Tonnage and Poundage

Tonnage and Poundage, certain duties on wine and other merchandise, which began to be levied in England in the reign of Edward II. They were at first granted to the crown by the vote of parliament for a limited number of years, and renewed on their expiry. The object of these imposts was said to be that the king might have ready money in case of a sudden emergency demanding it for the defence of the realm and the guarding of the sea. Originally fluctuating in amount, tonnage (more correctly tunnage) and poundage came to be fixed at 3s. on every tun of wine, and 5 per cent. on all goods imported. In the reign of Henry V. they were first conferred on the king for life; and the same course being followed with his successors, the sovereign began gradually to consider them as his proper right and inheritance, and the vote of parliament as but a formality expressive of the popular recognition of his prerogative. Though these duties were not voted to Henry VIII. until the 6th year of his reign, he, notwithstanding, levied them from the date of his accession. It was, in fact, usual to levy these duties during the period intervening between a sovereign's accession and his first parliament, and this was done by Charles I., as by his predecessors. The Commons, however, in Charles's first parliament accorded these imposts not for life, but for a year only; and the House of Lords objecting to this departure from previous usages, and rejecting the bill, it was attempted to levy tonnage and poundage by the royal authority alone, a proceeding which repeatedly roused the opposition of the Commons. Charles was in 1641 induced to renounce the power of levying these or any other imposts without parliamentary sanction. Charles II. and James II. obtained grants of tonnage and poundage for life, but William III. only for limited periods; and by three statutes of Anne and George I. these imposts were made perpetual, and mortgaged for the public debt. The Customs Consolidation Act in 1787 swept away tonnage and poundage, and similar charges, and substituted a new and single duty on each article. See CUSTOMS DUTIES.