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]