LEA 



LEA 



English statute miles. The Dutch and 

 German leagues contain each four geo- 

 graphical miles. The Persian leagues 

 are pretty nearly of the same extent with 

 the Spanish; that is, they are equal to 

 four Italian miles ; which is nearly what 

 Herodotus calls the length of the Persian 

 parasang, that contained thirty stadia, 

 eight whereof, according to Strabo, make 

 a mile. 



LEAK, among seamen, is a hole in the 

 ship through which the water comes in. 

 To spring a leak, is said of a ship that be- 

 gins to leak. To stop a leak, is to fill it 

 with a plug wrapt in oakum and well tar- 

 red ; or putting in a tarpaulin clout, to 

 keep the water out ; or nailing a piece of 

 sheet-lead upon the place. 



LEAKAGE, the state of a vessel that 

 leaks, or lets water, or other liquid, ooze 

 in or out. See the preceding article. 

 Leakage, in commerce, is an allowance 

 of 12 per cent, in the customs, allowed 

 to importers of wines for the waste 

 and damage it is supposed to have re- 

 ceived in the passage: an allowance of 

 two barrels in twenty-two is also made 

 to the brewers of ale and beer by the ex- 

 cise-office. 



LEAP year, the same with bissextile. 

 See BISSEXTILE. Every centesimal, or 

 hundredth year, is a leap year, according 

 to the Julian account, but according to 

 the Gregorian, it is always a common 

 year, except when the number of centu- 

 ries can be divided by four without a re- 

 mainder, for then it is a leap year ; but 

 the intermediate centesimal years are 

 common ones : hence, to know if it be 

 leap year, the rule is, If the year consists 

 of complete centuries, and can be divided 

 by 4, it is leap year ; as it is also when 

 the intermediate years can be divided by 

 4 : thus the year 1808 is a leap year ; for 

 8 may be divided by 4 without a remain- 

 der. If the intermediate years cannot be 

 divided by 4, the remainder shows the 

 number of years over leap year. 



LEASE, a conveyance of lands, or tene- 

 ments, for a term of years, or during the 



continuance of a life or lives, in consider- 

 ation of a stipulated rent or other recom- 

 pense. 



The purchaser of a lease may be con- 

 sidered as the purchaser of an annuity 

 equal to the rack-rent, for whether he 

 possesses the estate himself, or lets it out 

 to another, he has an interest in the same 

 equal to the annual rent thereof; there- 

 fore, from the principles on which the 

 present value of annuities is ascertained, 

 the value of leases is likewise found. 

 When a certain sum is paid down for the 

 grant of a lease, it may be considered as 

 so much money paid in advance for the 

 annual rents as they may become due ; 

 therefore, in order to ascertain what the 

 sum ought to be, it would be necessary to 

 find, separately, the present value of each 

 annual rent, or the sum which, put out to 

 interest at the given rate, would amount 

 to the rent at the time it became due ; 

 and these separate values of each year's 

 rent added together would give the sum 

 to be paid down as the present value of 

 the lease. The rate of interest at which 

 money is supposed to be improveable, 

 affects the value of leases very materially, 

 as the higher the current rate of interest 

 is, the less will any one be disposed to 

 give for payments to be received atfuture 

 periods : thus if 6 per cent interest can 

 be readily obtained for money, no one 

 will give the same sum for a certain year- 

 ly rent, as if he could only make 4 per 

 cent, interest of his money. Having then 

 determined on the rate of interest at 

 which money is to be improved, it is only 

 necessary to find, at that rate of interest, 

 the present value of an annuity equal to 

 the net yearly rent of the estate, in order 

 to ascertain the value of the lease. This 

 is given, at 5 per cent, interest, in Table 

 II. article ANNUITIES : but as most per- 

 sons in the purchase of leases, particular- 

 ly of houses, expect to make rather more 

 than the current interest for money, the 

 following table is better adapted for an- 

 swering all practical questions relating to 

 this subject. 





