precept, at which court the chief officers may preside.

governor and other

With respect to the clergy of the isle, they are usually educated at an academy in Castle Town, founded by Bishop Barrow, who, with Charles, Earl of Derby, by a grant in the year 1673, appropriated the profits of a former vacancy of the bishoprick to the foundation of an academic school, and nominated Messrs Leigh of Lyme, and Cholmondeley of Vale Royal in Cheshire, and their heirs, perpetual trustees, with power to grant licenses to the professors.

Bishop Barrow also, by grant executed in the year 1668, gave two valuable estates in the island, called Ballagilly and Hango Hill, for the use and benefit of the scholars of the free school of Castle Town; reserving a power, during his life, of disposing of the said estates to any other good use in the island; and appointed the lord bishop, the archdeacon, or, in their absence, the vicars-general and the official, and four more of the chief temporal officers of the isle for the time being, whereof the governor to be always one, feoffees in trust for the same.

The bishop by his will, dated 14th December 1679, gave the said estates "towards the maintenance of three boys at the academical school, when it shall be there settled. And in case there shall be no such school within twelve months after his death, then to go towards the maintenance of two boys of most pregnant parts at some university abroad; in the meantime to be employed as it is. And these boys

to be chosen after his decease by the bishop and archdeacon pro tempore, the governor or his deputy, and the two senior clergymen (not in office) in the island, or any four of them, whereof the bishop to be always one if present. And his intention was, that these boys be by their education settled, for the supply of the clergy in the island, upon the vacancy of any living; but that no boy should be taken, till security be given by his friends, that upon the call of the bishop he shall immediately take holy orders, and supply the vacant living, or pay back such money as he hath received of this gift till that time, such money to be applied for the benefit of the church, in such manner as the persons nominated for the choice of the boys shall agree."

OF HUSBAND AND WIFE, PARENT AND CHILD, GUARDIAN AND, WARD.

WHEN a marriage is duly contracted and solemnized in the manner prescribed by the act of Tynwald of 1757 *, and according to the English rubric and the canons of 1703 relating to marriages, it cannot be positively dissolved by any court or process known to the Manks law, except by the uncircumscribed powers of an act of Tynwald; for a divorce a mensâ et toro does not vacate the conjugal union, although the wife is thereby rendered solely responsible to creditors, of which alimony is a consequence.

With regard to the legal consequences of matrimony as far as relates to lands of inheritance, they have been already noticed under the head of Modern Manks Tenures. With respect to mere personal property, although the husband has the disposition thereof during the joint lives of himself and wife, yet, in this instance, it will also appear with what extraordinary favour the Manks law has regarded females; for, at the husband's decease, one moiety of the personal estate with which he died possessed becomes the property of the widow, subject to the debts owing by the deceased; and the wife may, in the lifetime of her husband, give by will a moiety of his purchased lands and personal estate to any issue

* Appendix, Marriage Act.

of her body, even those by a former husband, although the property was solely acquired by the second husband; but should the wife die before her husband without issue, the personal property remains wholly with the husband; and in case she leaves children, they, at the age of fourteen, are entitled to, and may sue for their respective shares of the personality. These relative rights may, notwithstanding, be altered or annihilated by any settlement or agreement in writing which may be made by the parties, either before or after marriage.

The husband is not only subject to debts contracted by his wife before marriage, but also to debts contracted by her for necessaries after the marriage, except she elopes from him, or has a separate maintenance, and then he is not chargeable. But if the husband without cause discards his wife, he will be liable to pay for necessaries provided for her; for, by the moral and positive laws of all civilized countries, he is bound to maintain her.

As to crimes and misdemeanors, if the husband commits a felony, by which his part of the personal goods is forfeited to the lord, yet the wife shall not forfeit her part thereof, and vice versa if the wife commits felony; although in the latter case the husband becomes accessory by receiving his guilty wife, in consequence of which rigorous law, he is equally liable to all the penal consequences, unless he adopts the alternative of discarding her.

The next great domestic relation to be mentioned is that of parent and child. In the Isle of Man children arrive at the age of majority

when they have completed fourteen years, so far as relates to personal property, to the póssession of which they are then entitled; and at this period the legal power of the parent or guardian ceases (except with regard to marriage), and the child may dispose of himself and his effects at pleasure, and may sue for assets in the ecclesiastical court; at this age he may also be sued for any debts contracted by him; but he must attain the age of twenty-one years before he is entitled to the possession of real property, or can recover the same by suit in the common law courts.

By an ordinance of 1585, "The deemsters, with the advice of the Twenty-four Keys, give for law, that it is not lawful for any overseer (or guardian) to sell the cottage or farm-ground of any infant for any longer term than during his minority, that is to say, until he be fourteen years old, except in case of extremity, that is, when there are no other goods left to pay debts, or bring up the children, and that all other friends refuse to bring them up. In this case it is lawful for the overseer to set or sell at his pleasure, and not otherwise,"

With respect to a guardian, he has a complete interest and authority in the estate of the ward during the continuance of his power and trust; he therefore may receive the rents and profits for the heir's use, and may lease during the minority, and bring an action of trespass in his own name,

By the Manks law a parent may by will appoint a guardian for the child during its mino

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