Tithes

TITHES, a form of tribute consisting of a tenth of a man's property or produce, connected politically with taxation, and religiously with the offering of "firstfruits" to deity. This cus tom was almost universal in the ancient world, and can be traced in Babylonia, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Rome and even in China. The tax probably originated in a tribute laid by a con queror or ruler on his subjects; and we may assume that the custom of dedicating a tenth of the spoils of war to the gods led to a religious extension of the term, the original offerings to deity being "firstfruits." Among the early Hebrews, for example, the king could exact a tithe from cornfields, vineyards, and flocks (I Sam. viii. 15, 17) ; and on the religious side the oldest laws (e.g., Exod. xxxiv. 26) speak of bringing the firstfruits of the land to the house of Yahveh. By the 7th century (Deuteronomy) the word "tithe" has come to be used regularly for religious dues. But the analysis of tithe-legislation in the books ascribed to Moses is a complicated problem, owing to the way in which strata of legislation belonging to different periods are combined in the Pentateuch as we now have it; and for detailed investigation reference should be made to the works mentioned below. Ulti mately the tithe system became a means of contributing to the regular support of the priests, as ministers of the public ritual.

Tithes in Christendom.

The earliest authentic example of anything like a law of the State enforcing payment appears to occur in the capitularies of Charlemagne at the end of the 8th or beginning of the 9th century. Tithes were by that enactment to be applied to the maintenance of the bishop and clergy, the poor, and the fabric of the church. In course of time the principle of payment of tithes was extended far beyond its original inten tion. Thus they became transferable to laymen and saleable like ordinary property, in spite of the injunctions of the third Lateran Council; and they became payable out of sources of income not originally tithable.

The Council of Trent definitely enjoined payment of tithes, and excommunicated those who withheld them (Sessio xxv. 12). In England the earliest example of a legal recognition of tithes appears to be in a decree of a synod in 786 (quoted by Selden, History of Tithes, ch. viii. 2). Other examples before the con

quest occur in the laws of Alfred, Athelstane, Edgar, and Ca nute. It was Selden's denial of the divine right of tithes which brought down the wrath of the Star Chamber upon his head (1618), and he was forced to retract his opinion.

Tithes in English Law.

Two chronological divisions may conveniently be made.

(i.) Before the Commutation Acts (1836 sqq.). Tithes were classified by origin, as "praedial," or arising immediately from the ground, e.g., grain of all sorts, hay, wood and the like; "mixed," or arising from things immediately nourished by the ground, e.g., colts, lambs, eggs and the like; or "personal," namely, of profits arising from the honest labour and industry of man, and being the tenth part of the clear gain, e.g., fishing, mills and the like; or according to value, as great, e.g., corn, hay and wood; or little, which embraced all others. Of common right tithes were only payable of such things as yield a yearly natural increase and generally only once a year. They were recoverable by a writ against the owner of the tithable property usually brought in the ecclesiastical courts, the jurisdiction of which in this respect was confirmed by the statutes Circumspecte agatis (13 Edw. I.), Articuli cleri (9 Edw. II.), and others of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. ; and an act 2 and 3 Edw. VI. made any person refusing to set out tithes liable to pay double the value in the ecclesiastical court or treble in a common law court. At the time of the Com mutation Acts, it was common for a tithe-owner to accept a fixed sum of money or fixed quantity of the goods tithable in place of the actual tithes, whether in respect of a whole parish or only of particular lands within it; and this could be sued for in the ecclesiastical courts. In the City of London there were customary tithes; in other towns and places there were compo sitions for tithes which were confirmed by local acts of parlia ment; and according to a return presented to the House of Commons in 1831, there were passed between 1757 and 183o no less than 2,000 local acts containing commutation clauses.