Tithe Rent Charge - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition tithe-rent-charge

Definition :

Tithe Rent-Charge. A charge on land, substituted by commutation for that charge on the produce of the land for the benefit of the Church, which was called tithe from being the tenth part of the increase yearly arising and renewing from the profits of lands, the stock upon lands, and the personal industry of the inhabitants; the first species being usually called pr'dial, the second mixed, the third personal.

This commutation was effected by a procedure set on foot by the (English) Tithe Act, 1836 (6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 71), amended by subsequent Acts. See Chitty's Stat., tit. 'Tithe Rent-Charge.' The amount to be paid was annually adjusted, according to the price of corn.

The commutation was effected in one of two ways-either by a voluntary parochial agreement, con-firmed by the commissioners, or by the compulsory award of the commissioners. The value, either voluntarily agreed upon or awarded by the commissioners, was considered as the amount of the total rent-charge to be paid in respect of the tithes in that parish, and to be afterwards apportioned among the lands of that parish, having regard to their average tithable produce and productive quality; and such lands were absolutely discharged from the payment of all tithes, and, instead thereof, became subject to their portion of the rent-charge, thenceforth payable to the former tithe-owner, by two half-yearly payments, fluctuating according to the price of corn. An advertisement was inserted by authority in the London Gazette, in January in every year, stating the average price of wheat, barley, and oats for seven years, ending on the Thursday before Christmas then next preceding; every rent-charge then was deemed of the value of as many hundred weights of 112 lbs. of wheat, barely, and oats in equal quantities as it would have been competent to purchase according to the prices contained in such advertisement; and after every first of January it varied so as always to consist of the price of the same quantities, according to the advertisement then next preceding.

A tithe rent-charge varies in amount, and no person being personally liable to its payment, it differs from a rent-charge generally. By the Tithe Act, 1891, it was payable by the landowner to the tithe-owner. Every contract between landowner and occupier, made after that Act, for payment of it by the occupier is void, and the occupier ceased to be bound by any such contract made before that Act, being made by the Act expressly liable, however, to repay to the landowner such sum as the landowner had properly paid on account of tithe rent-charge to the tithe-owner: see Tuff v. Guild of Drapers of the City of London, (1913) 1 KB 40. When the rent-charge was in arrear for twenty-one days, the remedy was, until 1891, in every case by distress on the land; but the Tithe Act, 1891, effected a great change in this respect. By that Act, in the ordinary case of land being let by the owner to a tenant, the remedy of distress by the tithe-owner was extinguished, and recovery through a receiver appointed by the county Court of the district was substituted for it, except where the land was occupied by the landowner, in which case an officer of the Court might distrain for it. The landowner also, in case of a contract before the passing of the Act (March 26th, 1891), binding the occupier to pay tithe, might recover by distress on the occupier any sum he may have paid the tithe-owner on account of tithe. By the same Act (s. 8), a remission of tithe rent-charge for any one year exceeding two-thirds of the annual value of the land out of which it issued might be obtained from the county Court, as in the case of landlord and tenant.

As to the consideration money formerly payable on the redemption of a tithe rent-charge and the discharge thereof by an annuity, see Tithe Act, 1918, and Tithe (English) Annuities Apportionment Act, 1921, and the (English) Tithe Act, 1925, which contained provisions (since repealed) for the stabilization of tithe rent-charge and also, by s. 3 (unrepealed), transferred to Queen Anne's Bounty all tithe rent-charges attached to benefices, and contained provisions (since repealed) for the ex-tinguishment of Queen Anne's Bounty rent-charge at the expiration of 85 years with consequential provisions.

As to compulsory redemption of small annuities (1l. or less), and annuities on numerous plots of building land, see the Acts (9 & 10 Vict. c. 73), s. 5; (41 & 42 Vict. c. 42), ss. 3, 6; (8 & 9 Geo. 5, c. 54), s. 4 and Sch. I., and the Tithe Act, 1936 (26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8, c. 43).

The (English) Tithe Act, 1936 (26 Geo. 5 & 1 Edw. 8, c. 43), has extinguished tithe rent-charge and has freed land charged therewith absolutely from the 2nd October, 1936 (s. 1). The Act creates redemption stock secured by the consolidated fund to be issued for compensation to persons interested in tithe rent-charge to yield interest equal to the gross annual value of the rent-charge less the specified deductions, the gross annual value to be taken in the case of agricultural land and ecclesiastical tithe rent-charge at 91l. 11s. 2d. per cent. of the rent-charge on the 1st April, 1936, and at 105l. per cent. of a lay tithe rent-charge not being agricultural land at the same date. The substituted charge is a 60 years' annuity at the like rates charged on the enfranchised land and payable to the Crown. A tithe redemption commission is established, consisting of a chairman and not more than four other Commissioners appointed by the Treasury after consultation with the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. Their principal duties are (1) to determine what tithe rent-charge have been extinguished by the Act, the amount of stock to be issued and the persons to receive that stock for compensation, and (2) to determine and register the annuities charged in substitution, to apportion annuities in respect of land owned by two or more persons and to manage the annuities until the management is directed to be transferred to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue. Sec. 5 defines the particulars which owners are required to give to the Commission. All collecting lists and similar documents of tithe rent-charge are to be placed at the disposal of the Commission (s. 6). Sec. 7 relates to the issue of stock subject to specified deductions in the Third Schedule and deductions set aside to provide for liabilities to repair chancels, etc. (see s. 29), and the Bank of England is to issue the specified stock upon certificate of the Commission. Sec. 8 relates to transitional provisions. A register of annuities indicating by reference to a map of the district and the land charged is to be made, one copy to be kept at the principal office of the Commission and the other in the district as directed by the Commission (s. 9), and see s. 18 as to registration of owners in the annuities register, and s. 43 as t inspection by the public. Sec. 10 relates to apportionment of or extinguishing certain annuities. Sec. 11 relates to compulsory redemption (supra), and see s. 15, also s. 29 as to corn rents and extraordinary tithe rent-charge. The legal incidents of annuities are st out in s. 13. Sec. 14 provides for remissions where the annuity is over one-third the annual value of agricultural land. Redemption is provided for by s. 15. As to recovery of annuities (inter alia), the relevant provisions of the Tithe Act, 1891 (supra), are reproduced with necessary modifications, and powers of distress are conferred (see s. 16 (5) (a) and (b). Sec. 17 includes a special definition of owner of the land charged, i.e. (a) the estate owner in respect of the fee-simple unless it is subject to a long lease of more than 14 years at a rent less than a rack rent (see that title), and (b) in the latter case the owner of the term, or if there are one or more successive sub-leases of the kind, the owner of the ultimate lease on which the others are reversionary. Sec. 19 is transitional. Sec. 20 relates to the recovery of arrears de before 2nd October, 1936 (see Queen Anne's Bounty v. Tithe Redemption Commission, Times, 10th July, 1937). Sec. 23 excludes tithe rent-charges extinguished by the Act from rates and future valuation lists. For the meaning of tithe rent-charge and extraordinary tithe rent-charge, see s. 47.

The Act does not affect the so-called 'tithe rent-charge' in the City of London, which is a mere rate, and see s. 47 (1), Tithe Act, 1936.

As to the custody of the tithe apportionment and map by a parish council, see Lewis v. Poole, (1898) 1 QB 164; and s. 36 of the (English) Tithe Rent Act, 1936.