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SUPERSTITIOUS USES.

SEVERAL instances occur in the Reports, in which premises devised by Will, were seized by the Crown, as being given to Superstitious uses, and which were subsequently granted out by Letters Patent in the reign of King EDWARD the Sixth.

Many premises in the City of London, which had been so forfeited, were granted without condition to AUGUSTINE HYND, and RICHARD TURK, Aldermen, and WILLIAM BLACKWELL, Town-Clerk, their heirs and assigns, who appear to have been Agents for the respective proprietors, for the re-purchase of the forfeited estates.1

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The Will of Mr. HENRY BARTON, in 1434, is filled with a variety of provisions for keeping obits, celebrating masses, and offering prayers for departed Souls, with the performance of which he charged THE SKINNERS' COMPANY.

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All the uses for which the property was given, appear to have been Superstitious, -and as the habitations intended for the poor men, were to be enjoyed by them upon condition of their praying for Souls, such condition appears to have brought that part of the testator's bounty equally within the Statute of the 1° Edw. vI. c. 14. It is difficult to account for the continuation of the obit payments to so late a period as 1660. From all that appears, no valid charitable use is now subsisting under Mr. BARTON's will. According to the Statute above-mentioned, the property so given would belong to the Crown,but, after such a length of uninterrupted possession by The Company, a grant or release by the Crown might probably be presumed,—with respect to this point, however, The Commissioners do not give any decided opinion.2

Before THE REFORMATION, the parish estates in Skirpenbeck, Youlthorpe, and Tadcaster, were holden by the Church

2 Rep. VIII. p. 372-4.

wardens of the parish for certain Superstitious uses, and having become vested in the Crown, were granted to HENRY MAPPLETON and THOMAS JONES, as joint tenants, by Letters Patent, and were subsequently granted by HENRY MAPPLETON, the survivor, to trustees for the parish, subject to small reserved payments or quit-rents to the Crown.3

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STATUTE OF MORTMAIN.

It is well known that, by the Statute of 9° Geo. II. c. 36, no lands or tenements, or money to be laid out thereon, shall be given for, or charged with, any charitable uses whatsoever, unless by Deed indented, executed in the presence of two witnesses twelve calendar months before the death of the Donor, and enrolled in the Court of Chancery within six months after it's execution (except Stocks in the Public Funds, which may be transferred within six months previous to the Donor's death), and unless such gift be made to take effect immediately, and be without power of revocation, and that all other gifts shall be void.

This Statute it appears, was enacted, on the apprehension grounded upon experience, that persons on their death-beds might make large and improvident dispositions even for these good purposes,

and defeat the political ends of the Legislature. And it will be seen by the Reports, how largely the benevolent intentions of well disposed persons have been frustrated by it's operation. They are EIGHTY in number.

There are, however, several bequests which, although void under the provisions of the Statute of Mortmain, have nevertheless been continued,1 or established by the Relatives of the deceased,2-and in some cases, have even been augmented by the Piety of their surviving friends.3 These monuments of conscientious affection are all faithfully recorded under the respective names of the Donors.

1

Rep. VII. p. 264.-Rep. xi. p. 19.
2 IX.
Rep. ix. p. 681.-Rep. xII. p. 508.
3 Rep. vII. p. 184.-Rep. xiv. p. 377.

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