DE NON DECIMANDO

de non decimando (dee non des-<<schwa>>-man-doh), n.[Law Latin “of not paying tithes”]

Eccles. law. A claim for release from paying a tithe. — Also termed modus de non decimando.

“A prescription de non decimando is a claim to be entirely discharged of tithes, and to pay no

compensation in lieu of them. Thus the king by his prerogative is discharged from all tithes. So a

vicar  shall  pay  no  tithes  to  the  rector,  nor  the  rector  to  the  vicar  ….  But  these  privileges  are

personal to both the king and the clergy; for their tenant or lessee shall pay tithes …. And from this

original have sprung all the lands, which, being in lay hands, do at present claim to be tithe-free:

for, if a man can show his lands to have been such abbey lands, and also immemorially discharged

of  tithes  …  this  is  now  a  good  prescription,  de  non  decimando.  But  he  must  show  both  these

requisites  for  abbey  lands,  without  a  special  ground  of  discharge,  are  not  discharged  of  course;

neither will any prescription de non decimando avail in total discharge of tithes, unless it relates to

such abbey lands.” 2 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 31–32 (1766). [Blacks Law 8th]