Tithes

In English Law. A right to the tenth part of the produce of lands, the stock upon lands, and the personal industry of the inhabitants. These tithes are raised for the support of the clergy. Almost all the tithes of England and Wales are now commuted into rent charges, under 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 71, and the various statutes since passed; 3 Steph. Com. 731. In the United States there are no tithes. A form of taxation, secular and ecclesiastical, usually, as the name implies, consisting of one-tenth of a man's property or produce. The custom was almost universal in antiquity. They were generally regarded, up to the 17th century, as existing jure divino and as coeval with Christianity. Various acts have been passed on the subject. The act of 1891 places the burden on the landowner, who cannot contract otherwise with the tenant. If a tenant is in possession, a receiver is appointed for the rents and profits. Neither the owner nor the tenant is personally liable.

Encycl.

Br. See Phillimore, Eccl. Law; Selborne, Ancient Facts and Fictions Concerning Churches and Tithes; Lansdell, The Sacred Tenth.