bishop's lands by prescription), and except the members of the council, and the Twenty-four Keys, by ancient ordinance or prescription, and the proprietor of the barony of St Trinions, which also may imply a right of chase by prescription; and that no other persons have any legal right to pursue or kill game, much less to authorize or license another to do it. This power, both by the common and statute law, is vested in the Duke, in his different characters of lord, and his Majesty's governorin-chief. And of this opinion were the English attorney and solicitor-general, in their report on the Duke of Atholl's bill, in the year 1780, which is comprised in the following words:

"With respect to the game, it appears to us, all rights and privileges respecting the game, were intended to be reserved, and therefore it may be proper to declare the same by the bill; and that the right to grant licenses, or give permission to kill the game, belongs to the Duke of Atholl, or his seneschal or steward, and not to the governor, or lieutenant-governor of the isle."

In addition to this opinion, the commissioners of inquiry for the Isle of Man, say, 66 no doubt has been entertained of the lord's right in matters of game, prior to the revesting act, nor is it at all affected by that act,"

The act of Tynwald of 1763, which laid a tax on dogs, provides," that it shall not affect the lord's right and prerogative to the game of this isle, and the licensing of game-dogs, as formerly accustomed."

10

The statute of 1776, lays an annual tax of six shillings on dogs, used for coursing, pointing, setting, or shooting; of three shillings on dogs used for hunting; and of other dogs sixpence;-to be applied to the use of the high

ways.

game

It remains to observe on the subject of game, that although no man in the island, with the exceptions before mentioned, has authority to kill without the lord's license, yet no person whatever, except the Duke of Atholl, can pursue or kill game upon the estate of another, without committing a trespass, and consequently without subjecting himself to an action at law.

!

ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL LAWS.

THE Manks church was founded by Saint Patrick, in the year 444, and was indebted to Germanus, the first bishop of Man, and the three kingdoms, for the introduction of the liturgy of the Lateran, and for those principles and maxims of religious polity, which characterized the primitive churches of the west.Historians agree, that Germanus was succeeded by a series of bishops, who were most eminent for their singular piety and learning, and for the austerity of their lives and manners.

Upon the first Norwegian dynasty in the island, which was established near the end of the eleventh century, the bishoprick, under the metropolitan of Drontheim, united the titles of Sodor and Man, which form of title is continued to this day; notwithstanding, the jurisdiction, as Episcopus Sodorensis, has been discontinued ever since the island was conquered by the English; from which period to the present time, the kings and lords of Man have nominated their own bishops.

Sodor, according to Boethius, 'was a town adjoining the celebrated monastery and cathedral of the bishop of the isles, called Ilcolmkill, dedicated to our Saviour, from the Greek, Soter, afterwards corrupted to Sodor; and where so many of the Scotish, Irish, and Manks kings have been interred *. But, ac

Beatson's Pol. Index.

cording to Dr Macpherson, the title of the prelate has been mistaken; he says, that “ during the time the Norwegians were in possession of the Hebrides, they made a civil division of them into the northern, which they called Nordereys, from norder, north, and ey an island, while the Sudereys took in those that lay to the south of the promontory of Ardnamurchan: hence Sodor, or the Sodoreys, meant no more than that portion of the Hebrides annexed to the see of Man *."

It appears, by an extract of a record or bull of Pope Gregory, dated August the 30th 1231, (the island having been surrendered to the Pope by King Reginald, as before mentioned, in the year 1219) that he granted to the bishop "Holme, Sodor, or Pile, in which the cathedral church is situate, with all and singular the ecclesiastical appurtenances thereto belonging, together with one-third part of all the tithes within the isle."

The roll of the ancient Abbey of Rushen informs us, that Bishop Simon held a synod in the year 1239, in which thirteen canons were enacted, chiefly relating to the probate of wills, the rights of the clergy, tithes, &c. to which were added, by Galeoredinus (who had been appointed Bishop of Sodor and Man by Alexander King of Scotland) thirty-five canons.

In the year 1348, William Russel, after his consecration by Pope Clement the Sixth at Avignon, held a synod at Kirk-Michael, and added five articles to the former canons.

*The diocese of the Isle of Man was separated from the Hebrides in the time of Edward I.

Thomas, Earl of Derby, and King of Man and the Isles, in the year 1505, confirmed, by grant to Bishop Huan, great ecclesiastical privileges and estates, as appears by the instrument in the Appendix, extracted from Dug

dale's Monasticon.

In the year 1577, the learned John Merrick was sworn bishop of the isle: this prelate furnished Mr Camden with the account of the kings and bishops of Man, as contained in his Britannia, and which affords the most authentic data now in existence, since the destruction of the records.

The Bishop of Man, besides his spiritual jurisdiction, is sole baron in the isle under his Grace the Duke of Atholl, and is entitled to a seat, but not to a vote in the British House of Lords, not being an English baron, and because he holds his barony from a subject, and not under the crown. Should, however, the right of nomination, at any future period, be invested in the sovereign, then the bishop, it is presumed, would have a right to vote in the House of Lords, as a baron under the crown.

The King or Lord of Man was, in the ancient records, styled metropolitan and chief of the holy church; of course, no lapse could occur against him for not presenting.

When the bishoprick becomes vacant, the Duke of Atholl, as Lord of Man, nominates a successor, and presents him to his Majesty for his royal assent, and afterwards to the Archbishop of York for consecration. The bishop, as next in rank to the lord, has a seat in the courts of chancery and exchequer, and,