IV. c. 71. 6 & 7 Will. ascertain and award the total sum to be paid by way of rent-charge, instead Value of tithes to be calculated upon an XXXVII. And be it enacted, That in every case in which the Commissioners shall intend making such award, notice thereof shall be given in such manner as to them shall seem fit; and after the expiration of twentyaverage of seven years. one days after such notice shall have been given the Commissioners or some Assistant Commissioner shall, except in the cases for which provision is hereinafter made, proceed to ascertain the clear average value (after making all just deductions on account of the expenses of collecting, preparing for sale and marketing, where such tithes have been taken in kind) of the tithes of the said parish, according to the average of seven years preceding Christmas in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five: Provided that if, during the said period of seven years, or any part thereof, the said tithes or any part thereof shall have been compounded for or demised to the owner or occupier of any of the said lands in consideration of any rent or payment instead of tithes, the amount of such composition or rent or sum agreed to be paid instead of tithes shall be taken as the clear value of the tithes included in such composition, demise, or agreement during the time for which the same shall have been made; and the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner shall award the average annual value of the said seven years so ascertained as the sum to be taken for calculating the rentcharge to be paid as a permanent commutation of the said tithes : Provided also, that whenever it shall appear to the Commissioners that the party entitled to any such rent or composition shall, in any one or more of the said seven years, have allowed and made any abatement from the amount of such rent or composition on the ground of the same having, in any such year or years, been higher than the sum fairly payable by way of composition for the tithe, but not otherwise, then and in every such case such diminished amount, after making such abatement as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to have been the sum agreed to be paid for any such year or years: Provided also, that in estimating the value of the said tithes the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner shall estimate the same without making any deduction therefrom on account of any parliamentary, parochial, of parochial county, and other rates, charges, and assessments to which the said and county tithes are liable; and whenever the said tithes shall have been demised rates, &c. or compounded for on the principle of the rent or composition being paid free from all such rates, charges, and assesments, or any part thereof, the said Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner shall have regard to that Tithes to be valued without deduction on account 1 IV. c. 71. circumstance, and shall make such an addition on account thereof as shall 6 & 7 Will. be an equivalent. sioners in increase or the sum to XXXVIII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That in case notice in Commiswriting under the hand of any patron, or the hands of any landowners or certain tithe-owners whose interest in the lands or tithes of the parish shall not be cases may less than one half of the lands subject to tithes, one half of the great tithes diminish or one half of the small tithes of the parish, shall be given to the Commis- be paid for sioners or Assistant Commissioner acting in that behalf, within one calendar commutation. month next after the notice of the intention to make an award shall have been given as aforesaid, that the average value to be ascertained as aforesaid will not fairly represent the sum which ought to be taken for calculating a permanent commutation of the great or small tithes of the said parish, the Commissioners shall have power to diminish or increase the sum to be so taken by a sum amounting to not more than one fifth part of the average value ascertained as aforesaid: Provided always, that every case which shall appear to the Commissioners to be fraudulent or collusive, or which, by reason of the length of time which shall have elapsed since the making of any composition then in force, or which, by reason of the peculiar interest in the lands or tithes of either of the parties to any composition, or by reason of any other special circumstances, ought in the judgment of the Commissioners to be separately adjudicated upon, shall be reserved for separate adjudication as hereinafter provided; and the Commissioners shall certify and report to one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, under their hands and seals, before the first day of May in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, in what manner the discretion hereby vested in them ought in their judgment to be exercised, and shall in the said report lay down such rules for the guidance of the Assistant Commissioners as may to them seem expedient; and such report shall be laid before Parliament within six weeks after the same shall have been received or after the meeting of Parliament, and, unless Parliament shall otherwise provide, such rules shall be observed by the said Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners in the exercise of the discretion hereby vested in the Commissioners. XXXIX. And be it enacted, That the Commissioners shall from time to Special adtime report to one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, under how to be judications their hands and seals, all the cases which, under the power hereinbefore made. reserved to them in that behalf, shall have been reserved for separate adjudication, and shall state in every such report the reasons for so reserving every case mentioned therein, and the Commissioners shall in every such case award the rent-charge to be paid as a permanent commutation for tithes, having regard to the average rate which shall be awarded in respect of lands of the like description and similarly situate in the neighbouring parishes Provided always, that a draft of such intended award, with a copy of so much of the said report as is applicable to such award, shall be IV. c. 71. & 7 Will. deposited in the parish; and the Commissioners, or an Assistant Commissioner to be specially appointed by the Commissioners for that purpose, shall hear and determine all objections to the award in the like manner as is herein provided in an ordinary case of award, and the Commissioners shall have power thereupon to amend the draft of the said award accordingly. the tithe of XL. And be it enacted, That in case any of the lands in the parish shall hops, fruits, be hop grounds, orchards, or gardens, and notice shall be given by the and garden owner thereof to the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner acting in produce is to e valued. that behalf that the tithes thereof should be separately valued, the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner shall estimate the value of the tithes thereof according to the average rate of composition for the tithes of hops, fruit, and garden produce respectively during seven years preceding Christmas in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, within a district to be assigned in each case by the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner, and estimating the same as chargeable to all parliamentary, parochial, county, and other rates, charges, and assessments to which the said tithes are liable, and shall add the value so estimated to the value of the other tithes of the parish ascertained as aforesaid. How the XLI. And be it enacted, That in case any of the lands in the parish tithe of cop shall be coppices, and notice shall be given by the owner thereof, or by the pice wood is to be valued. owner of the tithes thereof, to the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner acting in that behalf that the tithes thereof should be separately valued, the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner shall estimate the value of the tithes thereof with a due regard to the average value, estimated according to the best of their judgment, of coppice wood of the same kind cut during the said period of seven years in that parish and the neighbouring parishes, estimating the same as chargeable to all parliamentary, parochial, county, and other rates, charges, and assessments to which the said tithes are liable, and shall add the clear value of the tithes so estimated to the value of the other tithes of the parish ascertained as aforesaid; and the Commissioners shall, in the report which they are hereinbefore required to make to one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State before the first day of May in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, lay down rules for the guidance of the Assistant Commissioners in estimating the value of the tithes of coppice wood, and, unless Parliament shall otherwise provide, such rules shall be observed by the said Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners. Provision for the change of culture of hop grounds and market gardens. XLII. And be it enacted, That the amount which shall be charged by any such apportionment as hereinafter provided upon any hop grounds or market gardens in any district so to be assigned shall be distinguished into two parts, which shall be called the ordinary charge and the extraordinary charge, and the extraordinary charge shall be a rate per imperial acre, and so in proportion for less quantities of ground, according to the discretion of IV. c. 71. the valuers or Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner by whom the 6 & 7 Will. apportionment shall be made as aforesaid; and all lands whereof the tithes shall have been commuted under this Act, and which shall cease to be cultivated as hop grounds or market gardens at any time after such commutation, shall be charged after the thirty-first day of December next following such change of cultivation only with the ordinary charge upon such lands; and all lands in any such district the tithes whereof shall have been commuted under this Act, and which shall be newly cultivated as hop grounds or market gardens at any time after such commutation, shall be charged with an additional amount of rent-charge per imperial acre, equal to the extraordinary charge per acre upon hop grounds or market gardens respectively in that district: Provided always, that no such additional amount shall be charged or payable during the first year, and half only of such additional amount during the second year of such new cultivation; and an additional rent-charge by way of extraordinary charge upon hop grounds and market gardens, newly cultivated as such beyond the limits of every district in which any extraordinary charge for hop grounds or market gardens respectively shall have been distinguished as aforesaid at the time of the commutation, shall be charged by the Commissioners at the time of such new cultivation, upon the request of any person interested therein, if such new cultivation shall have taken place during the continuance of the commission of the said Commissioners, and after the expiration of the commission shall be charged in such manner and by such authority as Parliament shall direct, and shall be payable and recoverable in like manner and subject to the same incidents in all respects as an extraordinary charge charged upon any hop grounds or market gardens at the time of commutation. lands to which the average of seven years XLIII. And be it enacted, That in case any of the lands in the parish Provision for valuing shall, during any part of the said period of seven years preceding Christmas tithes of in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, have been exempted from payment of tithes by reason of having been inclosed under any Act of Parliament or converted from barren heath or waste ground, or by reason cannot of being glebe lands or of having been heretofore parcel of the possessions apply. of any privileged order, and notice shall have been given as last aforesaid to the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner acting in that behalf that the tithes thereof, should be separately valued, the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner shall estimate the value of the tithes thereof according to the average value which shall be ascertained as aforesaid in respect of lands of the like description and quality in that parish and the neighbouring parishes, or as near thereto as the circumstances of each case may in their 'judgment require, and estimating the same as chargeable to all parliamentary, parochial, county, and other rates, charges, and assessments to which the said tithes are liable, and shall add the value so estimated to the value of the other tithes of the parish ascertained as aforesaid. 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 71. Moduses, &c., how to be allowed for in the award. Commissioners may hear and determine disputes; XLIV. And be it enacted, That if any modus or composition real, or prescriptive or customary payment, shall be payable instead of the tithes of any of the lands or produce thereof in the said parish, the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner shall in such case estimate the amount of such modus, composition, or payment as the value of the tithes payable in respect of such lands or produce respectively, and shall add the amount thereof to the value of the other tithes of the parish ascertained as aforesaid, and shall also make due allowance for all exemptions from or non-liability to tithes of any lands or any part of the produce of such lands: Provided also, that if it shall appear to the said Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner that any question concerning any modus or composition real, prescriptive or customary payment, or claim of exemption from or non-liability to the payment of tithes relating to the lands in question, shall have been decided by competent authority before the making of the said award, the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioners shall act on the principle established by such decision, and shall make their award as if such decision had been made at the beginning of the said period of seven years. XLV. And be it enacted, That if any suit shall be pending touching the right to any tithes, or if there shall be any question as to the existence of any modus or composition real, or prescriptive or customary payment, or any claim of exemption from or non-liability under any circumstances to the payment of any tithes in respect of any lands or any kind of produce, or touching the situation or boundary of any lands, or if any difference shall arise whereby the making of any such award by the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner shall be hindered, it shall be lawful for the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner to appoint a time and place in or near the parish for hearing and determining the same; and the decision of the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner shall be final and conclusive on all persons, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained. subject to XLVI. Provided always, and be it enacted, That any person claiming to appeal by an issue at law; be interested in any lands or in the tithes thereof who shall be dissatisfied with any such decision of the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner may, if the yearly value of the payment to be made or withholden according to such decision shall exceed the sum of twenty pounds, cause an action to be brought in any of his Majesty's Courts of Law at Westminster against the person in whose favour such decision shall have been made, within three calendar months next after such decision shall have notified in writing, in such manner as the Commissioners or Assistant Commissioner shall direct, to the parties interested therein or to their known agents, in which action the plaintiff shall deliver a feigned issue, whereby such disputed right may be tried, and shall proceed to a trial at law of such issue at the sittings after the term or at the assizes then next or next but one after such action shall have been commenced to be holden for the county within which such lands or the greater part thereof are situate, with liberty nevertheless for the |