[257] Coke’s “Reports,” part ii. p. 44 (b).
[258] “Commentaries,” bk. ii. c. iii. p. 27, ed. 1765.
[259] See chap. xi. p. 297 in Selden’s “History of Tithes,” ed. 1618, for a full explanation of “arbitrary consecrations,” as he called them.
[260] Kennett, p. 65.
[261] 15 Rich. II. c. vi.
[262] “Defence of the Church,” etc., 4th ed. 1888, p. 155.
[264] Johnson’s “Laws and Canons,” ii. 364.
[265] It is important to note (1) that Edgar’s law gave the manorial priests a legal right to one-third part of the tithes; (2) that the bishops in apportioning the permanent endowment of the vicar-perpetual, by 4 Hen. IV., ch. xii. (1402), were guided by Edgar’s law in appropriating one-third part and selecting the small tithes, to which, if insufficient, they added a portion of the great tithes; (3) that the vicar, who previously held his position at the will of the patron, had by this Act obtained a freehold permanent position for life; (4) that 8,500 vicars now beneficed have been so circumstanced by Acts of Parliament.
[266] Selden, “History of Tithes,” pp. 406, 407; Philimore, 493.