain annual mune which he alleged were
payable to him as rector, by the occupiers of the houses in
(preteens The sum claimed front the defendant Buchan,
annually, was 125., with an additional sum of Jo. claimed
since the year 1818; the claim against the defendant
Cookson wee Be. ; against the defendant Martin it
was Be., with an additional to. from the year
18•27; Ageing the defendant James it wee 84., with an
additiorod 6s. from 1811. These annual Rums were alleged
by the bill to be payable for or in lieu of tithes in respect of
the houses oecupied by the parties. It was plain that the
rector was not entitled, communi jure, to payment of tithe in
=t4 angora, but the occupiers of houses might still be
in ens of the three following ways. First by modus
I the land on which the houses shad. Secondly by ma-
s:Vra custom of the pariah making all house. within it liable
to payments as or in lien of tithe; and thirdly by prescriptive
rigth in virtue of which particular housee en a parish were
Saki to the payment of particular aurae. 'f he Bret clam
of tithe affected not the haloes properly, but the hand on
which they good, and could only mire in the ram where,
before the time of legal memory, • composition in Gen of tithe
on the land had been payable. The second elm, applied
to the houses generally, and went spun the supposi-
tion of an agreement to make the cuthiroary • pay-
ments having been entered into at • period also
antecedent to the date of the commencement of legal memory.
The third clam stood upon a somewhat similar ground, but,
inarimuch sit presumed an agreement to pay tithe made
in named of particular bowies before the limo of legal
memory, It followed that the houses greeted by
that agreement moot also have existed at the time
of Richard 1. (when legal memory thrumenced) ; or at least
that the site of the homes sought to be thrurged by pre•
sedptiou was at that remote period, and has since remained,
moved by dwellings. The plaintiff had not stated in his
• upon which of these grounds he based his claim;
but this, at all events, appeared clear—that the right
to demand the lithe stood upon the same ground
with reaped to all the defendant,. This fact disposed of the
paieibilite of basing the claims in the present VW upon the
third ground se a tithe affecting certain booms only by pre-
aeription, for of the four tenements occupied by the defendants,
that ono held by the defendant Jews alone appeared not
to be a modern one. The evidence 'lowed that
the viten of the houses of the other defendants were not the
sites of homes 150 years ago. There was, however, nothing
thewthat James's house wee a modern tenement ; in bet,
an it stood within a few jards of the boundary of the
ity, the presumption was the other way. But
letting Amide the fact that alt the claims wets put
upon one ground, it was clear that the claims even
against James could not be sustained upon pi=
Son, for each preecriptive right to be good mug Le
and unifurm (" Illreeford v. Minton," I Cr. Mat. and Rm.,
911). Now, Wier claim against James was fur Bs., but with
an addition from the year 1811 of a further sum;
clearly, therefore, the claim was bad as not being
uniform. It was, therefore, next to be considered whether
the right to such a payment could be sustained upon the
emend head, as • custom to a pertain^ in lieu of tithessm
Lame. There was no doubt that, in the &Detract,
eustom was good. That had been derided to Le the case so
far bark as 1613, when Lord Coke wee Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas, in Dr. Grant', case (I 1 Rep., 16), and the
law them laid down had been followed, though the names
given had not been approved in nuts :event ogees in Lord
Itaymouil's Reports (p. 696), 2 009, 2 Burns' Beet.
Law 445, and I Roll. Abe. 643, tit Dunes, S. pl. 2. But
the cams adabliehing the validity of this custom
established aloe that it mug be "certain,' which
meant that the rule of changing pointed out by
the custom must be definite, so that upon any came
arising it might be at once applied and the payment tu Le de-
accurately and readily fixed upon. Thus in the
man where such customs had been upheld, they had
wealthy established the taking of • read poundage
to be calculated upon the rent. What was the
custom contended fur in the prevent cam? It was
not stated in the bill, but the plaintiro counsel
had at the bar made a statement of the now which they
took of it. They claimed that the occupiers of all houses
sad other buildings, built or erected from time to time in the
with of Whitechapel, should pay to the rector of the said
?midi eertain annual payments as, or in lieu of, tithes ; that
the °crueler,. of homes and other buithingestanding within the
aid perish Amulet make such annual payments in respect of
the mid building*, he., as had usually Leen paid, and
tat with respect to newly erected Meuse such payment
mould be made as might be irgrctd upon by the rector and
weepier, or in default of agreement, that the sum le be
paid should be fixed by reference to the payments
made by like homes in the same parish. This
was the custom claimed. Could it he mid to be " certain"
eithin the meaning of the canes P His Honour was of
union that it did not pewee that essential characteristic.
la the ease of new house, an alternative undo of settee-
iig the payment was introduced, and, in case of glimpse-
:rent, the tithe would have to be fixed by reference to what was
paid for " like" homes. How was that likeness to be as-
&gained t Hew had it reference to the rental of the homes
be morpared? To their capacities as places of brother t
ro the value of their fee simpler Or to the value of the
materials used in erecting thcm? And who rem to judge oldie
likeness oft:mass upon a dispute &Ming? Was it to be settled
by a long snarofarchltects,lmildmaand surveyors of whose
oonfiicting opinions upon much plainer questions, every one
had had experience P Such • custom assumed that there had
always been in the parish "lthe" houses, by reference to
which the rates of payment for new houses °mild be
fined. But, suppose a home of an entirely new
character was erected, • large hospital or some
Wilding of that kind, how could the tithe payable in respect
of that be Gude In earlier tines when there were laser
buildings the uncertainty ageing from this would of course
be greatly increased. By reference to the "Valor eiele-
&karma" it appeared that in the reign of Mary
VIII. the entire annual value of the rectory was
31f. per annum. AMR/Lang that the whole of this
arose from the payments of tithes made in respect of housei
and dividing it what was the average payment in 1730,
the earliest date at which a record of the number of house.
existed, it would appear that in Ilenry the Eighth's
reign the entire perish contained but 140 der&
lingo. At that period, therefore, considerable alio
mlty would area in finding, upon the mai=
if a new house, • "like " house, by which to wined, dr
tithe payable. Going gill further back, to the stet of
:ohn, at which time the emtom to be good must have
misted, it mug have bran aimed impoemithe to find a " like "
lame. Such a custom was therefore clearly bad as
nwertain. Hitherto leis Honour had goneupon the aseunip-
fon that the custom was proved, but in fact the evidence
vent far short of proving it. The only other ground upon
vhich three payments could stand would be as new houses
upon the land, but in this respect they were clearly open to
tie objection of ranknees. The plaintiff had also ailed to
alege the custom in his bill. L pun these ground. the bill
Inuit Le dismissed and with coat.

THE POLICE COURTS.
THIS DAY.

BOW STREET.

t youth named William lierwood, clerk to Mess.
Howlett and Cu., of 5.5, High Holborn, bras founder.., was
brought before Mr. Jardine, on a charge of embers-lenient.
:t appeared that the poieemer was yesterday desired
to fetch a pound's worth of postage-etampe, for which
puns° a svervign was given him by the cashier. Some
tine after Mr. Carly, clerk to the proaecutore, having wane
espicions of the pnsotier, looked to the drawer in which the
stens were usually kept, and found that none had been
placid there. Ho mentioned the matter to Mr. Hewlett, but
did tot say anything to the prisoner, thinking it possible
that he might Lave forgotten the matter, and that it
was better to wait and give Dim the chance of getting
tho stamps the following (tllie) day. This morn-
ing, however, the prisoner applied to the cashier
for a sovereign to bay stamps. The cashier said
Wky, what have yen done with the sovereign I gave you
yesterday r" The primmer replied that ho hod bought the
Manor and placed them in the drawer. Mr. Csaly that
sat so the Matron-hose end fetched a policeman, in whose
preens the prisoner acknowledged that he had kept the
POW-11M and had only purchased 6e. ftd. worth of stamps
with some base silver he had from another sours.
The prisoner, who reserved his defence, was committed for
trial.

Itoxcwoon.—The Moniteur de rArmly, in an-
notating that Longwood, the residence of Napoleon at St.
Helena, has Seen given up to the French government,
some details relative to the mamma which will be
for the repairs and rope keeping of the place :—" TTRIZ:
pror Napoleon 111. hoe, it is mid, decided that this place,
marked by souvenirs so dear to France, shall be reprised and
kept in good condition, under the direction of some old supe-
rior officer of the French army, who had served under the
lint empire, and who will have fur his residence at St. Helena
the house which was in course of construction for the Emperor
at the time of his death. This officer, selected on the proposition
dtbe Minister of War, will have the Atrial title of conserve-
tar at the home and tomb of Nopoken 1., St. Helena. The
▪ r 1 spin are to commence immediately. The tomb
be mimed to the Mate in which it waa at the period when
I itssmininsistle precious remains of thereat man, and &kne-
ed dant Aiss built on the site of the dilapuleted house
stbisb was Na lest asylum, and in which he died. AU the
=avid& have been iinmortalieed by his Ismael:see, the
on which is fine weather ho need to sit down and
the as, the place where dictate 1 his me-
ea...s,telsart olds* road where be used to stop in his rides,
ke., will be imbed by some construction."