TEN 



191 



TEN 



'. are said to be construed by tnc courts 

 favourably for the landlord, but the tenant is not bound 

 to counteract the natural consequences of the wear of time 

 and of the elements. 



In agricultural tenancies the lease itself generally de- 

 termines the mode in which the farm is to be treated, and 

 the meaning of the expressions used will be ascertained by 

 the construction put upon them by persons familiar with 

 husbandry. Unless also the lease expressly or impliedly 

 excludes the operation of the custom of the country, the 

 tenant is bound to conform to it. The custom of the 

 country means the general practice employed in neigh- 

 bouring farms of a similar description, with reference to 

 rotation of crops, keeping up fences, and other like mat- 

 of farms it is often the practice to protect 

 the landlord against certain acts, of the tenant, such as 

 .liinir up meadow land, &c., by introducing certain 

 -ions into the lease. These provisions may operate 

 according to the phraseology used, either to assign a 

 penalty or to determine the liquidated damages agreed 

 to be paid for the act done. It is often a matter 

 of great importance and of some nicety to determine 

 under which class the provisions fall. If under the 

 first, the landlord is not entitled to the whole penalty 

 upon the act being done, but he can only recover in an 

 action the amount of the actual damage which has ac- 

 crued. If under "the second, he is entitled to the whole 

 amount of the damages agreed on. A covenant by a 

 tenant not to plough up meadow under a penalty of 5/. 

 for every acre ploughed, is an instance of the first class : 

 a covenant to pay nl. rent 1'or every acre of meadow 

 ploughed up, is of the second class. The right to timber 

 and timber-like trees belongs to the landlord ; loppings 

 of pollards and bushes, to the tenant. Different definitions 

 prevail in different counties of timber and timber-like 

 trees, and various customs prevail as to what amount of 

 wood the tenant may be allowed to employ Barter the 

 landlord has been called on to select il for the puipc-rs 

 of the farm. No tenant, unless he employs the land as a 

 nurseryman or gardener, can remove any kind of shrub 

 from tlie soil, not even a row of garden box, though planted 

 by himself. [WASTE.] Neither can a tenant remove lix- 

 though put down by himself. A fixture is a chattel 

 which is itself let into the soil, or united to some other 

 which is let in. There are some exceptions to this rule in 

 favour of fixtures used for the purpose of trade or agri- 

 culture, or merely ornamental purposes, where the removal 

 will cause little or no damage. (Amos and Feraid, On 

 Fixtures.) 



The tenant in occupation of the premises is, in the first 

 instance, liable for all taxes and rates of every description 

 due in respect of the premises. The party therefore who 

 is authorised to collect them may proceed against the 

 tenant in occupation to recover them. It is generally a 

 matter m agreement between the landlord and tenant that 

 the tenant shall pay all rates and taxes except the land 

 tax. If however the landlord has undertaken to pny the 

 tenant the rates and taxes, and fails to do so, the tenant 

 may deduct, the amount from his rent, or bring an action 

 to recover it; but this should be done during the current 

 year, and if the tenant allows a considerable time to elapse 

 without claiming a deduction or bringing an action, he 

 will be held to have waived his claim to recover them 

 from the landlord. 



Where a fixed rent has been agreed upon, has become 



due, and is neither paid nor tendered, the landlord, under 



the exceptions mentioned hereafter, lias a right t 



growing crops, any kind of stock, goods, or chattels, upon 



the premises, or pasturing any common enjoyed in right of 



the j . hether such things are the actual propcity 



of the tenant or not; and if the rent remain, unpaid, he 



may sell them. The exceptions are: Things in actual 



.-clothes then being worn, or a horse on which a 



in is actually riding. The reason given tor these ex- 



ons is that the seizure of goods so circmiish. 



i Uad 1o a breach of the peace. Things sent to a 



tradesman lor t; n of being worked up by him ; 



goods sent by a principal to his factor for sale,, and the 



onveying them ; the (roods and cattle 



brio ;,(. an inn ; Luoil.s that are already in 



the en-tody ol 1 the law. vli a- i ncids in a bailiff's hands 



ition. fscc. The tools. Sec. of a man's 



plough, Sec., are not liable to distress 



if there are other goods sufficient in value upon the 

 premises. [DISTRESS.] 



The contract of letting may cease otherwise than by the 

 mere lapse of time. By 29 Ch. II., c. 3, the Statute of 

 Frauds, a surrender of a lease can only be by a deed or 

 note in writing, signed by the party surrendering or his 

 agent authorised in writing, or by act and operation of 

 law. 



The deed or note in writing must proceed upon mutual 

 agreement between the tenant in possession and his im- 

 mediate landlord, and, besides being signed, must be duly 

 stamped. A lease may cease to exist by act and operation 

 of law: 1, upon the acceptance by the tenant of anew 

 lease in writing for the same premises from the landlord, 

 the operation of which is to begin at some period during 

 the term for which the original lease was granted ; 2, in 

 the case of a yearly tenancy, where the landlord permits 

 the tenant to quit, and he does quit, and the landlord 

 accepts the possession ; 3, where the estate of the landlord 

 and tenant become united in the tenant, the tenancy 

 ceases to exist ; 4, by forfeiture. A forfeiture may arise 

 either by a breach by the tenant of one of those conditions 

 which are implied by or attached to the relation of land- 

 lord and tenant, as where a tenant disclaims or impugns 

 the title of his landlord by acknowledging, for instance, 

 tin; rieht of property to be vested in a stranger, or asserts 

 a claim to it himself, or by a breach of a condition which 

 is expressly introduced into the lease, the breach of which 

 is to be attended with a forfeiture of the tenancy, as a con- 

 dition to pay rent on a particular day, to cultivate in a 

 particular manner, Sic. To this head may be referred 

 provisoes in a lease for re-entry by the landlord on the 

 doing or failure to do certain acts by the tenant, such as 

 the commission of waste, the failure to repair, Sec. The 

 courts are said to be unfavourable to forfeitures ; therefore, 

 when the landlord has notice of an act of forfeiture, or an 

 act which entitles him to re-enter, lie must immediately 

 proceed in such a way as to show that he intends to avail 

 himself of his strict leccal right. If after the commission 

 of the act he does anything which amounts to a subsequent 

 recognition of the tenancy, as by the acceptance of rent 

 subsequently, due, he will be held to have waived his riuht 

 to insist upon the forfeiture. 



A yearly tenancy, where no period of notice is agreed 

 on, must be determined by a notice to quit at the expi- 

 ration of the current year, given six months previously. 

 If the period at which the current year expires is uncertain, 

 the notice should be to quit at the end of the year which 

 shall first occur after the expiration of six months from 

 the service of the notice. Where a fixed period of 111 

 is agreed on, what has been said as to the period will apply 

 to the period agreed on. Where different portions of tin- 

 premises ha\e been entered on at different times, tin- 

 entry upon the principal portion will, for the purposes of 

 quitting the premises, be considered as the entry upon 

 the whole ; and in case of a dispute at a trial which i 

 principal portion, the jury must determine. In the ' 

 of lodgings, the time, when less than a year, for which 

 they are taken, will be the time for which a notice is ne- 

 \ . Tims lodirings taken by the month or week 

 require a month's or week's notice. A notice to quit may 

 be waived by an acceptance of rent or by a distress for 

 rent due after the expiration of the notice. 



If by the default of the landlord the premises cannot, be 

 occupied beneficially, as where the landlord is bound to 

 repair, &.C., and does not, the tenant may quit without 

 notice. 



The notice to quit need not be in writing, though, from 

 the greater facility of proving it, a written notice is always 

 desirable. It should distinctly describe the premises, be 

 positive in its announcement of an intention to quit or 

 require possession, be signed by the party giving it, and 

 ser\ed personally upon the party to be aft'ected by it. 



If a tenant, alter having given notice to quit, continues 

 to occupy, he is liable to pay double rent. If he does so, 

 no fresh notice is necessary. If he continues to occupy 

 after (lie landlord has in veil him notice, he is liable to pay 

 double value for the premise's. 



At the expiration of the contract the tenant is bound to 

 deliver up possession of the premises; but if either by 

 special agreement or by the custom of the country the 

 tenant i., entitled to the crops still standing on the 'l;:nd, 

 and which are called away-going crops, he may enter for 



