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quisite respecting territorial property; but by the statute of 1777, no nuncupative will shall be valid that is not proved by the oaths of two witnesses, and that the testamentary words, or the substance thereof, be committed to writing within ten days after the making and publishing of the nuncupative will. Regarding the rights of husband and wife to freeholds or quarter-lands of inheritance; by the common law of the island, if a woman marries a man who is seized of a freehold of inheritance, and survives her husband, she shall be entitled to one moiety of the estate, dum sola et casta vixerit; and by act of Tynwald*, she is entitled to a moiety of the husband's purchased lands absolutely, in case she survives him, and may dispose of this moiety, even in his lifetime, to such of her children as she shall think proper, or to her husband, but to no other person; but this right of dower may be barred by settlement before marriage, and by joining in any sale or mortgage during marriage. And in case a man marries an heiress, and survives, he shall be entitled to one moiety of the estate acquired by descent, so long as he remains a widower, and to a moiety of his wife's land, acquired by purchase, absolutely; and he is solely entitled to the receipt of the rents and profits during the coverture. It is further provided by the common law, that an heiress so married hath no power to sell or lease her estate, without being joined in the act by her husband'; and, in like manner, a husband cam

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* A. T. 1777.

not sell or make a perfect lease of his estate, without the consent of his wife, so as to prejudice her right in case of survivorship. And should a man marry a second wife, having issue by the first, the second wife shall enjoy, after his decease, only one fourth part of his estate of inheritance during her widowhood ; but if there is no issue living by the first wife, the second shall be entitled to a moiety.

Under this head of tenures, it may be observed, that as the Manks have for ages been adjudged to owe allegiance to the Crown of England, they were, even before the revesting act, capable of inheriting lands in any part of his Majesty's dominions.

With respect to the commons and wastelands of the island, which are the property of the Duke of Atholl, and are of very considerable extent, when any part of them are granted to a tenant, it is done in the following manner: Upon application to the lord, or his seneschal, for a parcel of the commons, or waste-grounds, he may, as a matter of favour, grant a license in the name of the person so applying, allowing him to enclose, with a proviso in the license, requiring the great inquest of the sheading or district, where the common is situated, to view and sanction the enclosure, in case there shall be no legal impediments, and certify the length and breadth thereof. With this authority, the inquest are convened to the premises; and upon view and admeasurement of the land, it is their duty to certify on the back of the license, the quantity, and, if in no respect prejudicial to the public in any

highway, water-course, or turbary, their approbation of its being enclosed and rented.

This license, with the inquest's return, are lodged upon record, and then the party applies to the seneschal, to settle a rent thereon; which being done, and certified on the back of the license, it is carried to the seneschal's office, who enters the tenant's name, the premises, and the rent, in the court rolls; all of which being executed, an absolute estate of inheritance in the premises is created to the

tenant.

OF THE MANKS PENAL LAWS.

SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, in his invaluable commentaries on the laws of England, informs us, that, "in the Isle of Man, to take away a horse, or an ox, was no felony, but a trespass, because of the difficulty in that little territory to conceal them or carry them off; but to steal a pig or a fowl, which is easily done, was a capital misdemeanour, and the offender punished with death."

With the greatest deference and respect for the conclusion drawn by the learned commentator, from the Manks law, as here quoted, it may be reasonably presumed, with reference to the preamble of the act of Tynwald 1629, that, previous to the restraining act of 1736, the deemsters and jury had, by the ancient breast or common law, ample powers to convict capitally, for stealing an horse or an ox; but be this as it may, the laxity and contracted state of the penal code of this island, in general, may be accounted for, from the reason stated by the learned commentator; and the cause assigned by him applies also to the difficulty of egress, or concealment from justice of any offender against the laws. These considerations, added to the ancient, simple, and limited state of society, together with the great and unparalleled power vested in the deemsters, by the breast or traditional com

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mon law, originating with the Druids*, and which comprised every case that might rationally be anticipated, in the narrow and circumscribed intercourse then subsisting among the members of the community, sufficiently account for the very few penal statutes which constitute here a capital crime, when compared with the various classes of offences, punishable by the statute laws of England with death. But owing to the great influx of strangers into the island of late years, the conséquent, enlarged state of society, with the commercial and other important relations incident thereto, new cases and crimes are evolved and multiplied, for which no provision is made by the scanty code of laws now in force. yava

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In this alarming laxation of penal jurispru dence, and considering that practical wisdom and justice are virtues and excellencies of all times and of all places, the writer, with great deference to the constituted authorities, hum→ bly presumes to intimate, that a code, not breathing too much the spirit of Draco†, but mildly approximating to the wisest penal laws, where crimes are accurately defined, and penalties never uncertain, and compatible with local circumstances and habits, should be forthwith attended to by the Legislature. That this most important subject is in contemplation, and that it will speedily be matured and acted

* The ancient Irish Brehon law, so styled from the Irish name of Judges, who were denominated Brehons, is described to have been a rule of right unwritten, but delivered by tradition from one to another.---Edmund Spencer's State of Ireland, p. 1513. + Let there be no Rubricks of blood, &c.---Lord Bacon.

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