This rule, however, was subject to numerous exceptions, of which three are to be pointed out:

a. The secular court intervened by prohibition when before the ecclesiastical court tithes were demanded from sources of income not before tithable." 137

b. A particular kind of prohibition, what was called a writ of indicavit, 198 was issued when, owing to the result of the tithes suit in the ecclesiastical court, the interest of the patron of the benefice might be affected. That interest was, in particular, concerned when the holder of the benefice, presented by the patron, was sued for having improperly annexed tithes belonging, not to his, but to another benefice. The king's court in intervening in such cases relied on its exclusive competence in questions of patronage. But from the second third of the thirteenth century the royal tribunals confined themselves to issuing the writ of indicavit only when the tithes sued for formed a considerable part of the income of the benefice, or when a considerable interest of the patron was at stake. After long uncertainty in practice up to what fraction of the income proceeding before the ecclesiastical court should be allowed, one-fourth was ultimately fixed as the limit. For larger sums the secular courts remained, as before, exclusively competent.139

cuniariam veniatur. Set si clericus, vel religiosus, decimas suas in orreo suo congregatas, vel alibi existentes, vendiderit alicui pro pecunia, si petatur pecunia coram Judice ecclesiastico, locum habet prohibicio, quia per vendicionem res spirituales fiunt temporales, et transeunt decime in catalla.

1 Ric. II (1377) cc 13, 14 confirm the right of the ecclesiastical courts to adjudicate as to tithes. c 13:... dismes, et autres choses, queles de droit deyvent et de aunciene soloient appartenere a mesme la Court Chrestiene

137 Complaint of the clergy, 1237 (Ann. de Burton; Rer. Brit. Ser. No. 36; Ann. Monast. I, 254): quod judices saeculares non decidant causas ecclesiasticas in foro saeculari, et utrum dandae sint decimae de lapicidinis vel silvecaediis, vel herbagiis, vel pasturis, vel de aliis decimis non consuetis.-Answer of the king to the complaint of the clergy, 1279-85 (Rer. Brit. Ser. No. 61 p. 70) c 5: In future no prohibition. Quia de tali molendino hactenus decimae non fuerunt solutae, shall be issued when the rector claims before the spiritual judge tithe from the newly erected mill. Similarly 9 Ed. II st. 1 (1315/6) Articuli Cleri c 5.—45 Ed. III (1370/1) c 3: When wood twenty or more years old is cut, rector and vicar sue in the ecclesiastical court for tithe therefrom el noun (=nom) de ceste parole Silvae caeduae'; est ordeine et etabli qe prohibicion en ce cas soit grantee, et sur ce attachement, come ad este avant ces heures.

138 Cf. the original form of the writ as preserved by Glanvilla, note 153; so almost identically in Bracton, Book V. tract. 5 c 4 § 2 (VI, 174). For the form given to this writ in the case mentioned in the text see Bracton, l.c. § 3.

139 Complaint of the clergy, 1237 (Ann. de Burton; Rer. Brit. Scr. No. 36; Ann. Monastici) I, 255: Item ne currat prohibitio, ne judices ecclesiastici cognoscant de iure patronatus, quo minus clerici possint petere decimas tanquam de jure communi ad ecclesias suas pertinentes, quia patroni ecclesiarum vel capellarum qui decimas petitas possident, dicunt per talem petitionem juri patronatus sui derogari, et nolunt justiciarii domini regis judicare quota pars decimarum peti possit vel debeat coram judice ecclesiastico, ad hoc quod non praejudicatur juri patronatus scilicet jurare. Bracton, Book V, tract. 5 c 4 § 2 (VI, 174): Si contentio fuerit inter rectores de aliquibus decimis quae estimari possunt usque ad quartam, quintam, vel sextam partem advocationis, et ultra quam partem non extenditur prohibitio ut videtur, tunc fiat judicibus prohibitio in hac forma. Rex talibus judicibus salutem. Indicavit nobis

13 Ed. I (1285) Circumspecte agatis, first part: Let the ecclesiastical court be competent, si Rector petit decimam majorem vel minorem dummodo non petatur quarta pars alicujus ecclesie. (In the second part, probably originally not belonging here. there is a provision almost verbatim as in Art. Cleri c 2.) Cf. also 13 Ed. I (1285) Stat. Westminster II c 5 sub fin.: Et cum per breve In

c. Under special conditions, which, however, are not precisely known,140 actions for tithes could be made triable immediately before the king's court (writ of scire facias). The institution of such proceedings was in 1344 forbidden by statute, the rights of the king being, nevertheless, reserved. 141 Instances of the procedure are found in later times; they were probably justified by the reservation indicated, freely interpreted."

142

7. Disputes touching other dues to the parish priest, touching corodies etc. The right of the ecclesiastical courts to deal with such causes was at no time contested.143

8. Disputes in reference to church property.

Perhaps the charter of Stephen (1136) is to be understood as meaning that he

dicavit impediatur rector alicujus ecclesie ad petendum decimas in vicina parochia, habeat patronus rectoris sic impediti breve ad petendum advocationem decimarum petitarum. Et cum disracionaverit procedat postmodum placitum in curia Christianitatis, quatenus disracionatum fuerit in curia Regis.

6

Complaint of the clergy in 1309 (Wilkins, Conc. II, 318): Item breve, quod dicitur Indicavit,' quod de sui natura locum habet in certis casibus, per quosdam justitiarios minus provide jam extenditur ad causas in foro ecclesiae agitatas super spoliatione decimarum [according to Bracton, Book V, tract. 5 c 10 § 6 (VI, 216), in case of a recens spoliatio, as there was no patron's interest concerned, the ecclesiastical court should be competent], vel etiam super decimis in parochiis alienis contra jus commune receptis. Praeterea quoddam breve super eodem a paucis retroactis temporibus est formatum sub tali forma, Indicavit,' etc. quod cum tales religiosi teneant quartam partem talis ecclesiae de advocatione propria, et talis rector inde trahat eos in placitum, etc. et ita cognitio de spoliatione decimarum, vel de jure praeceptionis earum in alienis parochiis ab ecclesia minus juste aufertur; praesertim cum nullum indi placitum subsequenter teneatur, vel teneri valeat in curia laicali, et per consequens talis injúria cum gravi animarum periculo remanet totaliter incorrecta. Ad istum articulum respondet rex: Quodsi fiat contentio de jure decimarum, originem habens de jure patronatus, et earum decimarum quantitas extendat se ad tertiam partem bonorum ecclesiae, locum habeat regia prohibitio,

9 Ed. II st. 1 (1315/6) Art. Cleri c 2: Item si sit contencio de jure decimarum, originem habens ex jure patronatus, et earundem decimarum quantitas ascendat ad quartam partem bonorum ecclesie, locum habet regia prohibicio, si hec causa coram ecclesiastico Judice ventiletur.

110 See more in Selden, l.c. 434 ff.

141 18 Ed. III (1344) st. 3 c 7. The writ of scire facias should no longer issue from Chancery, savez (=sauvé) a nous notre droit, tiel come nous et noz auncestres avons eu, et soleions avoir de resoun.

142 Cf. 22 Assis. pl. 75 and 38 Ass. 20 (cited in Selden, l.c. 444 and in Reeves 1.c. 3rd Ed. IV, 96).

non pertinet ad regem

Book V, nec ad

143 Bracton, Book IV, tract. 1 c 16 § 7 (III, 146): cum corodia sint quasi spiritualia, sive spiritualibus annexa, non est recurrendum (si detineatur ad forum seculare, et quoniam in hujusmodi corodiis committi poterit simonia, ideo ad forum ecclesiasticum recurratur, tract. 5 c 2 § 5 (VI, 164): judicem secularem cognoscere de iis quae sunt spiritualibus annexa, sicut de decimis et aliis ecclesiae proventionibus. 13 Ed. I (1285) Circumspecte Agatis refers the cause to the ecclesiastical court, si Rector petat mortuarium in partibus ubi mortuarium dari consueverit and si Prelatus alicujus ecclesie petat pensionem a Rectore sibi debitam. Both references are repeated in 9 Ed. II st. 1 (1315/6) Art. Cleri c 1 with the addition etiam si propter detencionem istorum diuturnam ad estimacionem earundem pecuniariam veniatur.

H.C.

FF

intended to refer such disputes to the ecclesiastical courts. As to a case belonging here, action in respect of free church land (frankalmoign), the competence of those courts is recognized in the constitutions of Clarendon (1164); the preliminary question whether the land claimed was free church land or a temporal fief was, however, if the issue was between a layman and a spiritual person, to be determined by the secular court.145 After the statute of Westminster II (1285) the latter was also to be competent for the plea in seisin process between two ecclesiastical owners as to a certain piece of free church land.146

9. Disputes as to the property of the clergy.

The church repeatedly raised a claim to cognizance in such disputes. This claim coincided, for the most part, with the demand for the amenability of the clergy to their own courts in civil causes; like that demand, it could not be realized.147

10. Actions upon contracts which were confirmed by oath or vow.148 By the constitutions of Clarendon such actions were expressly excluded from the cognizance of the church courts.149 This position was subsequently maintained by the state,150 though the ecclesiastical courts were slow to submit."

144 Appendix II. Cf. § 4, note 32.

151

145 Const. of Clarendon c 9 (append. IV).-Glanvilla, Book XII c 25: si fuerit placitum inter duos Clericos de aliquo tenemento, quod sit de libera eleemosyna Feodi ecclesiastici, vel si tenens ipse Clericus teneat in libera eleemosyna Feodum illud ecclesiasticum, quicunque sit petens, placitum inde debet esse in Foro ecclesiastico de Recto; nisi petatur inde Recognitio utrum fuerit liberum Feodum ecclesiasticum vel laicum Feodum Tunc enim,

ista Recognitio, sicut quaelibet alia, in Curia domini Regis habet tractari. For the formulary for the royal commission to the Vicecomes, whereby such a recognitio is initiated see Glanvilla, Book XIII c 24. This is what is called the assisa utrum. Of the proceedings thereat see full account in Bracton, Book IV, tract. 5 (IV, 366 ff.). On the development in the period between the constitutions of Clarendon and Bracton see F. W. Maitland, Frankalmoign in The Law Quarterly Review, 1891, pp. 359 ff.-A judgment (between 1135 and 1147) of the papal legate Imarus in an action between the bishop and the monks of Rochester will be found in Bigelow, Placita 160.-On possession per liberam eleemosynam see § 21, note 36.

146 13 Ed. I (1285) St. Westminster II c 24:

Eodem modo sicut conceditur breve utrum aliquod tenementum sit libera elemosina alicujus ecclesie, vel laicum feodum talis, decetero fiat breve utrum sit libera elemosina talis ecclesie, vel alterius ecclesie, In casu quo libera elemosina unius ecclesie transfertur in possessionem alterius ecclesie.

147 Cf. above, near notes 74 ff.

148 On penal proceedings for perjury see below, near notes 186 ff.

149 C 15: Placita de debitis, quae fide interposita debentur, vel absque interpositione fidei, sint in justitia regis. As Güterbock, Hen. de Bracton und sein Verhältnis zum römischen Recht, pp. 106 ff., shows, informal contracts did not, according to older English law, give ground for action before the royal courts; hence is to be explained the extensive ecclesiastical jurisdiction which sprang up in civil causes touching breach of faith. See, however, also F. W. Maitland (for the Selden Society, 1891), The Court Baron p. 117, as to such actions before inferior secular courts.

150 Bracton, Book V, tract. 5 c 2 § 2 (VI, 160): si in foro seculari agatur de aliquo placito quod pertineat ad coronam et dignitatem regis, et fides fuerit apposita in contractu, non propter hoc pertinebit cognitio super principali ad judicem ecclesiasticum. c 6 § 1 (VI, 204): Item jurisdictionem suam (of the king) non mutat fidei interpositio, sacramentum praestitum, nec spontanea renunciatio partium, quamvis sibi ipsis in hac parte praejudicent per consensum.

151 According to Stubbs, Const. Hist. III, 357, note 3 c 19 § 400, cases of debt

11. Disputes as to advowson and patronage.

It was in this sphere that the quarrel between church and state was fiercest. The state clung to its right as alone giving it security that the established agency of the king and other laymen in filling ecclesiastical offices should not be impaired by papal ordinances, on which the ecclesiastical courts might base their judgments. It had thus to contend in this sphere not only with the national church but also immediately with the pope.

The exclusive competence of the royal court in disputes about patronage is emphasized in the constitutions of Clarendon 152 and in Glanvilla, 153 and this was always the view represented in statutes, royal mandates and the lawbooks.154 Several special modes of procedure in temporal courts were developed

were long tried in court Christian; the Acts of the Ripon Charter for 1452-1506 containing 118 such cases. Like cases of the end of the 15th century are collected out of Hale, Precedents and Proceedings by Pollock, Contracts in Early English Law in Harvard Law Review VI, 403, March, 1893.

152 c1: De advocatione et praesentatione ecclesiarum si controversia emerserit inter laicos, vel inter clericos et laicos, vel inter clericos, in curia domini regis tractetur et terminetur.

153 Glanvilla, Book IV, De Advocationibus Ecclesiarum (and in the passages cited in note 80) claims for the civil court exclusively both the plea as to the right (de recto) and as to the possession (de possessione) of the advowson and right of presentation. A special form of disputing possession in causes of advowson, the assisa ultimae praesentationis, had been (cf. Glanvilla, Book XIII c 1, note 80) introduced by statute. A writ of right was tried at the choice of the defendant, per duellum or by Magna Assisa (Glanvilla, Book IV c 6).

Is cui sui vel alicujus

Cf. also Glanvilla, Book XIII cc 18 ff. c 20: antecessorum suorum adjudicabitur ultima praesentatio, eo ipso Seisinam ipsius Advocationis intelligitur dirationasse; ita quod ad praesentationem ipsius prima Persona in ea Ecclesia vacante per Episcopum loci instituetur, dummodo Persona idonea fuerit;

If proceedings are taken against each other by two clerks who derive their rights from different patrons, so that in reality the advowson is in dispute, a prohibition may be sought from the secular court, which then issues in the form of the writ Indicavit. This writ runs (Glanv., Book IV c 13): Rex Judicibus illis ecclesiasticis salutem. Indicavit nobis R. quod cum J. Clericus suus teneat Ecclesiam illam in illa villa per suam praesentationem, quae de sua Advocatione est, ut dicit, N. clericus eandem petens ex Advocatione M. Militis, ipsum J. coram vobis in Curia Christianitatis inde trahit in placitum. Si vero praefatus N. Ecclesiam illam diracionaret ex Advocatione praedicti M. palam est quod jam dictus R. jacturam inde incurreret de Advocatione sua. Et quoniam lites de Advocationibus Ecclesiarum ad Coronam et dignitatem meam pertinent, vobis prohibeo, ne in causa illa procedatis, donec diracionatum fuerit in Curia mea, ad quem illorum Advocatio illius Ecclesiae pertineat. To the ecclesiastical court are, however, assigned various cases of action between the patron and the clerk in possession of the benefice, in so far as the advowson itself is not in question (Glanv., Book IV cc 9, 10). The letters of John of Salisbury show that under archbishop Theobald (1139–61) ecclesiastical courts decided disputes on advowson, and appeals were lodged to the pope. For instances of suits of advowson in the time of Stephen and the beginning of the time of Henry II, tried, some in the ecclesiastical, some in the secular court, see Bigelow, Placita pp. 174, 245, after Chron. Monast. de Bello (Anglicana Christiana Soc.) 110, 125.

154 Instance in which the view was directly upheld: writ of Henry III to the archbishop of Armagh, 7th July, 1244 (Prynne, Records II, 628). Petitions of the clergy, 1280 and 1300, and king's answer at the time (in the petition of 1309, Wilkins, Conc. II, 320): Item licet patronatus vicariarum, quae non ad laicum feodum, nec ad alias laicas personas, sed ad rectores ecclesiarum per

157

156

to try the issue de possessione of advowson.155 Repeatedly in the thirteenth century the clergy raised the claim to determine all such issues. But the only point they carried was that the ecclesiastical judge should decide on the fitness of the presentee,' as also on the preliminary question whether the benefice was vacant; moreover, a form of proceeding in ecclesiastical courts was retained for suits of advowson, but only as a sort of provisional examination, and with the limitation that the judgment of the spiritual court could be challenged by a suit of advowson before the secular court." In the fourteenth century there were even ecclesiastical regulations issued that in case a benefice was vacant the bishop should regard the decision of the king's court in causes of advowson as authoritative.159

158

Rome:

tinent, tanquam mere spirituale ad forum ecclesiasticum debeat pertinere; curia tamen regia super patronatu hujusmodi vicariarum cognitionem usurpans, jurisdictionem ecclesiasticam super hoc impedit minus juste. Respondet rex: Quod aliquando praesentatio spectat ad rectores, aliquando ad alios, sed de jure patronatus cognitio semper ad regem pertinet. Letter of Edward III, 12th May, 1343 to the pope (Rymer, Foedera 4th Ed. II, 1223): The pope has granted a commission to determine a suit of advowson in sane, licet causae super jure patronatus quorumcunque beneficiorum ecclesiasticorum, regni nostri Angliae, inter personas cujuscumque conditionis et status agitandae, ac placita transgressionum et incarcerationum ibidem in curia nostra, et non alibi, tractari debeant et finiri . . . The pope is accordingly begged to revoke his commission as involving an encroachment on the king's right.-Cf. also above, nr. notes 138, 139.—On the various forms for prohibitions in suits of advowson see Bracton, Book V, tract. 5 c 4 (VI, 172 ff.).

155 Quare impedit, quare non permittit, darrein presentment etc. A full statement of these forms of proceeding in Bracton, Book IV, tract. 2 (IV, 1 ff.). Of older legislative regulations of these forms of proceeding cf. Magna Carta of 1215 cc 18, 19 (append. VII); of 1217 cc 13-15 (append. VII notes 14, 15; cf. Bracton II, 162); 43 Hen. III (1259) c 12; 52 Hen. III (1267) Stat. de Marleberge c 12; 13 Ed. I (1285) Stat. Westminster II cc 5, 30 (maintained in 12 Ed. II [1318] Stat. Eboracense c 4).

156 So Glanvilla, Book XIII c 20 (above, note 153). King's answer to complaint of clergy (circ. 1245? Cole, Documents 354) art. 1: Vocantur Prelati ad forum Domini Regis super eo quod ad ecclesias vacantes personas non admittunt ad presentacionem eorum qui jus patronatus earundem in Curia Regis evicerunt. In quo casu si racione juris patronatus quod Prelati ad se ipsos vel ad alios pertinere dicant presentatos hujusmodi admittere contradicant, per Principem argui consueverunt. Quod si causam aliam pretendant velut de inhabilitate presentati aut de aliis que ad forum ecclesiasticum solent pertinere, Princeps eos inde quo ad forum suum liberos et absque calumpnia dimittet 9 Ed. II (1315/6) st. 1 Articuli Cleri c 13: Responsio. De idoneitate persone, presentate ad beneficium ecclesiasticum, pertinet examinacio ad Judicem ecclesiasticum; et ita est hactenus usitatum et fiet in futurum. 157 Bracton, Book IV, tract. 2 c 3 § 1 (IV, 34; cf. also pp. 36, 78, 80): Et si de advocatione contentio habeatur utrum vacet vel non, super hoc erit ordinarius consulendus, episcopus vel alius qui super hoc habeat cognitionem, quia laicus de hoc cognoscere non potest, 25 Ed. III (1351/2) st. 6 c 8: Item come les ditz Prelatz eient monstrez et priez remedie sur ce, qe les Justices seculers acrochent a eux conissance de voidance des benefices de droit, quelle conissance et discussion attient a Jugge de seinte eglise, et nient a lai Jugge; si voet le Roi et grante qe les dites Justices desore receivent tieles chalenges faites ou affaire par qecumqes Prelatz de seinte eglise, en celle partie, et outre ent facent droit et reson.

159 This form of proceeding in the ecclesiastical court, called jus patronatus, is mentioned e.g. in 1 Ed. VI (1547) c 2 s 2 as a branch of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. See more on the form in Phillimore, Eccles. Law 445 ff.

159 Cf. e.g. the constit. of archbishop Stratford at the provincial council of