Book IV. LETTING FARMS. 697 



example, and to make known to the whole that their conduct is observed, and distinc- 

 tions made between good and bad managers. 



4306. Edatcs, like men, have their good and bad characters. No skilful farmer who 

 has a capital to lose, will take up his residence on an estate of known bad character. 

 On the contrary, when once an estate has acquired the character of good faith and 

 proper treatment of its tenantry, men of money and spirit will ever be anxious there to 

 gain a footing. Beside, the character of an estate will ever involve that of its possessor. 

 And, setting income at nought, it surely behoves a man of property to pay some atten- 

 tion to the character of his estates. For what can well add more to the permanent re- 

 spectability of a family of rank or fortune than having its estates occupied by a wealthy 

 and respectable tenantry ? 



4307. In a "tote of civilised society and property/, one of the great arts of life is to teach 

 character and interest to go hand in hand, and on ordinary occasions to endeavor to turn 

 every incident, as it fortuitously occurs, to their mutual advantage. ]f a tenant of 

 capital and an improving spirit be found upon an estate, give him due encouragement, 

 for the purposes already explained. On the contrary, if another is found to possess re- 

 fractory habits, to swerve from his engagements, or to injure the lands in his occupation, 

 it is but common prudence to take the first legal and fair' opportunity of dismissing 

 him, and supplying his place with another who is better qualified to fill it ; not more 

 with a view of rescuing his particular farm from further injury, and of making an 

 example of him, in terror to others of similar habits, than to preserve and heighten the 

 character of the estate 



4308. These remarks mat/ be considered as applicable chieflij to small tenants, or such 

 as from ignorance and want of leases may be considered as in a state of bondage. It 

 ought never to be in the power of a landlord to make ** an example of a tenant in terror 

 to others;" it is enough if this power be left to the laws. A tenant who rents a farm 

 on certain conditions, and fulfils them, is, in point of obligation, on an equality with his 

 landlord ; neither is obliged to the other : and while the one does not require tlipse acts 

 of kindness and lil)erality which Marshal inculcates, the other is not entitled to that 

 submission and slavish deference so common among tenants at will, and indeed most 

 others in England. It is justly observed by Brown ( Treat, on Rur. AJf. ), that the moral 

 excitement, or degree of encouragement given to the tenant for improving the ground 

 put under his occupation, is regulated entirely by the terms or conditions of the lease 

 under which he holds possession. If the conditions be liberal and judicious, and accom- 

 modated to the soil and situation of the land thereby demised to the tenant, all that is 

 obligatory upon the proprietor is faithfully discharged. But when matters are 

 otherwise, when the tenant possesses under a short lease, when the covenants or obli- 

 gations are severe in the first instance, and ultimately of little avail towards for- 

 warding improvement ; it may reasonably be inferred that the connection is improperly 

 constituted, and that little benefit will thence follow either to the public or to the parties 

 concerned. 



SuBsficT. 2. On the Business of letting Farms. 



4309. There are three methods of letting a farm : putting it up to public auction, 

 and taking the highest bidder for a tenant ; receiving written proposals, and accepting 

 the highest oflEer, and asking more rent for it than it is worth : haggling with differ- 

 ent chapmen, and closing with him who promises to give the most money, without 

 regard to his eligibility as a tenant. After a variety of obvious remarks, Marshal 

 concludes, that "seeing in every situation, there is at all times a fair rental value, or 

 market price of lands, as of their products, tliere appears to be only one rational, and 

 eventually profitable method of letting a farm ; and this is to fix the rent, and choose the 

 tenant. In the choice of a tenant every body knows the requisite qualifications to be, 

 capital, skill, industry, and character. The respective advantages of these qualities are 

 amply developed in The Treatise on Landed Properti/. 



SuBSECT. 3. Of the different Species of Tenancy. 



4310. The different holdings in use in Britain, are at will, from year to year, for a 

 term of years, or for a life or lives. 



4311. The tenant holding at ivill, or until the customary notice be given by either 

 party to the other, is without any legal contract, or written agreement ; the only tie be- 

 tween the owner and the occupier being the custom of the estate, or of the country in 

 which it lies, and the common law of the land. This may be considered as the simple 

 Iiolding which succeeded the feudal or copyhold tenure j but which is now fast going 

 into disuse. 



4312. Jlolding from year to year, imder a written agreement, with specified covenants, 

 is a more modern usage, and becoming more and moi'e prevalent in some parts of 

 England, and among small tenants, even where leases for a term of years were formerly 

 granted, 



