trude any opinion of his own, or indeed any thing farther on the subject, than what is contained in the report of his Majesty's Commissioners of Inquiry, respecting the Isle of Man, in the year 1791.

The deemster (Thomas Moor, Esq.) represents this council to have consisted of the fol

lowing superior lay and spiritual officers of the lord proprietor, viz. the treasurer, or receivergeneral, the comptroller, clerk of the rolls, water-bailiff, attorney-general, two deemsters, bishop, archdeacon, his official, and the two vicars-general of the bishop.

The clerk of the rolls (John Quayle, Esq.) concurs in the foregoing description of this council, as far as relates to the before-named lay officers, adding thereto the collectors; but considers the bishop, and other ecclesiastical officers, only entitled to attend this council, when summoned by the governor.

The attorney-general (Sir Wadsworth Busk) differs, in some measure, from each of these opinions; for though he considers some spiritual officers to have had a fixed seat in this council, he does not allow that all those enumerated by the deemster were entitled to that privilege. He further confines the right of a seat in this council to such lay-officers as com'posed the lord's household, and acted in his ministerial departments. He thereby excludes the collectors, and doubts the propriety of ranking the deemsters as members of this council; although he admits, they appear never to

have been absent from the meetings of the legislature*.

The claims of some of the before-named spiritual officers to a seat in this council at the time of the revestment, is moreover supported by instances of the enjoyment of that privilege for a series of years prior to that period. These instances are to be found in the Manks statute-book, which, from the beginning of the sixteenth century, generally records the names of the members of the legislature who signed the laws enacted in the island, either in their passage to the lord proprietor for his assent, or at the promulgation thereof afterwards; which signatures are undoubted proofs of the exercise of acts of legislation.

Since this question was agitated, the spiritual officers' claim to a seat in the council has been allowed, on the ground, that, as their prior right had not been abrogated, it could not be taken away by implication.

The following are the forms of the oaths which have been administered to the governor and attorney-general since the revestment:

The Governor's Oath.

"I John Duke of Atholl do swear, that I will truly and uprightly deal between our Sove

The title of an act of Tynwald is in the following words: "Insula Mona.---At a Tynwald Court, held at Saint John's Chapel, the day of 1811, before his Grace John Duke of Atholl, captain-general and governor in chief, the council, deemsters, and keys."

reign Lord the King and his subjects within this isle, and as indifferently between party and party as this staff now standeth, so far as in me lieth; and, when I think it necessary, will call together the council of this isle, or so many of them as shall be present within the same, and advise with them in any matter that may concern the state and government thereof; and that I will do and perform, as far as in me lieth, these, and all other things appertaining to the government of this isle, and the post and office of Governor-in-Chief and Captain-General, according to the purport and extent of my commission. So God me help, and by the contents of this book."

The Attorney-General's Oath.

"I will faithfully, justly, and truly, without favour or affection, dread or fear, envy or malice, and without respect to love or gain, kindred or friendship, consanguinity or affinity, plead and defend the causes of our Sovereign Lord the King, in all and every thing and things whatsoever, as by law required. I will also, from time to time, when thereunto required by the Governor-in-Chief, or, in his absence, by the Lieutenant-Governor of this isle, plead and defend the cause of all widows, orphans, and fatherless children, and be aiding and assisting, with my best advice and counsel,, his Majesty's Governor-in-Chief, or his Lieutenant-Governor of this isle for the

time being, for the furtherance of the govern ment and benefit of the said isle."

The purport of the oath administered to the other members of the council is, " to maintain and defend the ancient laws, statutes, and customs, proper and belonging to this isle, and the prerogatives thereof, and, with their best advice and counsel, to be aiding and assisting to his Majesty's Governor-in-Chief, or his Lieutenant-Governor of this isle for the time being, for the furtherance of the government and benefit of the said isle.'

OF THE ANCIENT MANKS TENURES.

It would be a work of supererogation to inform the learned reader, that the feudal constitution, or the doctrine of tenure, had its origin in the military policy of the northern Celtic nations (who all migrated from the same officina gentium *), and gradually extended itself over all the continent of Europe. † Sir Henry Spelman calls this system, the law of nations in our western world. The grand

fundamental maxim of this feudal tenure is this that all lands were originally granted out by the sovereign, and are therefore holden either mediately or immediately of the crown. The granter was called the proprietor or lord, and the grantee was styled the feudatory or vassal, which was only another name for the tenant of the land. At the first introduction of feuds, as they were gratuitous, so also they were precarious, and held solely at the will of the lord. Afterwards they became certain for one or more years, then for the life of the feudatory, and, in process of time, were extended beyond the life of the first vassal to his sons; but the quality of the feud was,

* Craig. de jure feod. 19.

+ Spelman on Feuds, 1. 1.

I Agri ab universis per vices occupantur: arva per annos mutant." Tacit. de Mor. Ger...." Neque quisquam agri modum, certum, aut fines proprius habet; sed magistratus et principes, in annos singulos, gentibus et cognationibus hominum qui una corierunt quantum eis et quo loco visum est attribuunt, atque anno post alio transire cogunt." Cæsar de Bell. Gall. I. 6. c. 21.