Tithe Act 1540
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1540 c. 7 |
| Year | 1540 |
(32 Hen. 8) C A P. VII.
'WHERE divers and many Persons inhabiting in sundry Counties and Places of this Realm, and other the King's Dominions, not regarding their Duties to Almighty God, and to the King our Sovereign Lord, but in sew Years past more contemptuously and commonly presuming to offend and infringe the good and wholsome Lawsof this Realm, and gracious Commandments of our said Sovereign Lord, than in Times past hath been seen or known, have not letted to subtract and withdraw the lawful and accustomed Tithesof Corn, Hay, Pasturages, and other Sort of Tithes and Oblations commonly due to the Owners, Proprietaries and Possessors of the Parsonages, Vicarages, and other Ecclesiastical Places of and within the said Realm and Dominions, (2) being the more encouraged thereunto, for that divers of the King's Subjects, being lay Persons, having Parsonages, Vicarages and Tithes to them, and to their Heirs, or to them, and to their Heirs of their Bodies lawfully begotten, or for Term of Life, or Years, cannot by the Order and Course of the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm, sue in any Ecclesiastical Court for the wrongful withholding and detaining of the said Tithes or other Duties, (3) nor cannot by the Order of the Common Laws of this Realm have any due Remedy against any Person or Persons, their Heirs or Assigns, that wrongfully detaineth or withholdeth the same; (4)by Occasion whereof much Controversy, Suit, Variance and Discord is like to insurge and ensue among the King's Subjects, to the great Detriment, Damage and Decay of many of them, if convenient and speedy Remedy therefore be not had and provided:'
II Tithes shall be paid according to the Custom of the Parish where they be due.
II. Wherefore it is ordained and enacted by our said Sovereign Lord the King, with the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by Authority of the same, That all and singular Persons of this his said Realm, or other his Dominions, of what Estate, Degree or Condition soever he or they be, shall fully, truly and effectually divide, set out, yield or pay all and singular Tithes and Offerings aforesaid, according to the lawful Customs and Usages of the Parishes and Places where such Tithes or Duties shall grow, arise, come or be due; (2) and in case that it shall happen any Person or Persons, of his or their ungodly or perverse Will and Mind, to detain and withhold any of the said Tithes or Offerings, or any Part or Parcel thereof, then the Person or Party, being ecclesiastical or lay Person, having Cause to demand or have the said Tithes or Offerings, being thereby wronged or grieved, shall and may convent the Personor Persons so offending before the Ordinary, his Commissary, or other competent Minister, or lawful Judge of the Place where such Wrong shall be done, according to the Ecclesiastical Laws; (3) and in every such Cause or Matter of Suit, the same Ordinary, Commissary, or other competent Minister or lawful Judge, having the Parties or their...
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