of
the then reigning monarch: till at length the piety of queen Anne
restored to the church what had been thus indirectly taken from it.
This she did, not by remitting the tenths and first-fruits entirely;
but, in a spirit of the truest equity, by applying these superfluities
of the larger benefices to make up the deficiences of the smaller. And
to this end she granted her royal charter, which was confirmed by the
statute 2 Ann. c. 11. whereby all the revenue of first-fruits and
tenths is vested in trustees for ever, to form a perpetual fund for
the augmentation of poor livings. This is usually called queen Anne's
bounty; which has been still farther regulated by subsequent statutes,
too numerous here to recite.

V. THE next branch of the king's ordinary revenue (which, as well as
the subsequent branches, is of a lay or temporal nature) consists in
the rents and profits of the demesne lands of the crown. These demesne
lands, _terrae dominicales regis_, being either the share reserved to
the crown at the original distribution of landed property, or such as
came to it afterwards by forfeitures or other means, were antiently
very large and extensive; comprizing divers manors, honors, and
lordships; the tenants of which had very peculiar privileges, as will
be shewn in the second book of these commentaries, when we speak of
the tenure in antient demesne. At present they are contracted within a
very narrow compass, having been almost entirely granted away to
private subjects. This has occasioned the parliament frequently to
interpose; and, particularly, after king William III had greatly
impoverished the crown, an act passed[o], whereby all future grants or
leases from the crown for any longer term than thirty one years or
three lives are declared to be void; except with regard to houses,
which may be granted for fifty years. And no reversionary lease can be
made, so as to exceed, together with the estate in being, the same
term of three lives or thirty one years: that is, where there is a
subsisting lease, of which there are twenty years still to come, the
king cannot grant a future interest, to commence after the expiration
of the former, for any longer term than eleven years. The tenant must
also be made liable to be punished for committing waste; and the
usual rent must be reserved, or, where there has usually been no rent,
one third of the clear yearly value[p]. The misfortune is, that this
act was made too late, after