33 



RIGHTS OE TENANT AND FREEHOLDEE. 



'•■ RianTs AND Wkonos: A Manual of House- 

 liolil Law," by Albany Fonblanque, just 

 published by Messrs. Routlcdge, claims our 

 notice, on account of the plain manner 

 ill wliicli it sets forth the respective rights 

 of tenant and freeholder as to the appur- 

 tenances of the household and the garden. 

 We are so often asked about the legality 

 of removing ti'ees, greenhouses, etc., that 

 wo have extracted from this able work a 

 chapter on the subject, wliich sets the ques- 

 tion at rest, so far as it can be set at rest on 

 individual authority. We recommend every 

 householder to become possessed of this 

 admirable work, which treats at length and 

 in the most familiar manner all the rights 

 of the subject, in the several relations of 

 husband and wife, parent and child, master, 

 apprentice, servant, ward, debtor and cre- 

 ditor, insurance, disposition of property, 

 and the rights of tenants and others in re- 

 gard to game. As respects gardeners and 

 gardens, the following needs no comment: — 

 Whatever is fixed to the freehold (that 

 is to say, to the soil or fabric of a building), 

 becomes a part of it, and is subject to the 

 same right of property as the land itself. 

 Whenever a tenant has permanently affixed 

 anything to the demised premises during 

 his term, he can never again sever it without 

 the consent of his landlord. By making it 

 a part of the freehold he has abandoned all 

 further right to it, and must keep it in 

 proper repaii', as though it were part of the 

 premises originally let to him. In order, 

 however, to bring this rule into operation, 

 the improvement or the addition in ques- 

 tion must be affixed to the freehold by being 

 sunk into the soil, or permanently attached 

 to the buildings upon it. Things that rest 

 upon the ground, or are only slightly 

 attached to walls, etc., may be removed. 

 Thus, even such large erections as barns, 

 granaries, slieds, mills, etc., if built upon 

 blocks or pillars, or that rest upon the 

 ground by their owu weight, are not fixtures, 

 and may be taken away by the tenant at 

 the end of his term, like any other move- 

 able. In the present state of the law it is 

 very difficult to say what things are fixtures 

 and what are not ; it all depends upon the 

 purpose for which they are intended, and 

 the manner in which they are erected or 

 fastened. To the general rule above stated 

 there are some exceptions, not founded, in- 

 deed, iipon any settled principles, but created 

 by the disposition of our judges to modify, 

 as far as was practicable to the exigencies 

 of modern life, this relic in the old feudal 

 law, and to remove some of the hardships 



its rigorous enforcement could not fail to 

 impose upon tenants. The exceptions em- 

 brace three classes of chattels, which I will 

 consider in this order : — 



1. Fixtures for the Purposes of Trade. 



2. Fixtures for Agricultural Furposes. 



3. Fixtures for Purposes of Ornament. 

 1. Fixtures for the Furposes of Trade. — ■ 



A tenant may remove anything that he has 

 fixed to the freehold (if the removal be not 

 contrary to any prevailing practice), when 

 the articles can be separated without causing 

 material injury to the estate, and where in 

 themselves they are chattels, or at least 

 have in substance that character, indepen- 

 dently of their union with the soil; in other 

 words, where they may be removed without 

 being entirely demolished, or losing their 

 essential character or value. Another test 

 of what is, or is not, a trade fixture, is 

 this : was it erected for the permanent and 

 substantial improvementof the dwelling, or 

 merely for a temporary piirpose, or the 

 more complete enjoyment and use of it as a 

 chattel ? Take, for example, the case of a 

 grocer, who throws a new front to his shop, 

 with plate-glass windows, and erects a 

 steam coffue-mill upon his premises. The 

 new front is let into the foundation of the 

 house, and cemented to the wall, the new 

 mill is fastened with screws to tlie beams 

 above, and bystanchions sunk into the stone 

 floor below, firmly secured by molten lead 

 being poured into the holes. The shop 

 front is fixed to the freehold; it cannot be 

 removed without demolition; it is ex-ected as 

 a permanent and substantial impi'ovement, 

 and as such it must remain. The steam 

 coftee-mill is also affixed to the freehold, but 

 it is there for the purposes of trade, and is at- 

 tached to the freehold merely to give it the 

 necessary stability. It is a chattel as it 

 stands, not a part of the premises, being only 

 fixed to them, that complete use of it 

 may be had. So, in like manner, cider- 

 mills, steam and water-engines in collieries, 

 stocking-knitting frames, cotton-spinning 

 mules, vats, salt-pans, soap-boilers, etc., 

 fixed and used for the purposes of trade, as 

 well as the houses and sheds erected over 

 them for their protection, are all deemed 

 tenants' trade fixtures, and may be re- 

 moved. If, however, the demised premisea 

 have been substantially and extensively 

 added to, if such things as lime, pottery, 

 and brick-kilns, wind or water-mills, work- 

 shops, store-houses, furnaces and flues of 

 smelting or glass-houses, stoves, and floors 

 of smelting-houses, etc., have been added, 

 although solelv for the purposes of trade 

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