TITHES (AS. teopa, a tenth part, from tf'on, Lien, tin, ten, Goth. taihun, 011G. zchan, Ger. zchn, ten; connected with Lat. decent, Gk. SIKa, deka, lr. dcich, Skt. daga, ten). A tenth part of the produce of the land, which has from the earliest times been a rate in a system of taxation for civil and religions purposes. Tithing is still the prevailing method of taxation in !Moham medan countries. It was established and def initely regulated for the support of religion among the Hebrews. For the details of the _Hebraic institution of tithes see Lev. xxvii. and Dent. xiv., where it is provided that the tribe of Levi, not having lands assigned to them as was the case with the other tribes, should draw their support from this system of taxation.
In the usage of the Christian churches tithes have been one of the methods employed in provid ing for the support of the clergy. (See STIPENDS, CLERICAL.) The system, though strongly urged as of moral obligation by the Apostolic canons, the Apostolic constitutions, and the writings of the Fathers, was for many centuries purely volun tary; and the legislation of the first Christian emperors. while it presupposed the duty of main taining the clergy, did not extend to any general enactment for the payment, of a tenth of the pro duce of the land. Many Church councils in the
sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries confirmed the system; and at length the Emperor Charlemagne, by his capitularies at the beginning of the ninth century, formally established the tax within that portion of the ancient Roman Empire to which his legislation extended..
The introduction of tithes into England is as cribed to Offa, King of Siercia, at the end of the eighth century; and the practice was made gen eral for all England by Ethelwulf, about the year 850. It would seem that at first, although all were required to pay tithes, it was optional with each to select the church to which payment should be made; but by a deeretal of Pope Innocent III. addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1200, all were required to pay tithes for the support of the clergy of their respective parishes, and this parochial distribution of tithes has ever since obtained in England. Consult Whitehead, Church Late (London, 1892).