3 APPENDIX. 



And this contract may be entered into, ift, either by parol, that is, by verbal agreement ; 

 or, sdly, by deed, or other inftrument in writing. 



It is, however, neceffary to obferve, that a diftinction has been eftabliihed between thefe 

 two modes of contracting, by an act of parliament, moft generally known by the name of the 

 ftatute of frauds and perjuries : by which (29 Car. 2, c. 3.) it is enacted, that &quot; all leafes* 

 Dilates of freehold, or terms for years, of any uncertain interests, of, in, to, or out of, any 

 rnefluages, lands, tenements, &c. not put into writing, Jliall have the force and ejfeft of eftates 

 at will only, and JJiall not, either at law, or in equity, betaken to have any greater ejfeft ; ex 

 cept only leafes, not exceeding three years from the making, whereupon the rent referved, 

 fhall be at lead two-thirds of the improved value. 



id. TENANT BY PAROL OR VERBAL AGREEMENT.] A perfon holding under a contract of 

 this nature, is confidered as a tenant at will only, which tenant at will is defined to be, one 

 to whom another lets lands without limiting any certain or determinate eftate. Littleton, 

 fee. 68. 



And a parol or verbal agreement to leafe lands fora term exceeding three years, creates on 

 ly a tenancy at will, for the flatute of frauds is exprefs that fuch an agreement (hall only have 

 the effect of creating a tenancy at will. 4 Term Reports, 680. 



And all leafes for uncertain terms are prima facie leafes at will: but if there be a refervation 

 of an annual rent, as is now always the cafe, that turns them into leafes from year to year. 

 iW.Blacltftone, 117. 



Therefore, a parol demife for more than three years, at an annual rent, now operates as a 

 tenancy from year to year, the meaning of the ftatute of frauds being, that fuch an agreement 

 fhall not operate as a term: and what was confidered at the pafling of that act, as a tenancy at 

 -will, has fince been properly conftrued to endure as a tenancy from year to year. 8 Term 

 Reports, 3. 



So a general parol or verbal demife, at an annual rent, where the bulk of the farm is en- 

 clofed, and a fmall part in the open common fields, is only a leafe from year to year, and not 

 for fo long as the ufual round of husbandry extends : in this cafe it was contended, that as part 

 of the farm was open field land, and the term uncertain, it ought, for the benefit of agriculture, 

 to be confidered, according to the ufual round of the huibandry of the place, to be a holding 

 from three years to three years. But the court faid, that although a fpecial agreement of this 

 kind might be very prudent and reafonable, and would be good in law, yet all the cafes from 

 king Henry VI11. (when enclofures were little known) to the prefent time, determine fuch 

 takings, or holdings over, to be only leafes for one year: that where the courfe of husbandry 

 is not finished under four years, as in Berks, and other rich counties, a general parol 

 -taking, cannot be conftrued to be a leafe for four years confidently with the ftatute of frauds.* 

 2 W. Black ft one, 117. 



* The court faid, that it might be poflible, that circumftances may make it a leafe for a longer term, 

 as where the crop (fuch as liquorice, madder, or the like) does not come to perfection in lefs than two 

 years; but this cannot be regarded othenvife than as a mere extrajudicial obfervation j for if the foil, 

 and not the coming crop is rented, the flatute muft operate. 



