Cornwall in United Kingdom
Cornwall, the south-westernmost county of England, bounded N. and N.W. by the Atlantic Ocean, E. by Devonshire, and S. and S.W. by the English Channel.
Historical Legal Issues
The tin of Cornwall has been known and worked from a period anterior to certain history. There is no direct proof that the Phoenician traders came to Cornwall for tin; though it has been sought to identify the Cassiterides (q.v.) or Tin Islands with the county or the Scilly Isles. By ancient charters the “tinners” were exempt from all jurisdiction (save in cases affecting land, life and limb) other than that of the Stannary Courts, and peculiar laws were enacted in the Stannary parliaments (see Stannaries). For many centuries a tax on the tin, after smelting, was paid to the earls and dukes of Cornwall. The smelted blocks were carried to certain towns to be coined, that is, stamped with the duchy seal before they could be sold. By an act of 1838 the dues payable on the coinage of tin were abolished, and a compensation was awarded to the duchy instead of them.
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica (1911)
Resources
Further Reading
W. Bottrell, Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall (Penzance, 1870-1873); J. H. Collins, Handbook to the Mineralogy of Cornwall and Devon (Truro, 1871); W. C. Borlase, Naenia Cornubiae (1872); Early Christianity in Cornwall (London, 1893); J. Bannister, Glossary of Cornish Names (London, 1878); W. P. Courtney, Parliamentary Representation of Cornwall to 1832 (London, 1889)