William the Firft, and downward. And here we cannot help obferving, that our ingenious Author has been fubjected to no small degree of trouble and perplexity, by having overlooked one very material circumftance in the original principles of the feudal conftitution; and which may naturally be expected to happen to every man who has no tafte for fpeculations on the fubject of government, confidered in refpect of its origin and progrefs in fociety; viz. that the regal power was not originally either hereditary, or neceffarily continued even during the life of the perfon who was, at any particular juncture, invefted with that high authority. Among favage tribes, where government and laws are in their infancy, individuals are in all respects equal, unless in what concerns bodily or mental endowments. Where any individual poffeffes thefe endowments in a fupereminent degree, his equals in other refpects behold him with a fort of reverential awe, and, in times of danger especially, voluntarily defire to be directed by his wifdom, or protected by his fuperior prowess; and therefore willingly co-operate with him as long as they think he is more capable than any other perfon of affording them that protection they want,-but no longer. The danger over, his authority of courfe ceafes; and a new leader may be adopted whenever a fucceeding danger points out the neceffity of it. When tribes engage in hoftile attacks upon others, and break forth from their own boundaries in fearch of plunder or conqueft, neceffity compels them to have a leader at all times to direct and protect the whole body. Hence, the authority becomes permanent, though the perfon who exercifes that authority is liable to be changed. It would, at a very early period, be obferved, that the perfon who fhould for the time poffefs this high rank, neceffarily required a much greater income than any private individual, and certain diftinguished privileges to render his behefts obeyed. Thus an idea began to prevail of a FISK, of a common good-of public demefnes, as altogether unconnected with any individual. In this ftate were evidently fome of those northern tribes defcribed by Tacitus, though most of them had advanced confiderably beyond this ftage of civilization before they fell under the cognizance of that attentive observer of manners. In forming, therefore, a notion of the royal revenue, in its origin, we muft advert to this state of things. Our ferocious ancestors, when they over-ran the territories of their more peaceable neighbours, and fubjected the natives to their power, were entirely directed by thefe military notions. Their conquefts were shared, at firft, equally, no doubt, among them; and in procefs of time (as a long continuance of power in the fame family created a diftinction of rank) according to the dignity of the leaders; always referving a certain proportion to the Fifk, to be for the time under the adminiftration of the leader, whoever he fhould chance to be. At the beginning, these two kinds of revenue belonging to the Dux or King, viz. his own private fortune as an individual, and the revenue belonging to the ftate, would be carefully diftinguished, and preferved; but when, in procefs of time, the fupreme authority became, in many places, hereditary, thefe two fources of revenue would be naturally confounded with each other, so as not to be diftinguifhed; though for many ages fome ideas of this fort must have prevailed:-and as thefe notions became more and more faint, a confufion must have enfued in the rules for the adminiftration of thefe revenues, fome perfons applying to the whole, those maxims that were only applicable to a part; and according as the income of the individual, or the revenue of the crown, was confidered as the ftandard, the conclufions to be deduced would be exceedingly different. Hence it has happened, that antiquaries of the moft eminent name in the republic of letters, have maintained doctrines refpecting the crown-revenue the moft oppofite that can be conceived,-one party infifting that the land revenue of the crown was entirely unalienable, and might at any future period be refumed by the national council, when the King had been fo improvident as to grant it away to others, which was true only with regard to the public revenue, properly fo called:-and another party maintaining, with equal confidence, that the grants of the crown might not be challenged more than thofe of individuals; which was only true as far as refpected the private fortune of the royal family. Hence the origin of that perplexity with refpect to the hiftory of Grants and Refumptions, and those confequent ftruggles which have often deluged this country with the blood of its moft diftinguished nobles. This perplexity our Author well delineates; but he has not explained its caufe. It is, indeed, now, a matter of mere fpeculative knowledge; for as these two kinds of crown lands had been long confounded together in Britain, and as the improvidence or difaftrous circumftances of the Kings of Britain had gradually alienated the crown lands, fo as to leave them of very little value: and as a change of circumftances had provided a royal revenue very different from thefe, they were wifely put, by the fenate, upon an entire new footing, by an act within our own recollection. To the book itself we refer the curious inquirer, who wishes for information respecting the changes of the value of the crown lands belonging to Great Britain, at different periods, from the reign of William the Conqueror, to the prefent time; and hall content ourselves with the following extract, which, at the fame time that it will give the reader an idea of the Author's ftyle, will enable him to form a very clear notion of the present value of the crown lands: The hereditaments of the crown, which compofe that which is called the land revenue, may be faid to be either in poffeffion and actual enjoyment, or in reverfion and expectancy. Of the former kind are, Firft, The demifable estates, which being actually leafed out, or in a courfe of leafing, produce a rent annually, and alfo a fine upon renewal. Secondly, Fee farm rents, and other rents of various kinds. Thirdly, Honours, manors, and hundreds, not in leafe, but under the care of ftewards appointed by patent, or by conftitution from the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Fourthly, Lands in the occupation of the crown, for the convenience of his Majefty, or the public fervice. And Fifthly, All eftate and intereft which the crown hath in forests and wastes. Of the other kind, which may be confidered as being in reverfion, or expectancy, are all hereditaments which may come to the crown. First, for want of heirs; or fecondly, by forfeiture; or thirdly, by the limitation of remainders to the crown. Of these feveral articles the land revenue confifts, and whatever profits arife from it, are derived from fome one of these fources. Let us first confider the hereditaments that are in poffeffion. The demifable lands are scattered all over the kingdom, infomuch that there are few counties in which the crown has not fome lands. This is owing to the variety of means by which the crown became poffeffed of its eftates, as appears from the preceding defcription of the fources from whence they Sprung. Thefe demifable eftates are either in actual courfe of leafing, for terms of 50 years, where the greatest part of the value confifts of buildings; or in other cafes for 31 years or three lives, according to the provifions of the Civil Lift Act of the 1ft of Queen Anne; or elfe they are in leafe upon unexpired grants of long terms made previous to that act. In general the revenue flowing from them is of an improveable nature, as will appear by obferving the great increase of the fines, fince the paffing of the laft mentioned Act, as well as the great increase of rents which has taken place in late years upon leafes and grants of reverfionary terms. It is not that thefe eftates are particularly improveable from their quality or fituation; or that they are in an uncultivated condition, and therefore capable of melioration; but that the revenue arifing from them muft in many inftances increase, on renewals of leafes, as many terms are ftill fubfifting, which were granted upon fmall or nominal rents, antecedent to the Civil Lift A&t, particularly those which were to commence on the death of Queen Catherine, the confort of King Charles II. or on the expiration of leafes granted by her, and which, when they fall in, muft be renewed upon reasonable terms according to their real value. It is Amount of the Fines in the first 16 years after the In the next 16 years, ending in 1733, In the next 16 years, ending in 1765, In the next 16 years, ending in 1781, Increase of referved rents from 1769 to 1782, £3,200. 103,392 133,508 not not intended here to give an account of all the eftates held by lease from the crown: fuch an account however has lately been compiled in the Surveyor General's office, for the information of the Lords of the Treafury, and delivered to two gentlemen appointed by them to enquire into all particulars from which information might be derived for their lordships, relative to the management of the departments of the crown lands, woods, and forefts: it contains a statement in feparate columns of the names of the leffees, the eftates which they hold, the dates of the leafes, the terms granted, and the expiration thereof, the yearly value of each eftate by the latest furvey or estimate, the fines paid for thofe leafes, and the rents referved thereon. It may be fufficient, for the prefent purpose, to say that the demifable land revenue of the crown confifts of about 130 manors, about 52,000 acres of arable, meadow, and pafture land, about 1800 houfes in London and Weftminster, and about 450 houses, mills, and cottages, in the country parts of England, exclufive of houfes demifed with manors or farms; and that the fines paid to the crown, on granting and renewing leases of those eftates, amount, on an average, to about 7,500 l. per ann. and the yearly rents referved to the crown for the fame to about 13,000l. per ann.: fo that the demised land revenue produces, on an average, fomething more than 20,000l. per ann. Another account has been made out, for the fame gentlemen, of all leafes granted by the crown between the ift of January 1771, and the 31ft December 1780, and of the fines paid, and rents referved upon thofe leafes, in which ten years the fines amounted to 76,3081. 14. (or about 7,6381. per ann.); and the increased rents, referved in addition to the rents paid before the granting of thofe leafes, to 2,5921. 8s. 10d. per ann. A fchedule has likewife been made out, of all the leafes granted by the crown, and of the fines fet by the Surveyor General for the fame between the 1ft of January 1760, and the 31st of October 1782. In this period the fines amounted to 163,018/. 11⁄2d. or, comm. annis, about 7,410l. per ann. The fame gentlemen have likewife had an account of all eftates granted in fee fince the paffing the Civil Lift Act of the first of Queen Anne, by which it appears, that eftates of the value of about 20,000l. per ann. have been alienated from the crown, by authority of parliament, fince the power of the crown to grant in perpetuity was taken away. The fecond article of land revenue is the fee farm, and other dry rents. A fee farm rent is defined by fome writers to be a rent charge iffuing out of an eftate in fee, of at least one-fourth part of the annual value of the lands at the time of its refervation; but the true meaning of fee farm is a perpetual farm, or rent, the name being founded on the perpetuity of the rent, or fervice, not on the quantum t. The refervation This account is the fchedule mentioned in the Preface, and forms the First Report of the Commiffioners of the Land Revenue. t "Lord Coke feems to intimate the contrary, by confining the denomination of fee-farm, to rents at least equal to the fourth part of the value of the land; and the word is explained in a like manner by Sir Henry Spelman, and the author of the Book of old Tenures, T 3 with refervation of fo great a rent as one-fourth part, certainly (as Sir William Blackftone obferves) makes a grant of lands on fuch terms rather a letting of lands to farm in fee fimple, inftead of the ufual methods, for life or years; it was, therefore, by no means an unnatural mode for the crown to adopt in the difpofal of its landed property; and accordingly a very large proportion of the land revenue confifts in fee farm rents. The rents which fall under that denomination amount to about 23,500l. but the real effective fee farm rents are but a small part of that fum; for there are included in that fum, rents in arrear and rents granted away (chiefly among those called fee farm rents), amounting to no lefs than 17,500l. per ann. ; fo that the fee farm rents actually received are not more than 6,400l. per ann. But in the state of the rent roils, with fuch a load of arrears upon them, it is hardly poffible to ascertain, with any degree of precifion, the amount of the fee farm rents really due to the crown; for though there are many fee farm rents due, which are not received, yet it is certain, that there are many continued on the rent rolls which do not now belong to the crown, having been fold under the Acts of zzd and 23d of Charles II. but not put out of charge, many of the conveyances not having been inrolled with the Auditors. 6 Having explained the nature of the demifable lands and fee farm rents, I fhall proceed to the third article of land revenue in poffeffion, which confifts of honours, manors, hundreds, and other hereditaments not in leafe, but under the care of ftewards. These ftewards are appointed either by conftitution under the hand and feal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or by letters patent. They are almost all during pleasure, and the stewards are paid, either by fees due to them by custom from the tenants of the manors, on the alienation of their copyholds, and on other proceedings in their courts; or by certain falaries from the crown, or fometimes by both. For the most part these stewardships are rather a charge on the revenue, than a fupport or increase of it. The principal appointments of this kind are as follows.' [Here we have a long lift of flewardships and with this difference only, that the latter restricts the value to a third (Spelm. Gloff. voce feodi firma, and old Tenure, tit. fee firme). But it would be wrong to understand any [either] of thefe writers as intending abfolutely and univerfally to exclude all rents of less value; for the word fee-farm moft certainly imports every rent or fervice, whatever the quantum may be, which is referved on a grant in fee; and fo Lord Coke himself agrees in another work, citing Britton, and other books for authorities, 2d Inft. 44 Britt. 164. The fometimes confining the term fee farm to rents of a certain value, probably arofe partly from the Statute of Gloucefter, which gives the ceffavit only where the rent amounts to one-fourth of the value of the land, and partly from its being moft ufual, in grants in fee farm, not to receive less than a third or fourth of fuch value. After the statute of Quia Emptores, granting in fee farm, except by the King, became impracticable; because the grantor parting with the fee, is, by operation of that ftatute, without any reverfion, and without a reverfion there cannot be a rent fervice." HARGRAVE on COKE LYT. bayliffes |