to the tithes thereof to be computation under this act; persons entitled rector, vicar, or other person entitled to the tithes thereof, or by any lessee of any such rector, vicar, or other person, or by any person, excluded in the compounding for tithes with any such rector, vicar, or other person, or by any tenant of any such rector, vicar, or other person, or of any such lessee or compounder, whereby the right to the tithes of such lands or tenements may have been or may be during any time in the occupier thereof, or in the person entitled to the rent thereof, the whole of every such time and times shall be excluded in the computation of the several periods of time hereinbefore mentioned. as also the time during which any person ca pable of resist ing any claim shall be an infant, &c. What it shall be sufficient to allege in actions commenced under this act. No presump support of any claim for any less period than mentioned in this act. 6. Provided also, That the time during which any person otherwise capable of resisting any claim to any of the matters before mentioned shall have been or shall be an infant, idiot, non compos mentis, feme covert, or lay tenant for life, or during which any action or suit shall have been pending, and which shall have been diligently prosecuted, until abated by the death of any party or parties thereto, shall be excluded in the computation of the periods hereinbefore mentioned, except only in cases where the right or claim is hereby declared to be absolute and indefeasible. 7. And be it further enacted, That, in all actions and suits to be commenced after this act shall take effect, it shall be sufficient to allege that the modus or exemption or discharge claimed was actually exercised and enjoyed for such of the periods mentioned in this act as may be applicable to the case; and if the other party shall intend to rely on any proviso, exception, incapacity, disability, contract, agreement, deed, or writing herein mentioned, or any other matter of fact or of law not inconsistent with the simple fact of the exercise and enjoyment of the matter claimed, the same shall be specially alleged and set forth in answer to the allegation of the party claiming, and shall not be received in evidence on any general traverse or denial of the matter claimed. 8. And be it further enacted, That, in the several cases mentioned tion allowed in in and provided for by this act, no presumption shall be allowed or made in favour or support of any claim upon proof of the exercise or enjoyment of the right or matter claimed for any less period of time or number of years than for such period or number mentioned in this act as may be applicable to the case and to the nature of the claim. Act to extend to England only. 9. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That this act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland. Modus for and Discharge from Tithes. 4 & 5 WILL. IV. CAP. 83.-[Royal Assent, 15th August, 1834.] An Act to amend an Act passed in the Third Year of his present Majesty, intituled An Act for shortening the Time required in Claims of Modus Decimandi, or Exemption from or Discharge of Tithes. WHEREAS, by an act passed in the third year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled "An Act for shortening the Time required 2 & 3 W. 4, c. in Claims of Modus Decimandi, or Exemption from or Discharge of 100. Tithes," certain provisions were made limiting the period within which, in cases of claims of a modus decimandi the payment or render of such modus, and in cases of claim of or to any exemption from or discharge of tithes by composition real or otherwise, the enjoyment of the land without payment or render of tithes or money, or other matter in lieu thereof, should be shewn to have taken place: And whereas it was by the said act further enacted, that nothing therein contained should be prejudicial or available to or for any plaintiff or defendant in any suit or action relative to any of the matters therein mentioned, then commenced, or which might be thereafter commenced during the then session of Parliament, or within one year from the end thereof: And whereas, since the passing of the said act, a great number of suits have been instituted for the recovery of tithes, under the apprehension on the part of the plaintiffs that they would be precluded by the said act from recovering the tithes to which they claim to be entitled unless they prosecuted their claims within the periods limited by the said act: And whereas it is deemed advisable to enable the defendants in such suits to cause all further proceedings therein to be suspended until the end of the next session of Parliament, upon the terms hereinafter expressed: Be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this act it Proceedings shall and may be lawful for the defendant or defendants in any action or suit which may have been commenced or instituted since the passing of the said recited act for the recovery of tithes, or for invalidating claims of a modus decimandi, or an exemption from or discharge of tithes, for lands in respect whereof no tithes, nor any composition in lieu thereof, shall have been actually rendered or paid within the space of sixty years previous to the passing of this act, with the consent of the plaintiff or plaintiffs in such action or suit, to pay the amount of stayed on defendant's paying costs into court. the costs and expenses (to be taxed as between party and party) which may have been incurred by or on the part of the plaintiff or plaintiffs in such action or suit into the Bank of England, in the name and with the privity of the accountant-general of the Court of Chancery or of the Court of Exchequer, or of the proper officer of the court in which such action or suit shall have been brought, to the credit or on account of such action or suit; and in every case where such costs and expenses shall be so paid into court, all further proceedings in such action or suit (except as hereinafter provided) shall be stayed and suspended until the end of the next session of Parliament. 2. And be it further enacted, That from and after the end of the next session of Parliament it shall and may be lawful for the plaintiff or plaintiffs in any action or suit, in which the defendant or defendants shall have caused the proceedings to be stayed or suspended under the provision hereinbefore contained, to give notice to the defendant or defendants of his, her, or their intention to proceed in such action or suit, and to proceed therewith accordingly; and then and in every such case the defendant or defendants shall, immediately after such notice shall have been so given, be entitled to receive out of court the sum or sums which such defendant or defendants shall have previously paid into court on account of the costs of the plaintiff or plaintiffs. may 3. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That it shall and be lawful for the plaintiff or plaintiffs in any action or suit in which the defendant or defendants shall have paid into court the costs of such plaintiff or plaintiffs under the provision hereinbefore contained, to take the sum or sums which may have been so paid for such costs out of court, for his, her, or their own use, and then and in every such case all further proceedings in such action or suit shall be for ever abandoned and relinquished. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the successors, heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns of any plaintiff or plaintiffs, whose action or suit may be so stayed or suspended as aforesaid, to revive and proceed with such action or suit after the end of the next session of Parliament, or to take such costs as aforesaid out of court, and cause all further proceedings to be abandoned and relinquished, in the same manner and in every respect as the original plaintiff or plaintiffs might or could have done. 5. Provided always, and be it enacted, That notwithstanding the provision hereinbefore contained, it shall and may be lawful for any cause shewn, party to any action or suit so suspended, upon adducing sufficient permit actions to be proceeded proof to the satisfaction of a judge of the court in which such action or with. suit shall have been commenced, that there is danger of some material evidence in support of the right or claim of such party being lost in consequence of such suspension, to proceed in such action or suit to the extent of proving such fact or facts, the evidence respecting which shall be so shewn as aforesaid to be in danger of being lost through such suspense. 6. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing in this act As to previous contained shall prevent the prosecution of any suit in law or equity for claims. the recovery of any tithes claimed or demanded previous to the passing of the said recited act, or for the recovery of the value thereof. Limitation of Actions and Suits. 3 & 4 WILL. IV. CAP. 27.-[Royal Assent, July 24, 1833.] An Act for the Limitation of Actions and Suits relating to Real Property, and for simplifying the Remedies for trying the Rights thereto (a). Definitions. act; "Land." Be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the words and expressions hereinafter mentioned, which Meaning of the in their ordinary signification have a more confined or a different words in the meaning, shall in this act, except where the nature of the provision or the context of the act shall exclude such construction, be interpreted as follows: (that is to say), the word "land" shall extend to manors, messuages, and all other corporeal hereditaments whatsoever, and also to tithes (other than tithes belonging to a spiritual or eleemosynary corporation sole), and also to any share, estate, or interest in them or any of them, whether the same shall be a freehold or chattel interest, and whether freehold or copyhold, or held according to any other tenure; and the word "rent" shall extend to all heriots, and to "Rent." all services and suits for which a distress may be made, and to all an (a) The marginal abstracts, which were in many instances inaccurate, have been corrected. whom another claims. nuities and periodical sums of money charged upon or payable out of any land (except moduses or compositions belonging to a spiritual or Person through eleemosynary corporation sole); and the person through whom another person is said to claim shall mean any person by, through, or under, or by the act of whom, the person so claiming became entitled to the estate or interest claimed, as heir, issue in tail, tenant by the curtesy of England, tenant in dower, successor, special or general occupant, executor, administrator, legatee, husband, assignee, appointee, devisee, or otherwise, and also any person who was entitled to an estate or interest to which the person so claiming, or some person through whom he claims, became entitled as lord by escheat; and the word "person" shall extend to a body politic, corporate, or collegiate, and to a class of creditors (a), or other persons, as well as an individual: and every word importing the singular number only shall extend and be applied to several persons or things as well as one person or thing: and every word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied to a female as well as a male. "Person." Number and gender. Time of Limitation fixed for Land and Kent. No land or rent but within twenty years of action ac TWENTY YEARS. 2. And be it further enacted, That, after the thirty-first day of to be recovered December, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, no person shall make an entry or distress, or bring an action to recover any after the right land or rent but within twenty years next after the time at which the right to make such entry or distress, or to bring such action, shall have first accrued to some person through whom he claims, or, if whose estate he such right shall not have accrued to any person through whom he claims, then within twenty years next after the time at which the right to make such entry or distress, or to bring such action, shall have first accrued to the person making or bringing the same (6). crued to the claimant or some person claims. When the right to have ac- in the case of an estate once in possession; When Right shall be deemed to have first accrued. 3. And be it further enacted, That, in the construction of this act, right to make an entry or distress, or bring an action to recover any land or rent, shall be deemed to have first accrued at such time as hereinafter is mentioned; (that is to say), when the person claiming such land or rent, or some person through whom he claims, shall, (a) Lord St. John v. Boughton, 9 Sim. 219. (b) Rex v. Manor of Agardsleg, 5 Dowl. P. C. 19: Doe d. Linsey v. Edwards, 5 Ad. & Ell. 95: Nepean v. Doe d. Knight, 2 Mee. & W. 894. |