The National Register.
London, England, 1818-02-23 00:00:00

lkiN

clect between Rectors aul spiritual persons and land-
vxners, in.rxchange of land for other lands, aril pecu-
niary paymerni; inelosures and drainages, sanction-
ed by Chancery. These are now liable to be set aside,
and, ia I:ict elany have been so. I instanced, last
•sirssions, the case of Doctor Pepiow ‘Vavd, the Rector
of Cottenham.' I am sorry to find the Reverend
gentleman, whom I believe to be a highly respectable
.haracter, was hurt by the statement Had it been
in any way inrorrect, I should rot have hesitated to
baye immediately retracted it ; hat believing it perfectly
correct, I must restate it. In 1596, composition had
been made by articles of agreement, and roefirmed by
.a .leirce in Chancery, by which lands had bten.allot-
ted to the Rector and his successors for ever, in lieu of
tithes of the behire mentioned land, with a view to,the.
eraina,;e interim:client of it. The defendants, who;
were 32 in number, filed a cross bill, founded on the'
,remposition de.el, pray ing, that Dr. P. Ward, D.D.
rJight be declared mot entitled to the tithes he
thinned, and if entitled, he might account to them for
the profits of the inclosnres, a.:11 inclosed grounds,
which he held in iiett•tif tithes, and that he might be
rieereed to vacate the possession. The Court, bound
by former decisions, held the composition void, and
deemed an account of tithes to the 'Rector, and costs.
As 'the composition deed was not stated in the answer,
and if it.had, the Conn might have left him to his re-
made ; winch he mast have recovered as the law
stands at present. And the cross bill was dismissed,
because the complainants in it could nmakero title to
thcMand allotted in lieu of tithes.—Can a more pe.';:itt•
ble case of injustice be adduced? Admitting the result
was not in the Rev Doctor's contemplation, it is not
ia his power, beyond the term of his own life, to cure
t'vtir monstrous injustice. The lands must descend to
his successor. A case was at issue in the county ef
Lancaster, between the late Rector of Mailing, and
persons with whom exchangesof certain portions of
glebe had been made highly beneficial to the ihurch.
'thought above 2.50 years had elapsed, the probability
was, the lands would have been recovered, and pow:s-
wam kept of the grounds "odwen in exchange. Some re..
inedy stuniA be provided against such palpable sets, if
wrong. It might, indeed, 7be stigmatized by a much
strongetl"spithet. Tshoultl propose, on such agree-
malts being set aside, the lands should be held for the
use or the poor, till the legal owner should appear to
claim. The last regulation in the bill I should wish
•to propose, would be, to give power to a jury to Appor-
tion lands covered by modus s, when the bound' wore,
from cluatiges, lost or changed. These woultUbe,the
,objects I would wish to provide for. Whilst provision
was made to assimilate tte isiw of tithes to that of
every other property, injustice woulithe prevented, and
Itigation most considerably checked. I disclaim all
Interference with any rights of the Church, or asking
any thing more than what the legislature has establish-
with regard to the Crown—That possession should
work for, and not against the holders of tithes."

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