committing waſte; and the uſual rent muſt be reſerved, or, where there has uſually been no rent, one third of the clear yearly value[1]. The misfortune is, that this act was made too late, after almoſt every valuable poſſeſſion of the crown had been granted away for ever, or elſe upon very long leaſes; but may be of benefit to poſterity, when thoſe leaſes come to expire.
VI. Hither might have been referred the advantages which were uſed to ariſe to the king from the profits of his military tenures, to which moſt lands in the kingdom were ſubject, till the ſtatute 12 Car. II. c. 24. which in great meaſure aboliſhed them all: the explication of the nature of which tenures muſt be referred to the ſecond book of theſe commentaries. Hither alſo might have been referred the profitable prerogative of purveyance and pre-emption: which was a right enjoyed by the crown of buying up proviſions and other neceſſaries, by the intervention of the king's purveyors, for the uſe of his royal houſhold, at an appraiſed valuation, in preference to all others, and even without conſent of the owner; and alſo of forcibly impreſſing the carriages and horſes of the ſubject, to do the king's buſineſs on the public roads, in the conveyance of timber, baggage, and the like, however inconvenient to the proprietor, upon paying him a ſettled price. A prerogative, which prevailed pretty generally throughout Europe, during the ſcarcity of gold and ſilver, and the high valuation of money conſequential thereupon. In thoſe early times the king's houſhold (as well as thoſe of inferior lords) were ſupported by ſpecific renders of corn, and other victuals, from the tenants of the reſpective demeſnes; and there was alſo a continual market kept at the palace gate to furniſh viands for the royal uſe[2]. And this anſwered all purpoſes, in thoſe ages of ſimplicity, ſo long as the king's court continued in any certain place. But when it removed from one part of the kingdom to another (as was formerly very frequently done) it was found ne-
