THE LAW OF THE FARM. 



CHAPTER I. 



AGRICULTUEAL CUSTOJIS. 



If the Agricultural Holdings Act were universally adopted, the 

 term the " Custom of the Country," which has usually found its way 

 into agricultural leases, would cease to exist ; but as it seems certain 

 that for the present, at any rate, the Act above mentioned will not be 

 adopted even by the majority of farmers, it will still be necessary to 

 explain the law of Agricultural Customs. 



The claim for remuneration which an outgoing agricultural tenant 

 has on his landlord for various operations of husbandry, the ordinary 

 return of which he is precluded from receiving by the termination of 

 his tenancy, is termed " Tenant-right," and is governed by the different 

 Customs which have long prevailed in the counties and districts of the 

 United Kingdom. These customs are frequently most conflicting and 

 difficult to define. In many counties they scarcely exist at all ; in 

 others it is rather the custom of districts, and in many the custom 

 merely of certain estates. They are imported into leases or agreements 

 for the letting and occupation of land, and unless the agreement 

 expressly, or by implication, excludes the custom of the country, the 

 landlord and tenant are presumed to contract with reference to it. 

 Tenant-right extends to the crop, which the outgoing tenant has sown 

 and leaves in the ground, and to remuneration for the preparation of 

 the soil for crops by tillage, for the straw, hay, and occasionally, dung 

 left on the farm, and for growing underwood. Of late years, tlie term 

 has happily been understood in a much wider and more liberal sense, 

 and in many parts of the country a usage has sprung up, which confers 

 a right on the outgoing tenant to be re-imbursed for certain other 

 expenses incurred by him in cultivation, beyond those of mere ordinary 

 husbandry. Among such expenses are the purchase of food for stock, 

 as well as of certain kinds of manure, and the draining, chalking and 



B 



