The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-04-05 00:00:00

LANCASTER.SPRLYG ASS!ZES, 1833.

CIVIL SIDE.—MONDAY, APRIL 1.
Before Mr-Baron GURNEY and a Special Jury.
TITHES.
LAlnn:riT AND OTHERS v. FISHER..—ThiS was an issue,
dieected- by the Court of 'Chancery, to try the question of
rjght, to certain tithes, claimed as belonging to the Rector of
Kendal.
The plaintiffs, the Misses Lambert, who reside at Kendal,
are lessees of the rectorial tithes of that parish, which they hold
of Trinity CORegc, Cambridge, and the claim resolved itself
into the question—whether or no the rector was entitled to the
tithes 'Of hay and grass, or to-any modus iu lieu thereof; if such
wins .xisted in the townships of Docker and Scalthwaite-in-
tdfllaigil; and also whether the plaintiffs were entitled to
tithe of potatoes and 'turnips in the whole parish.
d.-tNtEs ScmiLLT.T, who was Spacially retained, Mr.
POLLOCE, andllr. COWLING, were the counselfor the plaintiffs,
b4d-the.TTORNEY-GENERAL, (Mr. Mr. COLTMAN,
‘94,1rie.1 VidlinfAx, W ere for the defendant.
lr JAMES SCARLETT stated the case for the plaintiffs, at
great length, to the jury, and then called the following wit-
.
lic';SeS .

Ilr.
,Thomas Part, solicitor to the plaintiffs, produced the
Minister's Accounts, of the 32d year of Henry VIII, which
contained a statement of the rights at the time enjoyed by the
rector. He also produced two rectorial terriers, of 1743 and
1719, which were pia iu and read; and likewise a terrier
signed by William Brownsword, who was vicar of the palish
fiuml.66o to 1673, and by the church Wardens fur the time tieing,
which shiiived the property of the tithe of hay, in all the places
therein mentioned, to be in the rector.—ln cross-examination
bt the Attorney-Ggneral, he stated Bradley-field and Mints-
feet to be in the township of Kendal, and Church-field to be
within the town.

,
lhomas Greenough deposed that he had collected tithes for
the lesseq :of the rectory, in the parish of Kirkby-Kendal, for
tin years. Since he commenced, there has been tithe of hay
collected in kind in Kendal Fell, in
,Haigh, Fell, in Strictland
KettiO, Nether Stavely, UnderharroW, and Winster. He has
collected tithe of hay in kind in thoseplaces for the rectory. It
is ten years since he collected tithes in kind in Scalthwane-in-
the7llaigh. He collected from James Braithwaite, Henry Ro-
bins.on, and a good many others. James Braithwaite was te-
nant to Ralph Fisher, and witness collected from him tithe of
ti:sy in 1831 and 1832, and tithe of potatoes and turnips in 1831.
The witness also mentioned several other 'persons from whom
hehadseollected tithe of hay, potatoes, and turnips from 182,1
to 183'2, in Scalthwaite-in-the-Haigh, Underbarrow, Bradley-
field, Strickland Kettle, Nether Stavely, and Docker. He had
a. so collected tithes of calves in Docker and Lambrigg. Ile
said it required about two acres of hay to fodder a cow, and
about three to keep one summer and winter.
arc -examined the Attorney-General, (Mr. WILLIAMS.)
There are ,twenty-seven Wenty-seven townships in the parish of Kendal. All
the, different sums he has collected it the parish were not in
newly-inclosed land.
Mr. Josias Lambert, brother to the plaintiffs, and formerly
lessee of the rector's tithes in Kirkby-Kendal (from the year
1786 to 1793,) deposed that his father was lessee of the same
tithes before him. The books now produced are "hay-silver"
books, which he had in his possession. They contain the
account of hay-silver collected within Kendal Park-lands,
Bradley-field, Nether Graveship, and Miutsfeet. He re-
ceived the books from his father. Another set of books now
Istiouced are his books, and contain entries made by him of
:
y-silver paid from 1789 to 1793. The oldest book of his
fr,s er's is stated 1716, and comes down to 1745. The hay-silver
was one shilling an acre, paid in lieu of tithe-hay. It was' paid
at Michaelmas, and was never divided between the vicar and
the rector. Witness received tithe in kind from Kendal Fell
from the very first, and wholly for himself all the time he was
leisee. He always received tithe of wool in kind throughout
the whole parish, and a modus- for tithe-lamb at the rate of a
halfpenny each for the first four, sevenpence for the fifth, one
Wiling for the sixth, and a halfpenny each for the other four,
making fourteeupeneesfor ten. He did not receive any tithe-
e4es, If 9r, a isioda's in lieu of them. He did not pay the vicar
icosliiilings a-year. There was no agreement between the
vicar and him as to kay-silver. He received tithe-grain from
Kendal. Fell. When he first knew the parish it was as wild
and uncultivated a. spot as any person ever saw. The produce
of the greatest part of the parish was wool end lamb. rhe peo
ple mostly spun their own wool and wove their own cloth. There
were some few turnips growing in gardens at that time, but
they were-dearer than apples. 'f: here were neither turnips nor
potatocalheu groWn in fields. On the 22d Sept., 1793, he paid
the vicar, Mr Cuthbert, £2 for hay-silver, per agreement.
Richard Mime deposed, that he had cottected tithes of wool,
lamb, potatoes, and grain for the Misses Lambert,—the plain-
tiffs,—and also a baltpenny each for the winterage of sheep, and,
if any were sold after Candlemas, and before they were clipped,
a penny each.
The Rev. J. Hudson, who has been vicar of Kendal since
1817, produced the vicarial tithe collector's books from the
year 1798. lie said there was a small payment made at Easter
done penny an acre, called mire metulow, which was entered
its all the books, but he was not certain whether it was collected
in the townships where hay-silver was paid.
Mr. Parnell, a surveyor, proved the number of acres in Ken-
-41 parish to amount to 1452.
jaineS Dubin:on was called to prove that he had never paid
any. mire-meadow penny.
the ArTottN EY-GENERAL, in a lengthened speech for the de-
fence, contended that the tithe of hay belonged to the vicar and
not to tbe rector, and that there had uniformly been a modus of
one penny an acre in lieu thereof. He said the parish had no-
thing to fear from his excellent and learned friend, as he might
*ell call him, the respectable vicar of Kendal, but it was 'lris
iiitv College, Cambridge, ,t his (Mr. Williams's) alma 'ater,:
vshiell had suffered her rights to lie dormant so long, that was
the roaring lion on this occasion.
In support of his case, the learned gentleman put in the
ecclesiastical survey in the 26th year.iof Henry N 11, and a
terrier dated 1712; and he then called several witnesses, to
prove that they hinl paid one penny per acre in lieu of tithe
for .hay ; but from the cross-examination of several of these,
it appeared that the amount of pence paid by them, which
tihiy so Consideied, fell far short of the number of acres of hay
land held by them.
Sir JAMes ScSttLErr addressed the jury in reply, at great
length, contending that the el idence for the defendant had in
no case shaken the case for the plaintiffs, and that the attempt
to set up a modus had entirely-failed. 'He observed, that it was
very unworthy of his learned friend, Mr. Williams' to call his
alma mater a roaring lion for putting forward a claim to un-
doubted rights. . .
It being nearly eight o'clock when Sir Jamds Scarlett con-
cluded
.his. speech, Lhe court adjourned till had-past nine the
Plowing morning.
TUESDAY. '
.1 _
LAMBERT AND OTHERS V. FISHER.
j 2.
41r:Tiaron Gteasey proceeded to sum up the evidence in this
case to the jury. He observed that in point of law, unless the
defendant could show that there had been a regular moans ,paid
to the vicar and not to the rector, the plaintiffs must. have a
verdict'; and unless the payment of such modus could be shown
to liaysi been regular, flied, and from time immemorial, it could
not avail, and the evidence was against any such supposition,
for theseariiest documents mentioned nothing of it. This re-
ferred to the tithe- of hay; but as to the tithe of turnips and
potatoes throughout the
,parish, the defendant hadput in a claim
lo thed for the vicar, without his being-a party to it; and unS
-less it was proved that they had been granted to the vicar by
the rector, he could not now claim them; and it was clear that
they were not 'so granted to the vicar; therefore; he thought
that there could be no doubt but their verdict must be for the
plaintiffs on that point. .
The jury retired, und,nfter being out about- a quarter of an
hour, returned into court with a verdict for the ptaiatirs; thus
establishing the right' to tithes in question 'to be in Trinity
College, Cambridge, and not in the vicar.

IRISH REPRESENTATIVE PEERAGE.—llanaper Office, :'starch
29.—Lord Downes, 76; Viscount Lismore, 27. The election
closed Testerday evening.—Datin Paper of Saturday.

On Tuesday last a fire was discovered to have broken out ut
a dwelling-house in Peach-street, at the back of Abercrornbl -
square, and which was occupied by one Muck Leroy as a bake-
house,•and provision and grocery store. By means of a reany
supply of water, and the usual activity of the firemen, of whom
those of the Norwich Union, with their engine, again arrived
first on the ground, these premises escaped entire destruction,
and which, we understand, are protected by insurance effected'
with the Manchester Fire-office.

GAELIC SCHOOLS.—Ure understand the Rev. Doctor Mac-
intosh Mackay, of Dunoon, will preach a Gaelic sermon,to his
countrymen this evening, at seven o'clock, in Oldham-street
Chal►e., and where the Doctor will deliver a sermon, in English,
on Sunday evening- next,- at seven o'clock, when a collection
will be made in aid of the Society for the support of Gaelic
Schools in the Highlands and Islands of Scutiaud. This so-
ciety has great claims cn the British public, and funds are
now so inadequate to the demands, that the society have soli-
cited Doctor Mackay to advocate the cause in this country,
where already, at Manchester, he-has experienced the greate
liberality. We understand the Reverend Doctor is eminently
qualified for the mission he has thus undertaken. He is already
distinguished in the literature of his native country, and is other-
wise much esteemed for his piety and general erudition.