52 Tenure, whether in Property or on Lease. 



of knowledge, enterprise, and capital, to devote their at* 

 tention to the art of husbandry. This can be expected 

 only where leases are granted. These furnish the most be- 

 neficial species of encouragement to agricultural improve- 

 ment ; indeed, if any great exertions are necessary, they are 

 not to be attempted without that security ( l77 ). Where a 

 proprietor, therefore, does not incline to occupy his land 

 himself, he naturally resolves to surrender the temporary 

 possession of it to others, under such conditions as may be 

 mutually advantageous. 



A lease, indeed, is properly a contract, founded on equi- 

 table principles, between two men for their mutual advan- 

 tage. The one possesses an absolute right in the property 

 of a certain tract of land and its produce, the other purchases 

 the temporary privilege of appropriating the produce of that 

 land to himself, at a certain stipulated price. The proprie- 

 tor of an estate, may thus be considered as in the possession 

 of a certain fixed capital in land, which is capable of pro- 

 ducing, when duly cultivated, a certain annual value. The 

 cultivator of the soil, on the other hand, possesses a move- 

 able capital, consisting of the necessary funds for stocking a 

 farm, his knowledge in the art of agriculture, and his indus- 

 try. Thus situated, the parties, like other men who wish 

 to enter into a joint concern, are induced, by the prospect 

 of mutual advantage, to agree to unite their capitals, for the 

 purpose of assisting nature in producing human subsistence ; 

 and their respective interests, having been mutually con- 

 sidered, their agreement constitutes the terms, or specific 

 articles of the lease. On this plain principle depends the 

 connexion between landlord and tenant. The capital in- 

 vested by the cultivator, the rent he pays, his skill and la- 

 bour, the contingencies, and chance of loss that may arise, from 

 the inclemency of the seasons, must all be compensated, by the 

 value of the produce of the soil. Where these principles 

 are fully understood and acted upon, both proprietor and 

 tenant will be placed in the most favourable situation, of 

 which the nature of the transaction admits ; but where 

 they are departed from, the interest of the one, or of the 

 other, or perhaps of both, must suffer, in proportion to the 

 degree of aberration from that equitable line, which so dis- 

 tinctly marks their respective rights and obligations (* 78 ). 



In regard to the manner of settling a lease ; the period 

 of entry, and the regulations therewith connected ; the 

 duration of leases ; and the covenants to be inserted .in 

 them, as these particulars require more detail than is con- 



