Book I. VALUATION OF LANDED PROPERTY. 553 



collector of the district. This is the fundamental tenure, and the only other is leases 

 granted by such proprietors ; some of these leases are for ever, or on lives renewable 

 for ever on payment of a certain fine for the insertion of a new^ life when one drops, 

 or for leases of 999 years, and almost every variety of term vv^ith and without lives 

 between that and twenty-one years. There are no feudal tenures in Ireland j the only 

 abstract right being that of tithes and parochial or other taxes. (See JFakefielcfs 

 Account of Ireland' ) 



Chap. IL 

 Valuation of Landed Property. 



3408. When lands are valued with a view to sale or purchase, the tenure is the first sub- 

 ject of attention. The nature of the tenure often occasions some diflficulty in ascertaining 

 its value ; but by ascertaining the value of the fee-simple, or freehold tenure, the value 

 of inferior holdings may be found by known rules of calculation, the principal of which 

 we have already noticed. (3340. ) 



3409. The fee-simple value of lands is liable to fluctuation from general causes ; and is 

 likewise affected, and in much higher degree, by local circumstances. Lands of the 

 selfsame quality are of fivefold value, in one situation, comparatively with what they are 

 worth in another : not merely, though principally, on account of the rental value, or 

 the current price they will let for, to tenants, in different situations ; but through other 

 less permanent causes ; as the quantity of land at market, and the number and value 

 of purchasers, in a given district ; as well as the temporary spirit which prevails in it, 

 with respect to the possession of landed property, at the period of sale ; circumstances 

 that are worthy of attention, from a purchaser whose views are not confined to any 

 particular spot. 



3410. Tlw usual method of coming at the fee-simple value of land is to ascertain its fair 

 rental value, or price by the year, and to multiply this by the number of years' pur- 

 chase which the existing demand for land will bear, in the given situation, at the 

 time of sale. 



3411. The number of years'' purchase, or the ratio between the rent and the sale 

 value of lands, varies greatly, as from twenty to forty, twenty-five to thirty being the 

 more ordinai-y numbers. Thus, a parcel of land, whose fair rental value is one hundred 

 pounds, is, in common cases, worth from Jwo thousand five hundred to three thousand 

 pounds. 



3412. But the real rental value, which is the only fii-m groundwork to proceed upon, 

 whether in the purchase or the management of landed property, cannot easily be ob- 

 tained. Speaking generally of the lands of England, it is what very few men are able 

 to set down. It is true, that, in every district, and almost every township, there are men 

 who tolerably well know the rate at which the lands of their respective neighbourhoods 

 are usually let. But interchange them, reciprocally, into each other's districts, and their 

 errors would be egregious, for reasons already suggested. Nor can a mere provincialist, 

 especially in a district which is unenlightened by modern improvements, be aware of 

 the value, even of his own farm, under the best course of management of which it may 

 be capable : nor can he see, through the double veil of ignorance and prejudice, the 

 more permanent improvements that may be made upon it, so evidently as one who has 

 a more general knowledge of rural subjects, and is in the habit of detecting and pro- 

 secuting such improvements. Yet it very materially concerns an intending purchaser, in 

 these improving times, to know, before he make his last offer for an estate, whether it is 

 or is not capable of being improved beyond its existing value ; and what, if any, is the 

 probable amount of improvement : for he is else liable to lose a valuable purchase, 

 through his being out-bidden by a better-informed candidate. These facts being evident, 

 it follows, that before an offer be made, especially for a large purchase, it is no more 

 than common prudence, in a man who is not himself a judge, to call in twofold assistance: 

 a provincial valuer, to estimate its fair market price to the tenants of the neighbourhood 

 in which it lies ; and a man of more general knowledge, to check his valuation, and to 

 estimate the improvements of which the lands are evidently capable. 



3413. The leading particulars which affect the vabte of an estate, and which require to 

 be considered in its estimation, are quantity, quality, situation, state, outgoings, and ab- 

 stract rights. 



3414. The quantiti/ of the land is the groundwork of the estimate ; though it has little 

 weight in the scale of valuation. The fee-simple value of an acre of land may be less 

 than twenty shillings, or it may be more than a hundred pounds. Nevertheless, it is 

 on the quantity the rental value is calculated ; and it is usual for the seller to exhibit a 



