SUPPLEMENT I. TITHE ACT, 1891, AND RULES THEREUNDER. 54 VICT. C. 8. An Act to make better provision for the Recovery of Tithe Rent-charge in England and Wales. [26th March, 1891.] Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: owner to 1.—(1.) Tithe rent-charge as defined by this Act issuing Liability of out of any lands shall be payable by the owner of the lands, pay tithe notwithstanding any contract between him and the occu- rentcharge, pier of such lands, and any contract made between an and modioccupier and owner of lands, after the passing of this Act, contracts for the payment of the tithe rent-charge by the occupier with shall be void. (2.) Where the occupier is liable under any contract made before the passing of this Act to pay the tithe rentcharge, then he shall cease to be bound by that part of his (contract, but he shall be liable to pay to the owner such sum as the owner has properly paid on account of the tithe rent-charge which such occupier is liable under his said contract to pay, exclusive of any costs incurred or paid by the owner in respect of such tithe rent-charge, and every receipt given for such sum shall state expressly that the sum is paid in respect of that tithe rent-charge: Provided fication of tenants. Recovery of tithe rentcharge through County Court. that where the lands, out of which any tithe rent-charge issues, are occupied by several occupiers who have contracted to pay the tithe rent-charge, any of such occupiers shall be liable only to pay such proportion of the sum paid by the owner of the lands on account of that tithe rentcharge as the rateable value of the lands occupied by him bears to the rateable value of the whole of the lands occupied by such occupiers. (3.) Such sum shall be recoverable from the occupier by distress in like manner as is provided by sections eightyone and eighty-five of the Act of the session of the sixth and seventh years of the reign of King William the Fourth, chapter seventy-one, and the enactments amending those sections, and not otherwise. . 2.-(1.) Where any sum due on account of tithe rentcharge issuing out of any lands is in arrear for not less than three months, the person entitled to such sum may, whatever is the amount, apply to the County Court of the district in which the lands or any part thereof are situate, and the County Court, after such service on the owner of the lands as may be prescribed, and after hearing such owner if he appears and desires to be heard, may order that the said sum, or such part thereof as appears to the Court to be due, be, together with the costs, recovered in manner provided by this Act, and tithe rent-charge as defined by this Act shall not be recovered in any other manner. (2.) Where it is shown to the Court that the lands are occupied by the owner thereof, the order shall be executed by the appointment by the Court of an officer who, subject to the direction of the Court, shall have the like powers of distraint for the recovery of the sum ordered to be paid as are conferred by the Tithe Acts on the owner of a tithe rent-charge for the recovery of arrears of tithe rent-charge, and no greater or other powers; and if there is no sufficient distress, the person entitled to the sum ordered to be recovered may proceed to obtain possession of the lands under section eighty-two of the Tithe Act, 1836. 6 & 7 c. 71. (3.) In any other case the order shall be executed by the Will. 4, appointment by the Court of a receiver of the rents and profits of the lands, and of any other lands which would be liable to be distrained upon for the tithe rent-charge to which the order refers under the provisions of section eighty-five of the Tithe Act, 1836, and where any of such lands are held at one rent, together with other lands in another parish, the Court shall apportion the rent between the said lands and the lands in the other parish in proportion to their rateable value, in which case the payment of such apportioned rent by the occupier to the receiver shall in every respect, as between the occupier and the owner of the lands, be deemed to be a payment on account of the total rent payable to the owner of such lands. (4.) Subject to the prescribed regulations, the County Court shall have the same powers over receivers as in any other case, and may confer on the person appointed receiver any powers which the Court can confer upon persons appointed receivers, but the Court shall not have power to order the sale of the lands. (5.) Any sum ordered by the Court under this section to be recovered shall be payable by a trustee in bankruptcy, sheriff, or officer of a Court who is in possession of the lands, in like manner as if it were tithe rent-charge recoverable under the Tithe Acts. (6.) Where the occupier of the lands out of which the tithe rent-charge issues is liable under any contract made before the passing of this Act to pay the tithe rent-charge, and is consequently liable by virtue of this Act to pay the amount thereof to the owner of the lands, the owner of the lands shall serve notice of such liability on the owner of the tithe rent-charge, and thereupon, before an order under this section is made, there shall be such service on the occupier in addition to the owner as may be prescribed, and a hearing of such occupier if he appears and desires to be heard. Any owner of the lands who fails to serve such notice as aforesaid on the owner of the tithe rent-charge, shall not be entitled to recover from the occupier any sum which he has paid on account of tithe rent-charge as aforesaid, unless and until he has, after notice to the occupier of his application for the same, obtained from the County Court a certificate that there was good and sufficient cause Rimmer, 4.2 W. R for the failure to give such notice, and that the occupier has not been prejudiced thereby. Hughes r. 79 (7.) Rules under this Act may regulate the procedure practice and costs under this Act in County Courts, and may direct what service shall be good service for the purposes of this Act on the owner or occupier of any lands or the owner of any tithe rent-charge, and may provide that, if the owner of any lands is not known, any proceeding under this Act may be taken against the owner of the lands without naming the person who is the owner. (8.) The fees payable on the proceedings under this section shall not exceed those set forth in the schedule to this Act, and the fees, charges, and expenses in or incidental to any distress under this Act shall be the same as are for the time being payable under the Law of Distress Vict. c. 21. Amendment Act, 1888. 51 & 52 (9.) Nothing in this Act shall impose or constitute any personal liability upon any occupier or owner of lands for the payment of any tithe rent-charge, or any other sum recoverable or payable under this Act, and the Court shall not, by virtue of this Act, or of the County Courts Act, Vict. c. 43. 1888, have any power to imprison any such occupier or owner by reason only of the nonpayment of such tithe rent-charge or other sum, and shall in any other case have 51 & 52 no other or greater powers of fine or imprisonment than are conferred by the County Courts Act, 1888. 3.-(1.) The Lord Chancellor may, after consultation Rules. with the Rule Committee of County Court Judges, make rules for carrying this Act into effect, and for regulating, providing, and prescribing any matter authorised by this Act to be regulated, provided, or prescribed by rules under this Act. In framing such rules regard shall be had to making the procedure as simple and inexpensive as is practicable. (2.) Every rule under this Act shall be laid before each House of Parliament within forty days next after it is made, if Parliament is then sitting, or, if not, within forty days after the commencement of the then next ensuing session, and if an address is presented to Her Majesty by either House of Parliament within the next subsequent forty days on which the said House shall have sat, praying that any such rule may be annulled, Her Majesty may thereupon, by Order in Council, annul the same; and the rule so annulled shall thenceforth become void and of no effect, but without prejudice to the validity of any proceedings which may in the meantime have been taken under the same. 4. Where a receiver appointed under this Act of the Lands occupied rents and profits of any lands satisfies the County Court rent free, that the lands are let on such terms as not to reserve a &c. rent sufficient to enable the receiver to recover from the owner thereof the sum ordered to be recovered, the Court,' after such service on the owner and occupier of the lands as may be prescribed, and after hearing such owner and occupier if they appear and desire to be heard, may direct that the order for such recovery shall be executed as if the occupier were the owner of the lands: Provided that any |