$ 12.

and lunatics.

17Edw. 2. st. 1. €. 9. E. & I.

c. 10.

XII. The statute de prerogativa regis, 17 Edw. 2. st. 1. c. 9. Custody of idiots E. &. I. declares that the king shall have the custody of the lands of natural fools, taking the profits of them without waste or destruction, and shall find them their necessaries, of whose fee socver the lands be holden; and after the death of such idiots, he shall render it to the right heirs, so that such idiots shall not alien, nor their heirs be disinherited and as to lunatics by another branch of this statute (c. 10.) when any that has had his wit and memory shall be non-compos mentis, the king shall provide that his lands and tenements shall be safely kept without waste, &c. and that he and his household shall live and be maintained competently with the profits of the same, and the residue be kept to his use to be delivered unto him when he shall come to his right mind, so that the same be not aliened, and the king shall take nothing to his own use; and this act provides that when any party shall die in such estate, the residue shall be distributed for his soul, by the advice of the ordinary; but this superstitious provision seems to be done away by the sta14Geo. 3. c. 49. tute of distributions. The 14 Geo. 3. c. 49. Eng. proEug. hibits any person from harbouring or confining more than Private mad- one lunatic at a time in any house or place kept for the reception of lunatics, upon pain of forfeiting £500. cxcept such lunatics as shall be committed by the chancellor, or unless licensed by the commissioners appointed by the college of physicians in London, or (in places not within 7 miles of the city of London or not within the county of Middlesex) by the justices at some quarter ses-sions of the peace: And by s. 21. any keeper of any such licenced house or place who shall admit any person as a lunatic, without having an order in writing under the hand and seal of some physician, surgeon, or apothecary, that such person is proper to be received into such house, &c. shall forfeit £100.; and the same forfeiture is incurred by not giving notice of every lunatic so received, within 3 days in London, &c. and within 14 days in places not within 7 miles of London or Westminster, or within the county of Middlesex, after any lunatic shall be received or admitted. This act has not been followed by any similar act in Ireland, but though no Irish statute

Aouses.

S. 21.

contains

·

s. 8. Ir.

houses.

E. & W.

contains provisions for the regulation of private madhouses corresponding to this English act, the 27 Geo. 3. 27 Geo.3. 0.39. c. 39. s. 8. Ir. empowers the grand juries of the several counties, counties of cities and towns in Ireland, to pre- Public madsent such sums of money as shall appear to them to be necessary, for providing and supporting wards for the reception and support of such insane persons and idiots, as shall be from time to time recommended by 2 or more magistrates of such county, which magistrates shall certify that the persons so recommended are idiots or insane, and destitute of any means of support. The 48 Geo. 3. 48 Geo. 3. c.96. c. 96. E. & .W also provides for the erection of lunatic asylums in such counties in England or Wales, where the same shall be deemed necessary, by the justices at the general quarter sessions, the expenses of which shall be defrayed by the respective counties where the same shall be built; and this act authorizes the justices, upon the application of the overseers of the poor of any parish within such county, to issue their warrant for the conveyance of any lunatic, insane person, or dangerous idiot, who may be chargeable to the parish, to such asylum.

XIII. Having thus taken a view of the several branches of the ordinary revenue in England and Ireland, I proceed to a brief comparison of the statutes which respect the extraordinary revenue, arising from the taxes or duties, in each country. The land tax in England, which was an annual tax, has been made perpetual by the 38 Geo. 3. c. 60. Eng. subject however to redemption and purchase in the manner therein mentioned. And by the 48 Geo. 3. c. 102. G. B. special commissioners are appointed for carrying into execution such of the powers and provisions of the 38 Geo. 3. c. 5. Eng. which is intitled "An act for granting an aid to his majesty, by a land tax to be raised in Great Britain for the service of the year 1798" as are continued for ever by the 38 Geo. 3. c. 60. But in Ireland though subsidies or assessments upon lands, as well as personal estates; have been resorted to fór supplying the exigencies of government, at several periods of the Irish history, no land tax has ever been imposed by authority of any act of parliament.

XIV. The

$13.

Land tax.

§ 14.

Malt lax.

$ 15.

The Customs.

XIV. The annual malt tar was first imposed by the 8 & 9 W. 3. c. 22. Eng. and by the 12 Ann. st. 1. c. 2. Eng. was placed under the management of the commissioners of the excise. The 1 Geo. 3. c. 3. Eng. is intitled, "An act for continuing and granting to his majesty certain duties upon malt, mum, cider, and perry for the service of the year 1761," and this duty which was granted and continued by this and subsequent statutes is continued by the 48 Geo. 3. c. 2. s. 1. G. B. from the 23d day of June, 1808 to the 24th day of June, 1809. An additional perpetual excise of 3d. a bushel on malt made in England, and of 11⁄2d. on malt made in Scotland, was laid on by the 33 Geo. 2. c. 7. Eng. and a further duty of £15. per cent. upon the produce of the duty so payable by this act, was added by the 19 Geo. 3. c. 25. Eng. The malt duty was first made a part of the inland excise of Ireland by the 25 Geo. 3. c. 3. Ir. the last statutes defining its amount and regulating the mode of its collection are the 48 Geo. 3. c. 78. & c. 79 I.

XV. The customs, or duties upon merchandize exported or imported, are a part of the ancient and hereditary revenues in England and Ireland. The duties upon wool, sheep-skins or woolfells, and leather, which were payable in England, so far back as the reign of Edward I. as appears from the statute 25 Edw. 1. c. 7. have been levied in Ireland also from a remote period. Sir John Davies, * Sir J. Davies' who wrote in the reign of James I. states,* that hè Tracts, page 31 had inspected the pipe rolls of Ireland for 250 years, that

the customs did not at any time exceed £1000. per annum, but that the greatest profit did arise by the cocquet of hides; wool and woolfells being of little value in this kingdom. The exportation of wool was first prohibited in England by the 11 Edw. 3. c. 1.; but the 28 Geo. 3. c. 38. Eng. which consolidates the laws for preventing the exportation of live sheep, wool, &c. has been modified with respect to Ireland by the 48 Geo. 3. c. 44. The export of wool from Ireland was first prohibited by the 13 Hen. 8. c. 2. Ir. but this prohibition was done away by the subsequent statutes imposing a duty upon its export. The right of the crown to the more ancient cus

toms

tom or duty of prisage, which in England has been Prisage. traced by Mr. Maddox* in his history of the exchequer to *Vol. 1. p. 765, ' the reign of Richard I., is now enjoyed by the earl of Ormonde in Irelandt by a title derived from king Henry II. Howard's Rev. v. 1. p. 75. In England it is due at the rate of 1 tun out of 10, for which the crown pays the merchant 20s. by way of compensation for freight. But in Ireland, when the quantity of wines imported in any one ship amounts to 9 tuns, and under 18 tuns, single prisage or 1 tun is taken; when such quantity amounts to or exceeds 18 tuns, double prisage or 2 tuns are taken; but no money is paid to the merchant. In Ireland as in England this duty is taken either in kind according to its original institution, viz. one half before the mast, and the other half behind the mast; or a certain sum is paid in lieu thereof by agreement or composition with the importer. The charter of Butlerage. Edward I. by which this duty was commuted, with regard to foreign merchants, for 2s. on every tun of wine imported into England (which duty is called butlerage) does not extend to Ireland; though in the Act of Customs (14 & 15 Car. 2. c. 9. Ir.) and other statutes, this duty is designated by the name of prisage and butlerage. By the 43 Geo. 3. c. 156. and 46 Geo. 3. c. 59. the commissioners of the treasury of Great Britain are enabled to contract for the purchase of the duties of prisage and butlerage of wines, with the chancellor and council of the duchy of Lancaster as representing his majesty; with the prince of Wales in right of the duchy of Cornwall; with the duke of Beaufort, who claims the prisage, &c. within the ports of Swansea and Chepstow; with the marquis of Bute, who claims this duty within the port of Cardiff in Wales; and with the duke of Grafton, who claims the prisage and butlerage of all wines brought into any port of England, not being within the principality of Wales or earldom of Chester, except Liverpool and other ports in Lancaster, to which the king is entitled, and excep Plymouth in Devon and the ports in Cornwall, the right to. which is in the prince of Wales. And by the 46 Geo.3. c.94. I.

The 35 Edw. 3. c. 21. E. & I. and 43 Edw. 3. c, 3. E. & I. were passed torestrain the exactions of the king's butlers.

Tunnage and poundage.

the commissioners for executing the office of lord high treasurer of Ireland are enabled to contract with the earl of Ormonde for the purchase of the duties of prisage and butlerage in Ireland. The ancient duties of tunnage and poundage were granted to the crown by various acts of parliament in England from the reign of Edward III. And in Ireland by the 14 Hen. 7. c. 1. Ir. tunnage and poundage are recited to be duties belonging to the king. By the 15 Hen. 7. Ir. a duty of 12d. was imposed on every 20s. worth of merchandize imported or exported, wine and oil only excepted. This duty was called in Ireland "The old poundage;" the Act of Customs (14 & 15 Car. 2. c. 9. Ir. having imposed another duty of 12d. in the pound, on all goods exported or imported by merchants, strangers, or other aliens, except wines and oils, upon which a particular tunnage duty was payable by this statute. The ancient duties of tunnage and poundage are merged in the new duties imposed by the several acts consolidating the duties of excise and customs, which will be Aliens duty, presently mentioned. By the 12 Car. 2. c. 4. Eng. aliens and

strangers were liable to higher rates for the tunnage and poundage duties or subsidies, than natural born subjects, and this statute was followed in this respect by the 14 & 15 Car. 2. c. 9. Ir.; but this aliens duty, which was commonly called "The petty custom," was discontinued by the 24 Geó. 3. c. 16. Eng. This act contains a saving, however, for the duties granted by charter to the corporation of London. But in Ireland aliens were liable to pay a,higher rate of tunnage than natural born subjects by the 14 & 15 Ĉar 2. c. 9. s. 2. Ir. as also (by the 53d rule) a double custom or subsidy on the import or export of the articles mentioned in this act or in the book of rates thereto annexed. But by the consolidation of the customs with the excise, which will be presently explained, the aliens duty has been indirectly repealed, except in the instance of tobacco alone, which is liable to an additional rate of duty, when imported by strangers into Ireland. It may be here also observed that by prescription or ancient custom a duty of 4d. per tun is payable by all foreign ships trading to Ireland, and collected upon their

arrival