en, why the policy of the law hath vested this custody in
the king; because, as the successor is not known, the lands and
possessions of the see would be liable to spoil and devastation, if no
one had a property therein. Therefore the law has given the king, not
the temporalties themselves, but the _custody_ of the temporalties,
till such time as a successor is appointed; with power of taking to
himself all the intermediate profits, without any account to the
successor; and with the right of presenting (which the crown very
frequently exercises) to such benefices and other preferments as fall
within the time of vacation[b]. This revenue is of so high a nature,
that it could not be granted out to a subject, before, or even after,
it accrued: but now by the statute 14 Edw. III. st. 4. c. 4 & 5. the
king may, after the vacancy, lease the temporalties to the dean and
chapter; saving to himself all advowsons, escheats, and the like. Our
antient kings, and particularly William Rufus, were not only
remarkable for keeping the bishopricks a long time vacant, for the
sake of enjoying the temporalties, but also committed horrible waste
on the woods and other parts of the estate; and, to crown all, would
never, when the see was filled up, restore to the bishop his
temporalties again, unless he purchased them at an exorbitant price.
To remedy which, king Henry the first[c] granted a charter at the
beginning of his reign, promising neither to sell, nor let to farm,
nor take any thing from, the domains of the church, till the successor
was installed. And it was made one of the articles of the great
charter[d], that no waste should be committed in the temporalties of
bishopricks, neither should the custody of them be sold. The same is
ordained by the statute of Westminster the first[e]; and the statute
14 Edw. III. st. 4. c. 4. (which permits, as we have seen, a lease to
the dean and chapter) is still more explicit in prohibiting the other
exactions. It was also a frequent abuse, that the king would for
trifling, or no causes, seise the temporalties of bishops, even during
their lives, into his own hands: but this is guarded against by
statute 1 Edw. III. st. 2. c. 2.

[Footnote a: 2 Inst. 15.]

[Footnote b: Stat. 17 Edw. II. c. 14. F.N.B. 32.]

[Footnote c: Matth. Paris.]

[Footnote d: 9 Hen. III. c. 5.]

[Footnote e: 3 Edw. I. c. 21.]

THIS revenue of the king, which was formerly very considerable, is now
by a customary indul