82 [83] Pension. PENSIONS are certain sums of money paid to clergymen in lieu of tithes. And some churches have settled on them annuities or pensions payable by other churches. Thus in the Registrum Honoris de Richmond, we find a pension paid out of Coram or Coverham abbey in the county of York (unto which the church of Sedburgh was appropriated) to the prior of Connyside (unto whose priory the church of Orton was appropriated) for the said church of Sedburgh, 20s. Append. 94. These pensions are due by virtue of some decree made by an ecclesiastical judge upon a controversy for tithes, by which the tithes have been decreed to be enjoyed by one, and a pension instead thereof to be paid to another; or they have arisen by virtue of a deed made by the consent of the parson, patron, and ordinary. F. N. B. 117. At the dissolution of monasteries there were many pensions issuing out of their lands and payable to several ecclesiastical persons; which lands were vested in the crown by the statutes of dissolution; in which statutes there is a saving to such persons of the right which they had to those pensions: but notwithstanding such general saving, those who had that right were disturbed in the collecting and receiving such pensions; and therefore by another statute, to wit, the 34 & 35 H. 8. c. 19. it was enacted, that pensions, portions, corradies, indemnities, synodies, proxies, and all other profits due out of the lands of religious houses dissolved, shall continue to be paid to ecclesiastical persons by the occupiers of the said lands. And the plaintiff may recover the thing in demand, and the value thereof in damages in the ecclesiastical court, together with costs. And the like he shall recover at the common law when the cause is there determinable. By the statute of Circumspecte agatis, 13 Ed. 1. st. 4. If a prelate of a church, or a patron, demand of a parson a pension due to him: all such demands shall be made in the spiritual court; in which case the spiritual judge shall have power to take knowledge, notwithstanding the king's prohibition. In pursuance of which, the general doctrine is, that pensions, as such, are of a spiritual nature, and to be sued for in the spiritual court; and accordingly when they have come in question, prohibitions have been frequently denied, or consultations granted: even though they have been claimed upon the foot of prescription. Gibs. 706. (3) (3) Collier's case. Noy, 16. 1 Salk. 58. Cro. Eliz. 675. A pension issuing out of an appropriation by presentation is suable in the spiritual court, for it could not begin but by grant and institution of spiritual persons. Smith v. Wallis. 1 Salk. 58. 1 L. Raym. 587. But Lord Coke says, if a pension be claimed by prescription, there, seeing a writ of annuity doth lie, and that prescriptions must be tried by the common law, because common and canon law therein do differ, they cannot sue for such a pension in the ecclesiastical court. 2 Inst. 491. But this hath been sometimes denied to be law. (4) And in the case of Jones and Stone, T. 12 W. Holt chief justice said, he could never get a prohibition to stay a suit in the spiritual court against a parson for a pension by prescription. Wats. c. 56. 2 Salk. 550. Dr. Gooche v. The Bishop of London, M. 4 G. 2. The bishop libelled in the spiritual court, suggesting that Dr. Gooche, as archdeacon of Essex, is to pay 101. due to the bishop as a prestation, for the exercise of his exterior jurisdiction. The Dr. moved for a prohibition, alleging that he had pleaded there was no prescription; and then that being denied, a prohibition ought to go for defect of trial. On the contrary, it was argued for the bishop, that the libel being general, it must not be taken that he goes upon a prescription; but it is to be considered in the same light as the common case of a pension, which is suable for in the spiritual court; and the nature of the demand shews it must have its original from a composition, it being a recompence for the archdeacon's being allowed to exercise a jurisdiction, which originally did belong to the ordinary. And by the court: The bishop may certainly intitle himself ab antiquo, without laying a prescription; and as it is only laid in general, there is no ground for us to interpose, till it appears by the proceedings that a prescriptive right will come in question; if they join issue on the plea, it will then be proper to apply: but at present there ought [ 84 ] to be no prohibition. Str. 879. M. 1724. Bailey v. Cornes. In the exchequer: A bill was preferred for a pension only, payable to the preacher of Bridgnorth; and upon hearing of the cause (which was afterwards ended by compromise) it seemed to be admitted, that a bill might be brought for a pension only. Bunb. 183. A bishop may sue for a pension before a chancellor, and an archdeacon before his official. Wood. b. 2. c. 2. If a suit be brought for a pension, or other thing due of a parsonage, it seems that the occupier (though a tenant) ought to be sued; and if part of the rectory be in the hand of the owner, and part in the occupation of a tenant, the suit is to be against them both. Wats. c. 53. And though there is neither house, nor glebe, nor tithes, nor S.C. but not S.P.; see also 3 Salk. 378. A pension cannot be released to the ordinary, because it is temporal. 1 Salk. 58. (4) See Johnson v. Ryson, 12 Mod. 417. other profits, but only of easter-offerings, burials, and christenings; By 26 G. 8. c. 3. § 21. When incumbents pay any pension to their predecessors out of their livings, they may retain the tenth thereof, and shall by virtue hereof be acquitted of such tenth, nd may plead this act in discharge thereof. By § 22. no pension shall be assigned by the ordinary, or by any other agreement or otherwise, upon resignation of any promotion spiritual, above the value of the third part thereof shall be assigned to any person spiritual, the incumbent shall not be compelled to pay above such third part, but shall be quitted of the same; and by § 23. abbots or priors paying pensions to their predecessors above 40l. may deduct one half. Pentecostals. PENTECOSTALS, otherwise called Whitsun-farthings, took their name from the usual time of payment, at the feast of pentecost. These are spoken of in a remarkable grant of king Henry the eighth to the dean and chapter of Worcester; in which he makes over to them all oblations and obventions, or spiritual profits, commonly called whitsun-farthings, yearly collected or received of divers towns within the archdeaconry of Worcester, and offered at the time of pentecost. From hence it appears that pentecostals were oblations; and as the inhabitants of chapelries were bound, on some certain festival or festivals, to repair to the mother church, and make their oblation there, in token of subjection and dependance; so, as it seems, were the inhabitants of the diocese obliged to repair to the cathedral (as the mother church of the whole diocese) at the feast of pente[85] cost. Something like this was the coming of many priests and their people in procession to the church of St. Austin in Canterbury, in whitsun-week, with oblations and other devotions; and in the register of Robert Reed, who was made bishop of Chichester in the year 1396, there is a letter to compel the inhabitants of the parishes within the archdeaconry of Chichester, to visit their mother church in whitsun-week. Gisb. 976. 1 Warn. 339. These oblations grew by degrees into fixed and certain pay (5) Trinity College, Cambridge, v. Tunstall. ments, from every parish and every house in it; as appears not only from the aforementioned grant of king Henry the eighth, but also from a remarkable passage in the articles of the clergy in convocation in the year 1399; where the sixth article is a humble request to the archbishops and bishops, that it may be declared, whether peter-pence, the holy-loaf, and pentecostals were to be paid by the occupiers of the lands, though the tenements were fallen or not inhabited, according to the ancient custom, when every parish paid a certain quota. Gisb. 976. These are still paid in some few dioceses; being now only a charge upon particular churches, where by custom they have been paid. Ken. Par. Ant. 596. Deg. p. 2. c. 15. And if they be denied, when they are due, they are recoverable in the spiritual court. Gisb. 977. (0) Perambulation. See parish. Perinde valere. PERINDE valere was a writ of dispensation granted by the pope to a clerk admitted to a benefice, although incapable; taking that name from the words of the dispensation, which made it perinde valere, that is, to be as effectual to the party, as if he were capable. Gisb. 87. Perjury. (p) IF perjury be committed in a temporal cause, it is punishable only in the temporal courts; but where it is committed in a (0) 1 P. Wms. 657. (p) Perjury before the conquest was punished by corporal chastisement, banishment, and sometimes death. 3 Inst. c. 74. 16 Vin. 310. Afterwards the king's council used to assemble and punish perjuries at their discretion; and the spiritual court proceeded against the offenders pro læsione fidei Cro. Eliz. 521. Unlawful oaths are mentioned as one reason for the institution of the court of starchamber in 3 H. 7. c.1.; and prosecutions in that court for this crime were very frequent both before and after the 5 Eliz. c.9. which inflicted statutable penalties upon persons guilty of perjury, and those who should procure them to commit it; and gave an action of 201. against the former, and 401. against the latter, to the party grieved. The court of star-chamber was afterwards abolished by 16 C. 1. c.10. [86] Perjury. spiritual cause, the spiritual judge hath authority to inflict canonical punishment, and prohibition will not go. Gisb. 1013. 1 Ought. 9. (q) For by the statute of circumspecte agatis, 13 Ed. 1. st. 4. For breaking an oath, it hath been granted, that it shall be tried in a spiritual court, when money is not demanded, but a thing done for the punishment of sin; in which case the spiritual judge shall have power to take knowledge, notwithstanding the king's prohibition. For although the case be spiritual, and the perjury is committed in the spiritual court; yet the judge there can only punish pro salutæ animæ: but the party grieved by such perjury, must recover his damages at the common law. Gibs. 1013. (1) By the statute of perjury, 5 Eliz. c. 9. § 11. that act shall not extend to any spiritual or ecclesiastical court; but such offender as shall be guilty of perjury, or subornation of perjury, shall and may be punished by such usual and ordinary laws as heretofore hath been, and yet is 'used and frequented in the said ecclesiastical court. In the statute of the 5 Eliz. c. 23. concerning the writ de excommunicato capiendo, perjury in the ecclesiastical court is specified as an offence (amongst others) for which a person may be excommunicated. [And conviction of perjury, either in the tem which in § 2. recites, that all matters examinable there, might be remedied and redressed by the common law; and the common law being since aided by the 2 G. 2. c. 25. and 23 G. 2. c. 11. (the first of which statutes empower the court to send the offender to the house of correction, or to transport him for seven years, and the second facilitates the process of conviction) indictments for this crime are chiefly now at common law. See 4 Bl. Com. 137. Hawk. Pl. Cr. ch.69. (9) Keilw. 39. b. 7. (r) If one makes a false oath, the party is punishable for it by an action on the case, if it be not perjury for which he may be indicted. There is a difference between a false oath and perjury; for one is judicial, the other extra-judicial; and the law inflicts greater punishment for a false oath made in a court of justice than elsewhere, because of the preservation of justice. Per Rolle C. J. in Howell v. Gwinn. Stiles, 337. If the party grieved (by false affidavit) receive damages either by any wrongful proceeding of the judge, or misfeasance, or nonfeasance, or falsity of any minister, or by unjust prosecution of the party, he may have an action on the case, and recover damages. 12 Rep. 128. Carth. 487. But one cannot have an action on the case against a witness for swearing that a fountain of silver worth 500l. was only worth 180l.; by reason of which false oath, it was insisted the jury gave 2001. damages instead of 500l. For if this were suffered, every witness might be drawn in question. Damport v. Sympson. Cro. Eliz. 520. 1 Vin. 592. |