RELATIONS BETWEEN LANDLORDS AND TENANTS 345 



Tenancy from year to year is the rule in England to-day, 

 and no question is raised as to the security of the landlord or of 

 the tenant. Either party may bring the tenancy to a close at the 

 expiration of any year, by giving proper notice. Under the 

 act, twelve months' notice is required, but by special agreement 

 between landlord and tenant the time may be changed to six 

 months. 1 



Written contracts are generally used, but the leading agri- 

 culturists of the country agree that such contracts should contain 

 few restrictions upon the methods of farming, except that the 

 farm shall be operated in accordance with the rules of good 

 husbandry. Many of the written agreements now in use would, 

 if strictly enforced, bind the tenants hand and foot ; but as a 

 matter of fact many of these covenants are recognized to be 

 obsolete and others are " winked at " by the landlords. A 

 study of the written agreements nominally in force at the present 

 time would, in themselves, give a very erroneous idea of the 

 actual relations between landlords and tenants. 



The farmers and the landlords of England have quite gen- 

 erally come to recognize that liberty and honesty are essential 

 to success in agriculture. The writer gradually gained the 

 impression by coming in personal contact with farmers and land- 

 lords, or more often the agents of the latter, that accompanying 

 the gradual perfecting of the Agricultural Holdings Act, there 

 has been the growth of a sense of justice in the minds of both 

 the landlords and the tenants. This sense of justice is all the 

 more effective because it is accompanied by the belief that in 

 farm management, whatever is beneficial to the farmer is like- 

 wise advantageous to the landlord. 



The English method of regulating the relations between 

 landlord and tenant is successful throughout Great Britain. 

 The history of land tenure in Scotland would prove very inter- 

 esting and helpful. Leases of long duration, most commonly 

 for nineteen or for twenty-one years, have been in general use 



1 The Agricultural Holdings Act as now in force may be found in convenient form 

 in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, third series, Vol. XI, 

 Part III, 1900. 



