NOVALI. — From the Middle Ages onward, this term was used to denote plots of land that were being brought into cultivation for the first time. Consequently, the term itself was also applied—and indeed primarily—to the tithes that had to be paid on such lands; hence the so-called *decimae novales*.
According to common law, these tithes were to be paid to the parish churches in which the lands were situated. However, Alexander III, in 1170, confirmed an ancient privilege granted by Adrian IV, by which certain religious orders were exempted from paying tithes on any land that they themselves cultivated or had cultivated at their own expense, and all religious were exempted from paying tithes on *novali* lands, provided they worked the lands themselves or paid for their cultivation (*X 3.30.10*).
The privilege was again confirmed by Gregory IX (*X 5.33.33*). Nevertheless, Innocent III, considering that even lands and forests left in their natural state and without particular cultivation brought significant revenue to the parishes in which they were located, and to prevent this income from ceasing when such lands were brought under cultivation, decreed that the exemption from payment of *novales* tithes should be limited to cases where the parish was already sufficiently wealthy or otherwise such that it would not suffer serious detriment from the exemption (*X 5.40.21*).
Subsequent interventions by the Holy See further clarified the rights and obligations of places or religious regarding *novali* lands; for example, Alexander IV in 1258 (*VI 3.13.2*) and Clement V in 1306 (*Clem. 3.8.1*).
In the following centuries, a gradual process—whether through direct concessions or the extension of privileges—led to the total exemption of all regular clergy from all kinds of *novales* tithes. With the decline of tithe law, the distinction between these and *novali* tithes also disappeared (see also *DECIME*).