Court of First Fruits and Tenths

First Fruits and Tenths Act 1535
First Fruits and Tenths Act 1535
Act of Parliament
	27 Hen. 8. c. 8
Dates
Royal assent	14 April 1536
Other legislation
Repealed by	First Fruits and Tenths Measure 1926
Status: Repealed

First Fruits and Tenths (No. 2) Act 1534
First Fruits and Tenths (No. 2) Act 1534
Act of Parliament
	26 Hen. 8. c. 17
Dates
Royal assent	18 December 1534
Other legislation
Repealed by	First Fruits and Tenths Measure 1926
Status: Repealed

First Fruits and Tenths Act 1534
First Fruits and Tenths Act 1534
Act of Parliament
	Statute Law Revision Act 1888
Repealed by	First Fruits and Tenths Measure 1926
Status: Repealed

First Fruits, etc. Act 1555
Act of Parliament
First Fruits and Tenths Act 1558
Status: Repealed

First Fruits and Tenths Act 1558
Act of Parliament
First Fruits, etc. Act 1555
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1948
Status: Repealed

First Fruits and Tenths was a form of tax on clergy taking up a benefice or ecclesiastical position in Great Britain. The Court of First Fruits and Tenths was established in 1540 to collect from clerical benefices certain moneys that had previously been sent to Rome.

Clergy had to pay a portion of their first year's income (known as annates)

Henry VIII's 1534 statute diverted the money to the English Crown as part of his campaign to pressure the Pope into granting him an annulment of his marriage with Catherine of Aragon

.

The

25 Hen. 8. c. 20) allowed taxes on first fruits and tenths (of benefice’s income) to be transferred from the Pope to the King. Thomas Cromwell set up a special financial administration for these revenues. Following his removal from office, a separate administration was established: the Court of First Fruits and Tenths. In 1554 the court was dissolved, and responsibility for administration of these revenues passed to the Office of First Fruits and Tenths, a department of the Exchequer. During the 18th century, these payments formed the basis of Queen Anne's Bounty

.

Substance and procedure

First-fruits (annates) and tenths (decimae) originally formed part of the revenue paid by the clergy to the papal exchequer. The former consist of the first whole year's profit of all spiritual preferments, the latter of one-tenth of their annual profits after the first year.^[2]

The proceedings of the court relate to a variety of aspects of the collection of these dues for the Crown and include, for example, accountings, sheriffs' returns to writs concerning livings and their incumbents and appearances and hearings in cases of first fruits.

The income derived from first-fruits and tenths was annexed to the revenue of the Crown by the First Fruits and Tenths Act 1534 (

26 Hen. 8. c. 3), and so continued until 1703.^[2]

The Court of First Fruits and Tenths was subsequently subsumed into the Exchequer Office of First Fruits and Tenths in 1554.

Beginning in 1703,

6 Ann. c. 27), about 3,900 poor livings under the annual value of £50 were discharged from first-fruits and tenths.^[2]

References

^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Annates" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 64.
^ ^a ^b ^c Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Queen Anne's Bounty" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 729–730.

[1] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Annates" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 64.

[EB1911-2] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Queen Anne's Bounty" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 729–730.

[2]

Substance and procedure

See also

References