166 APPENDIX 



E. Agricultural Rents in Modern Times 



The variation of agricultural rents in England in modern times 

 is a matter on which contemporary writers have from time to 

 time made comments and estimates, from which it is possible 

 to draw some general conclusions. In 1790, los. to 125. an acre 

 appears to have been an ordinary rent ; then a rise began which 

 continued until 1812, when the average may have been as high 

 as 505. an acre. The rise was followed by an almost equally 

 rapid drop, until in 1830 the average was probably as low as 2os. 

 The tide then turned again, and rents went up steadily until 

 1879, when the average was about 355. Then followed a drop of 

 about 30 per cent., and by the close of the century the 35$. an 

 acre had fallen to 255. Since then there has been very little 

 change, though there was a definite tendency for rents to rise 

 during the years that immediately preceded the war. 



Students must use these figures with discretion, for they have 

 to be considered in relation, not only to the character of the 

 buildings and the capital sunk by landlord or tenant in the land, 

 but also with reference to the liability for rates, taxes and tithe. 

 It must be remembered, for example, that whilst a century ago 

 the tenant provided tithe and paid heavy rates and taxes, at the 

 present time the landlord pays the tithe, the rates are reduced 

 under the provisions of the Agricultural Rates Act (see below, 

 p. 176), whilst the tenant is usually free from any liability for 

 income tax. 



PART II 



ACTS OF PAKLIAMENT AND A ROYAL ORDINANCE REFERRED TO IN 

 THE TEXT, AND SOME OTHER SELECTED STATUTES, WITH 

 SOME NOTES THEREON. 



THE STATUTES AT LARGE, from Magna Carta onwards, 

 edited by Danby Pickering, were published in book form in 1762; 

 supplementary volumes continued the collection of statutes until 

 1807. Subsequently the statutes have been published officially. 



In a few cases, where authorities attribute different years of the 

 calendar to a statute, both dates are given. 



The quotations from statutes given in the text are sometimes 

 abbreviated* 



