1861. WILLIAMS V. Overseers of WIGHTMAN J. I am entirely of the same opinion. This is the case of a single benefice, although composed of two distinct parishes. It is agreed on both sides that the services were necessary: and, as it was absolutely necessary that there should be two persons to perform those services, the case comes within that which has been cited. BLACKBURN J. On these facts I take it that the employment of this curate, whether the Bishop could compel the rector to employ one or not, was, at all events, a very proper thing in discharge of his moral and clerical duty. If the matter were res integra I should entertain considerable doubt. But in the case of The Hackney and Lamberhurst Tithe Commutation Rent Charges (a) this Court, in a considered judgment, .decided it, and by that decision I deem myself bound. On the other point, which was there decided, respecting the property tax, I do not entertain the least doubt. (a) E. B. & E. 1. Judgment for the appellant (¿). (b) See the next case. 1861. November 20th. GEORGE DOMVILE WHEELER, appellant, against Friday, The parish of W., before the appropriation of the rectory and the endowment of the vicarage, comprised the hamlets of Great W., Little W., B. and D. In Great W. was the mother church. In the hamlet of B. a chapel was built, and it is mentioned as a chapelry to W. in the Ecclesiastical Taxation of Pope Nicholas the Fourth, A.D. 1291: twenty years later Merton College, Oxford, obtained a licence from King Edward II. to appropriate the rectory of W., together with the chapel of B. Two years later the vicarage of W. was endowed, and the vicar was, by the endowment deed, required to cause the chapel of B. to be served with a suitable priest. În 1616 B. had a parsonage house and glebe lands. The chapel of B. was served either by a Fellow of Merton College, or by curates appointed by that College, or by the vicar of W. or his curate. The chapel having fallen into ruins, it was rebuilt in 1693, and the cure thereof restored to the church of W., and an annual stipend granted to the curate out of the appropriate rectory: this ceased probably when an arrangement was made by Merton College that they would give a beneficial lease of the rectorial tithes of the glebe of B. to their senior resident Fellow on condition of his providing for the cure of B. In 1834, Merton College resolved that the lease of the great tithes of B. should be granted to the vicar of W. in augmentation of his benefice. In the records of the diocese, A. D. 1692, B. is termed "the parochial chapelry of B.," but in all other entries in the registry it is styled a chapel to W.; except that in the registry of the Consistory Court of Worcester of 1714 there is a terrier of the tithes and glebes belonging to the parish of B.; and in the Bishop's register there is a register of baptisms, marriages and funerals in the parish of B. from 1711 to 1728. For about a century previous to 1847, the cure of B. was provided for by the consecutive lessees of the appropriate rectory, and not by the vicar of W. The appellant was instituted to the vicarage of W. in 1843, and in 1847 received a lease of the glebe of B. and rent charge in lieu of rectorial tithes, for twenty-one years, if he should so long continue the resident vicar of W., he covenanting to serve the cure of B. either by himself or by a curate, and to discharge the College of the cure, and to pay all rates and assessments payable out of the rectory. A curate, whose stipend was paid by the appellant, performed the parochial duties and services at B. it was impossible for one person devoting his whole time and attention to perform the services required at W. and B.: held, 1. That in assessing the appellant as owner of the tithe commutation rent charge of B. to the poor rate, he was not entitled to any deduction in respect of the stipend of the curate of B., inasmuch as, first, upon the facts stated, there was no such connection between W. and B. as that they could be considered one benefice, and therefore the appellant was in the position of an incumbent holding two benefices, and thereby binging upon himself the necessity of employing a curate: and, secondly, the appellant received the tithe rent charge of B. as lessee of Merton College, with an undertaking to discharge the services at B. and not as vicar of W. 2. Semble, per Cockburn C. J. If Merton College received the tithe rent charge of B., they would not be entitled to any deduction in respect of the stipend of a curate paid by them. Poor rate. 6 & 7 W. 4. c. 96. Tithe commutation rent charge. Curate's salary. 1861. WHEELER V. Overseers of CASE stated under stat. 12 & 13 Vict. c. 45. s. 11. The appellant is vicar of Wolford, in the county BURMINGTON. of Warwick, and is the lessee and occupier of the tithe rent charge of Burmington, in the same county, by virtue of a lease of the tithe rent charge granted to him by the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford. The appellant was rated as such occupier, in respect of the rent charge, in a rate for the relief of the poor of the parish of Burmington, made the 28th October, 1858. Notice of appeal against the rate was given by the appellant, on the ground that he was over-rated, amongst other things, in this, that, in assessing his rent charge, the churchwardens and overseers had made no allowance or deduction in respect of the stipend of a curate paid by the appellant. The parish of Wolford (or Great Wolford), before the appropriation of the rectory and the endowment of the vicarage hereinafter mentioned, comprised the townships or hamlets of Great Wolford, Little Wolford, Burmington and Ditchford. In Great Wolford was the mother church. Little Wolford still retains its original character of a hamlet to Great Wolford. In Burmington and Ditchford, chapels were built, and these hamlets became chapelries to Wolford. Ditchford, however, was subsequently transferred to the rectory of Stretton on Fosse, and, the chapel there having, in course of time, fallen into ruins, and being at length wholly destroyed, Ditchford became and now is a mere hamlet of Stretton. In the Ecclesiastical Taxation of Pope Nicholas IV., circa A. D. 1291, the rectory of Wolvord, with the chapelry of Bovynton, is taxed at 26 marks. Twenty years later, as is shewn by the Originalia Roll of the 4th of 1861. WHEELER V. BURMINGTON. Edward II., the Warden of the House of Scholars of Merton, in Oxford, paid a fine of 10 marks to the King for a licence to appropriate the rectory of Wolvord, Overseers of together with the chapel of Bovynton, which are in their own patronage; of this appropriation a record is preserved in the register of the Bishops of Worcester, and, under date two years later, there is found in the same register, and in a book called the "Liber Ruber," preserved amongst the documents belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Worcester, a record of the endowment of the vicarage of Wolford, consequent upon the appropriation of the rectory, with a sum of 107., or, if that should prove insufficient, with such further sum as the Bishop should direct; and the vicar of Wolford for the time being was, by the endowment deed, required (inter alia) to cause the chapel of Bermerton, existing in the said parish, to be served by a suitable priest. Nine years later (a. D. 1322), as appears by the Register of Thomas Cobham, Bishop of Worcester, a further endowment of the vicarage of Wolford was made, under the powers (therein recited) reserved to the Bishop in the first deed of endowment; and the vicar is, by this second deed, to receive all the small tithes and offerings at the altar, as well of the mother church as of the chapels thereto annexed, in whatever way they may now or in future be assessed, these chapels being in the same deed named as Ditchford and Bourmington. If the provisions of this deed were ever carried out as regards the small tithes of the chapelries, such an arrangement cannot have been of long continuance. It is admitted that the names Bovynton, Burnynton, Bermerton, and Bourmington, are synonynous with Burmington. 1861. WHEELER Overseers of In the year 1616 Burmington had a parsonage house and glebe lands, and in the Registry of the Consistory Court of Worcester there is an ancient terrier of the BURMINGTON. date of 20th January, 1616, of all the glebe lands, leids, meadows and commons belonging to the parsonage of Burmington, wherein the parsonage house and various lands and closes are enumerated. The chapel of Burmington appears to have been served either by a Fellow of Merton College or by curates appointed by that College, or by the vicar of Wolford or his curate. At length the chapel itself fell into ruins, but it appears, from an entry in an old register of Wolford, that, about 1693, the chapel was rebuilt, and the cure thereof restored to the church of Wolford, and an annual stipend of 201. was granted to the curate out of the appropriate rectory. This stipend was afterwards reduced to 191., and then to 177., and has long ago altogether ceased. Its cessation was probably contemporaneous with an arrangement, made about the year by the patron and appropriators of Wolford and Burmington (Merton College, Oxford), that they would give a beneficial lease of rectorial tithes, arising from and out of the glebe situate at Burmington, to their senior resident Fellow, whether layman or clergyman, on condition (inter alia) of his providing for the cure of Burmington. This arrangement was, about the year 1817, so far modified as to restrict the enjoyment of this lease to the senior resident Fellow in Holy orders, who was to serve the cure of Burmington, aut per se aut per alium. In the year 1834 the following resolution was passed by the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford. -"At a meeting of the Warden and Fellows, held, |