RELATIONS BETWEEN LANDLORDS AND TENANTS 327 



John Tuke, who for many reasons favored the letting of land 

 from year to year, says in his report on the North Riding of 

 Yorkshire : " Experience, nevertheless, teaches us, that under 

 some landlords, especially those in straitened circumstances, 

 ... or where considerable improvements are to be made at the 

 expense of the tenants, it is more advisable to be under greater 

 certainty, though attended with greater rent." 1 The desir- 

 ability of increasing the number of twenty-one-year leases in 

 the West Riding of Yorkshire was stated very forcibly by 

 Robert Brown, who believed that without long-term leases 

 improvements could not be made. 2 In Derbyshire improve- 

 ments were thought to be much retarded because the tenants 

 lacked the security of long-term leases. 3 In Lincolnshire, where 

 leases for a term of years were very rare, it was generally be- 

 lieved that, while improvements had been carried forward 

 fairly well, long-term leases would result in much greater im- 

 provement. 4 In Leicestershire, the yeomen farmers were 

 improving their lands, but the tenant farmers were slow to 

 make improvements owing to the lack of long-term leases. It 

 was said that while in many cases the present landlords could 

 be trusted by the farmers, the estates might change hands at 

 any time and that a new lord usually meant a different ordering 

 of affairs. The phrase, " New lords, new laws," was current 

 in Leicestershire. 5 In 1784 William Marshall was of the 

 opinion that, in the midland counties, it was of little importance 

 whether land was held under a lease for a term of years, or from 

 year to year, such was the confidence of the tenantry in 

 the landlords. An instance is given of a young man who held 

 a large farm from year to year, and who proceeded to improve 

 the land in various ways. Five years later the following note 

 was added to the earlier statement : ' " Unfortunately for the 

 tenant, in this instance, his farm is now on sale, and the very 

 expensive improvements which he has been making, are, prob- 

 ably, in a great measure sunk." * 



* " Survey," p. 55. Ibid., p. 30. Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 638. 

 *Ibid.,p.S7. B Ibid., p. 341. 



"Rural Economy of the Midland Counties," Vol. II, p. 52. 



