The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-31 00:00:00

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—DurIzanz, July 29.

NISI PRIUS COURT.—(Before Mr. Jubtic© WILLIAMS
and a Special Jury.)

SMEPHERD O. THE MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY.

This was an action of replevin brought to try the right
to the tithes of the rectory of St. Giles's, Durham, which
were claimed by the defendant in right of his wife, as
the lay rector. The plaintiff complained that his cattle
had been seized for a tithe.rent charge, not payable to
the cl+ fendant end not in arreer, he being tenant to a
Mr. Oving ton, to whom he alleged the tithes of his land
belonged.
Mr. Knowles, Q.C., Mr. Atherton, Q.C., and Mr.
Jones appeared for the plaintiff; and Mr. Watson, Q.C.,
and Mr. Manisty for the defendant.
It appeared from the opening of the Learned Counsel
for the defendant, who had the right to begin, that the
rectories of St. Giles and St. Nicholas, formerly part of
the monastery of Kepier, at Durham, at the Reformation
were leased for twenty one y ears by Henry VIII. to
one John Franklin; that afterwards, in the sixth year of
the reign of Edward VI, they were granted by the
Crown to John Lord Orrneston and his heirs, and by
him granted, in 1554, to one John Heath, the ancestor
of the present Marchioness of Londonderry. By a
subsequent marriage settlement in 1642, made in
contemplation of marriage between John Tempest,
the son of Sir Thomas Tempest, Attorney-General for
Ireland, and Elisabeth Heath, the granddaughter of that
John Heath, the rectories and all the tithes were settled
on them and their issue, and were again settled on the
marriage of a descendant of that John Tempest with
Elizabeth Sudbury, niece of the Dean of Durham, in
1677. In 1703 another settlement in contemplation of
marriage was made, but the lease only was put in (the
release being lost), by which the rectories and tithes
were given to persons named White and Nicholson, who,
the defendant contended, were trustees of the settlement.
A descendant of these Tempests was married to a Dr.
Henry Vane, and his descendant Sir Harry Vane mar-
ried, in 1794, Ann Catherine Countess of Antrim, and
on their daughter, the present Marchioness of London-
derry (married to the defendant in 1819), descended
these rectories and the right to tho tithes. In IEI6 a
private inclosure Act was passed, enabling Gillygate
Moor to be enclosed, and the burgage tenants of Gilly-
gate, or St. Giles, in Durham, in respect of their rights
of common, became entitled to allotments of the moor
under that Act, which became liable to tithes in the
same right as the tenements in respect of which they
were claimed. Mr. Robert Ovington, one of these
tenants, had allotted to him eight acres and two roods of
this moor, and it was in respect of the tithe of this allot-
went, seized from his tenant, that the present action was
brought.
For the plaintiff it was objected that the right to the
tithes was shown to be in White and Nicholson, and
was never after traced to the ancestors of the Marchioness
of Londonderry, and that the identity of the Tempests
as descendants of the first Tempest entitled to the tithes
was not satisfactorily established.
These objections having been overruled,
Mr. KNOWLES contended that the deed of 1706 being
the last deed that showed title in the tithes, and all sub-
sequent deeds having been silent about them, and none
having been received till 1829, and then only extorted
under threats of a Chancery suit, a tithe composition
must be presumed, and the Heaths, or some of their
dcseendants, must be presumed to have conveyed away
their right to the tithes. In support of this view he put
in a conveyance of the tithes of four of the burgage tene-
ments to the owners thereof by one of the Heaths. .
Mr. WATSON' having replied,
His LORDSHIP directed the jury that they must have
some pobitive evidence other than mere non-reception of
tithes to enable them to presume the tithes to have been
conveyed away.
The jury, after a few minutes' consideration, found a
verdict for the defendant.
Leave was then given to move the Court above on
some points reserved.
In the Crown Court a number of ordinary sessions
cases of scarcely local interest were disposed of in the
course of the day. The criminal business is expected to
be got through to-morrow.

OXFORD CHlCUlT.—Statford, July 28.
CROWN COURT.
Chug; les Beardmore and Edward Bloor were indicted
for a highway robbery on James Brothers, at Hanley.
Mr. Kenealy prosecuted.
This wr.s a case of the new favourite mode of robbing.
in the dark, which se;:m3 to have passed from London
into Staffordshire. The prosecutor on his way home-
ward on the night of the 23d inst., when about half way
on the bigh road from Darslem to Hanley, obseryed three