Page:The English Reports v1 1900.pdf/900
to dismiss the appellant's bill with costs: and upon a rehearing, on the 26th of November 1772, the former decree was affirmed.
From both these decrees the present appeal was brought, and on the appellant's behalf it was said (J. Glynn, J. Alleyne) to appear from conclusive evidence, that the presentations bad not from time immemorial been to the rectory and parish church of Marsh Baldon; but on the contrary for a long series of years, and within time of memory, the same had been presented to by the name of a chapel, which was founded by some lord of the manor of Marsh Baldon, and by him endowed with a temporal revenue; and that Dorchester was its mother church. It also appeared, that the rectory or spiritual profits of the whole peculiar of Dorchester, belonged to the church of Dorchester, as its mother church; and that the church of Dorchester was rated in respect thereof, in the taxation of spiritualities, anno 1291. It likewise appeared, that the general name of Baldon includes all the several townships of Baldon; and that Baldon, including therein all such townships, is parcel of the peculiar of Dorchester, and as such was parcel of the possessions of the monastery of Dorchester at the time of its dissolution and that, on such dissolution, the Crown granted the rectory or spiritual profits of Baldon generally, parcel of the spiritual profits of the church of Dorchester, to the person under whom the appellant claimed; who in a regular course of descent was entitled thereto, except such matters, parcel thereof, as were excepted by Lewis Pollard in his conveyance to Jennens. It was therefore hoped that the decree would be reversed.
On the other side it was said (A. Wedderburn, J. Skynner, J. A. Stainsby), that the appellant, by claiming as general rector, had brought the question between him and the respondents to a single point, viz. whether Marsh Raldon was a parish or rectory, or only a township or chapelry? It appeared in evi-[198]-dence, that it had uniformly been presented to by the name of a church, ecclesia, which signifies the parsonage with its whole endowment; that the incumbent was stiled rector, from the year 1465 to the present time; and that it was considered as a church for a century before, making a space of 400 years. That the mode of presentation proved this; for had it been a chapel, the patron would have presented the clerk to the appropriators, and they would have admitted him; whereas it appeared, that he was presented to and instituted by the bishop, or his official. Besides, it had the characteristics of a parish church, in having baptism and sepulture; and there was no proof on the part of the appellant, of any subordination of it to Foot Baldon, as a mother church; no right to seats there; no contribution to the repairs of it; no resorting thither as to a mother church, on stated days; no oblations paid; no oath of obedience to the rector, or vicar, as required by ancient canons But it kept its own poor, stood in a different deanery, and was in no one instance dependent thereon. The survey of Henry VIII. and the payment of first fruits and tenths, was decisive evidence on this point.
But it was insisted, that because Marsh Baldon appeared to have been presented to as a chapel, from 1209 to 1320, which is within the legal time of memory, it could never afterwards gain the right of a church; and that it was pensionary to the church of Dorchester in a pound of frankincense, which shewed it to be subordinate thereto. To this it was answered, that the absolute distribution of parishes, as they are now, was not at that time fixed; that in those ages, the terms church and chapel were synonimous that a quare impedit lay for a chapel as well as a church, before the year 1285; that a church may be presented to as a chapel, and yet remain in right a church; and on the other hand, a chapel may commence a church, by being presented and instituted thereto as such and that no argument could be drawn from any such pension; because it might be payable without inferring subordination, from church to church, abbey to abbey, by decree, agreement, gift, or deed. But the appellant claimed this rectory of Marsh Baldon, as included in the grant from the Crown by King Henry VIII. under the general description of the rectory of Baldon, late parcel of the monastery of Dorchester. This might be applicable to the rectory of Foot Baldon, which was appropriated to that monastery; but could by no means include Marsh Baldon, which never was appropriated to that, or any other ecclesiastical body, but remained in lay hands from the year of 1272 to the present time. Nor could Lewis Pollard by his grant to Jennens in 1626, by any amplified words or description, pass more than what was included in the original grant from the Crown, or affect the rector's right. Besides, it appeared that Lewis Pollard never
884