been placed under the control of two commissioners, who are appointed by letters patent of the crown, and, subject to statutory provisions(7), act under the directions of the treasury. Of these commissioners, one has, under the 14 & 15 Vict. c. 42, s. 5, the management of the land revenues in England, excepting the fee farm rents, the forests, and some of the allotments awarded to the crown on the disafforestation of royal forests, the matters thus excepted being under the management of the other commissioner, together with the land revenues in Scotland, Ireland, and the Isles of Man and Alderney.

The commissioners have power subject to the authority of the board of treasury to grant leases of crown property for terms not exceeding 31 years, and leases of building land for terms not exceeding 99 years. In the latter case fines, subject to certain conditions, may be taken.

The commissioners are also empowered to sell or exchange the possessions and land revenues of the crown, to purchase lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and to redeem the land tax on crown property. No sale or purchase where the consideration exceeds 100%., and no exchange or lease is to be made without a warrant from the commissioners of the treasury, nor until the report of a surveyor has been obtained certifying the value of the premises. The surveyor's declaration may, however, be dispensed with in cases where the value of the property is inconsiderable.

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Grants to a limited extent may be made by the sovereign as sites for churches, schools, parsonages, &c. Conveyances and leases by the commissioners of woods, &c., *are free of stamp duty, but require to be inrolled in the office of land revenue, records, and inrolments, and any such inrolment may be effected by the deposit of a duplicate of the deed. The land revenues of the crown in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Isles of Man and Alderney are superintended and collected by receivers who in England and Wales are required to be surveyors. In Ireland the land revenue is collected by the collectors of excise under the superintendence of a branch office of the department of woods, &c., called the quit rent office. The forests and plantations are locally superintended by deputy surveyors, and the mines in Dean Forest by a deputy gaveller.

The receivers are required to give security for the faithful discharge of their duties, and they are bound to account to the commissioners of woods, &c., and to transmit all monies, from time to time received by them to the commissioners, being chargeable with interest on any sum retained by them exceeding 5007. They are empowered to distrain for rents.

The commissioners of woods, &c., are empowered to authorise entries for breaches of covenant, but subject to the approval of the commissioners of the treasury, they may release covenants, and grant waivers of breaches. They may also compound for arrears of rent, and, subject to the same authority, they may

allotted to the management of the commissioners of woods, forests, and land revenues, and the commissioners of works and public buildings was this-all the estates and lands producing or capable of producing revenue and not dedicated (as are the London parks) to the enjoyment of the public, were placed under the charge of the commissioners of woods, &c., whilst all lands so dedicated were placed under the charge of the commissioners of works.

(1) The woods, forests, and land revenues of the crown in the United Kingdom are now administered and managed under the provisions of the statutes below specified :-10 Geo. 4, c. 50; 2 Will. 4, c. 1; 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 69; 8 & 9 Vict. c. 99; 11 & 12 Vict. c. 102; 14 & 15 Vict. c. 42; 15 & 16 Vict. c. 62; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 56; 29 & 30 Vict. c. 62.

settle disputed boundaries and compromise disputed claims. The general powers of leasing and sale do not extend to the royal forests, but the commissioners may sell small parcels of the wastes of the forests when intermixed with other lands or not fitted for the growth of timber(m).

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The monies arising from sales in the royal forests are directed to be applied first of all in the purchase of common, fuel, and other rights, and of land and hereditaments *in the forests, in the payment of monies in equality of exchange, and as compensation for the relinquishment of encroachments and subject thereto to the payment of the expenses attending the management of the forests.

The monies arising from all other sales of the land revenues are applied in the purchase of other property, in payments for equality of exchange of land, &c., in the redemption of the land tax on crown property, and in the payment of the expenses relating to such purchases, exchanges, or redemptions; and until so applied the capital of the land revenues is invested in the three per cent. consols the dividends being applied as part of the income of the land

revenue.

The income of the land revenue is applied in payment of the expenses of management, and of any charges upon the land revenues-the surplus being paid into the exchequer and carried to the consolidated fund.

The commissioners of woods are required to report to parliament every year, giving full particulars of all leases, sales, exchanges, and grants made during the preceding year, and an account of the income and expenditure relating to the property under their management.

The accounts of the commissioners of woods, &c., are audited by the exchequer and audit department, and the business of the land revenue record office is conducted by a keeper, whose duties are specified by stat. 2 Will. 4, c. 1(n).

By the 29 & 30 Vict. c. 62, entitled "The Crown Lands Act, 1866," the management of the crown's rights of property in the foreshore and bed of the sea was (subject to certain exceptions and reservations) transferred from *the commissioners of woods, &c., to the board of trade, and it was

[*352] directed that compensation should be made to the land revenue of the crown for the transfer, such compensation to be settled by arbitration.

By the same act the cost of permanent improvements upon the crown possessions was authorised to be charged to the capital of the land revenue and to be repaid out of the income thereof within a period not exceeding thirty years.

The same act directs that one moiety of the net annual income from crown mines and quarries shall be carried to the capital account of the land revenue, and authorises the commissioners of woods to take fines on the grant of leases of mines and quarries or on the grant of licences to assign such leases(n).

(m) They are also empowered to grant licences to shoot and fish, and to let certain portions of the forests which are not subject to rights of common.

(n) Ss. 16-29.

All sales, leases, exchanges and grants relating to the land revenues of the crown are inrolled by the keeper of records and inrolments, office copies of the inrolments thus made being receivable in evidence. It is the

duty of the keeper to place all rents reserved to the crown by leases, &c., inrolled in his office in charge with the receivers, &c., and he is also required to make searches and to furnish reports respecting the title of the crown to property in dispute.

(n) By the same act the management of Epping Forest was transferred to the commissioners of works and public buildings.

Inasmuch as the land revenues of the crown were surrendered by the reigning sovereign to the public in consideration of the civil list, and on the demise of the reigning sovereign will revert to the crown(0), it is rightly esteemed the duty of the commissioners of woods, &c. who represent both the crown and the public to preserve those revenues intact. The capital of the land revenue is the reversion of the crown; the income belongs for the time to the public. The commissioners of woods are therefore bound to take care that the one is not sacrificed to the other. On behalf of the public it is their duty to obtain as large an annual income as possible from the crown property. On behalf of the crown it is their duty to see that no part of the capital is sacrificed, in order to increase the immediate income(p).

(VI.) Mines of

*VI. A sixth branch of the royal revenue, the right to mines, had [ *353] its origin from the regal prerogative of coinage, in order to supply the crown with materials for it; and therefore those mines, which silver and gold. are properly royal, and to which the sovereign is entitled when found, are those only of silver and gold(q). By the old common law, if gold or silver were found in a mine of base metal, according to the opinion of some the whole was a royal mine, and belonged to the king; though others held that it only did so, if the quantity of gold or silver was of greater value than the quantity of base metal(r).(94) But now by the statutes 1 Will. & M. st. 1, c. 30, and 5 Will. & M. c. 6, this difference is made immaterial so far as regards mines of copper, tin, iron, or lead, it being enacted that no such mines shall be looked upon as royal mines, notwithstanding gold or silver be extracted from them in any quantities: but that the crown or persons claiming under it may have the ore (other than tin ore in the counties of Devon and Cornwall (8)), paying for the same a price stated in the act and since increased by the 55 Geo. 3, c. 134. The change thus effected was extremely reasonable: for now private owners need not be discouraged from working mines, through a fear that they may be claimed as royal ones; neither does the crown depart from the just rights of its revenue, since it may have all the precious metals contained in the ore, paying no more for the same than the value of the base metal which it is supposed to be; to which base metal the land-owner is clearly entitled.

*By reason however of the difficulties attendant on effectually asserting a right to the gold and silver found in mines worked by pri

(0) Ante, p. 337.

(p) In the year ending 31st March, 1853, the gross income of the woods, forests, and land revenues of the crown derived from Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and Alderney, as well as England and Wales, was 382,397., in the year ending 31st March, 1868, the gross income was 449,2527. In the first-mentioned year the net sum paid into the exchequer was 252,000l., in the last it was 345,000., showing a net increase of 93,000l., or 37 per cent. in 15 years.

(q) 2 Inst. 577.

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(r) Case of Mines, Plowd. 336. Judgm. Rogers v. Brenton, 10 Q. B. 48.

(8) The respective rights of the crown and the Duke of Cornwall to mines and minerals in or under land lying below high-water mark within and adjacent to the county of Cornwall, are declared and defined by the 21 & 22 Vict. c. 109. As to the rights of the crown and the duchy generally to gold and silver, see Rogers on Mines, 128 et seq.

(94) As to the supervision of the mines of the United States, by the secretary of the interior. Act March 3, 1849, § 8; 9 Stat. at Large, 395.

vate owners and adventurers, the revenue thence derived to the crown is inconsiderable(t).

VII. To the general head under our consideration might formerly have been referred the advantages which arose to the sovereign from the profits of his (VII.) Profits of military tenures, to which most lands in the kingdom were submilitary tenures. ject until the statute 12 Car. 2, c. 24, in great measure abolished them: the explication of the nature of these tenures must be postponed to the second Book of these Commentaries. Hither also might have been referred the profitable prerogative of purveyance and pre-emption: which was a right enjoyed by the crown of buying up provisions and other necessaries, by the intervention of the king's purveyors, for the use of his royal household, at an appraised valuation, in preference to all others, and even without consent of the owner: and also of forcibly impressing the carriages and horses of the subject, to do the king's business on the public roads, in the conveyance of timber, baggage, and the like, however inconvenient to the proprietor, upon paying him a settled price(u). A prerogative which prevailed pretty generally throughout Europe, during the scarcity of gold and silver, and the high valuation of money consequent thereupon. In early times the king's household was supported by specific renders of corn, and other victuals, from the tenants of the respective demesnes; and there was also a continual market kept at the palace gate to furnish viands for the royal use(x). And this answered all purposes, in those ages of simplicity, so long as the king's court continued *in [*355] any certain place. But when it removed from one part of the kingdom to another (as frequently happened), it was found necessary to send purveyors beforehand to get together a sufficient quantity of provisions and other necessaries for the king's household; and, lest such unusual demand should raise them to an exorbitant price, the powers before mentioned were vested in these purveyors; who, in process of time, very greatly abused their authority, and became oppressive to the subject, though of little advantage to the crown; ready money in open market (when the royal residence was more permanent, and specie began to be plentiful) being found upon experience to be the best proveditor of any. Wherefore by degrees the powers of purveyance declined, and having fallen into disuse during the suspension of monarchy, king Charles II. at his restoration consented, by the statute above cited, to resign entirely these branches of his revenue and power(y): and the parliament, in part of recompense, settled on him and his successors the excise on beer and other liquors, the nature of which will be explained in a subsequent part of this chapter.

VIII. The profits arising from courts of justice may be specified as constituting an eighth branch of the ordinary revenue of the crown, and consist in (VIII) Profits of fines imposed upon offenders, forfeitures of recognizances, and courts of law. certain fees due to the crown in respect of various legal matters. Of these, in process of time, some were granted out to private persons, or

(1) A royalty is, however, sometimes demanded on behalf of the crown, and paid to it by the adventurers.

the reign of James I. Hallam, Const. Hist. i. 414.

(x) 4 Inst. 273.

(u) Against purveyance not less than (y) As to the prerogative of purveyance thirty-six statutes had been directed before see further Broom's Const. L. 393-6.

appropriated to particular uses, and the residue are now available for public purposes. Moreover, by the stat. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 99, s. 29, it was enacted, that accurate returns of all fines, penalties, and recognizances, should be sent to the treasury and to the commissioners of audit; and various other clauses were enacted in the *same statute for their more speedy recovery and for the correct ascertaining of the amount of this branch of the royal

revenue.

of goods for offences.

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IX. To the next branch of the ordinary revenue of the crown may be referred forfeitures for offences, as to which we shall speak at the end of our (IX.) Forfeitures fourth Volume(2), deodands(a) which have been recently abolished (b), and escheats of land upon defect of heirs to succeed to the *inheritance. But the discussion of this topic [ *357] more properly belongs to the second Book of these Commentaries, wherein we shall particularly consider the manner in which lands may be acquired or lost by escheat.

Deodands.

Escheats.

(X) Treasuretrove.

X. The next item of revenue to be noticed is that derivable from treasuretrove (deduced from the French word trouver, to find), called in Latin thesaurus inventus, which is where any money, coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion is found hidden in the earth, or other private place, the owner thereof being unknown; in which case the treasure belongs to the crown or rather to the public(c); but if he that hid it be known, or afterwards found out, the owner, not the crown, is entitled to it(d). Also if it be found in the sea, or upon the earth, it belongs not to the queen, but to the finder, if no owner appears (e). So that it seems it is the hiding, not the abandoning of the chattel, that gives the crown a property in it: Bracton(f), defining treasure

(2) See vol. iv. chap. 20.

(a) Any personal chattel being the immediate cause of the death of a reasonable creature, was called a deodand, and was forfeited to the crown, to be applied to pious uses, and distributed in alms by the high almoner (1 Hale, P. C. 419; Fleta, l. 1, c. 25); though it seems to have been originally designed, in Catholic times, as an expiation for the souls of such as were snatched away by sudden death; and for that purpose ought properly to have been given to holy church (Fitzh. Abr. tit. Enditement, pl. 27; Staunf. P. C. 20, 21); in the same manner as the apparel of a stranger, found dead, was applied to purchase masses for the good of his soul. If a horse, an ox, or other animal, of his own motion, killed as well an infant as an adult, or if a cart ran over him, it would in either case have been forfeited as a deodand, in accordance with the maxim, Omnia quæ movent ad mortem sunt Deo danda (Bracton, 1.3, c. 5), which was grounded upon this additional reason, that such a misfortune is in part ascribable to the negligence of the owner, and therefore he was deemed to have been properly punished by such forfeiture. A like punishment was in like cases inflicted by the Mosaic law: "If ox gore a man that he die, the ox shall be stened, and his flesh shall not be eaten" (E xod. xxi. 28).

an

Where a thing not in motion was the cause of a man's death, that part only which was the immediate cause of death was forfeited; as if a man climbing up the wheel of a cart, was killed by falling from it, the wheel alone was a deodand, but, wherever the thing was in motion, not only that part which immediately gave the wound (as the wheel, which ran over his body), but all things which moved with it, and helped to make the wound more dangerous (as the cart and loading, which increased the pressure of the wheel), were forfeited. It mattered not whether the owner was concerned in the killing or not: for, if a man killed another with my sword, the sword was forfeited as an accursed thing. (1 Hale, P. C. 422; 1 Hawk. P. C. c. 26; Dr. & St. D. 2, c. 51.)

(b) By the stat. 9 & 10 Vict. c. 62, enacting that "there shall be no forfeiture of any chattel for or in respect of the same having moved to or caused the death of man."

(c) It may be claimed by the solicitor to the treasury.

(d) 3 Inst. 132; Dalt. Sher. c. 16.

(e) Britt. c. 17; Finch. 177. See Armory v. Delamirie, Str. 505; Merry v. Green, 7 M. & W. 623.

(f) L. 3, c. 3, s. 4.