We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 January 2010
Tithe causes, as we have seen, were one of the three foundations that sustained the great rise in instance business in the ecclesiastical courts from the mid-sixteenth century to the English Revolution, the other two being testamentary causes and defamation suits. But what, in turn, stimulated this increase in tithe causes?
Tithes, originally offerings in kind of a tenth part of agricultural produce, were of ancient origin, one of the means by which our ancestors maintained their priesthood in what were predominantly agricultural societies. The 1763 edition of Burn's Ecclesiastical Law tells us that
Tithes, with regard to their several kinds or natures, are divided into praedial, mixt, and personal:
Praedial tithes are such as arise merely and immediately from the ground; as grain of all sorts, hay, wood, fruits, herbs …
Mixt tithes are those which arise not immediately from the ground, but from things immediately nourished from the ground, as by means of goods depastured thereupon, or otherwise nourished with the fruits thereof; as colts, calves, lambs, chickens, milk, cheese, eggs.
Personal tithes are such profits as do arise by the honest labour and industry of man, employing himself in some personal work, artifice, or negotiation; being the tenth part of the clear gain, after charges deducted.
Predial tithes were thus a tenth part of things growing on the land; mixed tithes derived mainly from animals kept on the land and personal tithes were the tenths paid by those whose incomes derived from their labour, trades or professions.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
