sect. VI. THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 1 17 



premises on either side. The neglect of this 

 has often occasioned misunderstandings and dis- 

 agreeable litigations. An example of this I have 

 in my eye. A tenant subscribed a tack, in which 

 the houses and fences were declared to be in a 

 state of sufficient repair, though in fact they 

 were not ; the tenant, trusting to the proprietor's 

 promise, or that of his factor, that they should 

 be put into that condition in due time. But, 

 upon the tenant's applying for the fulfilment of 

 this promise, the words of the lease were ap- 

 pealed to, and the promise forgotten. A law- 

 suit was the consequence ; and the proprietor 

 was justly decerned in the repairs ; but the tenant 

 was exposed to all the inconvenience of delay, 

 and brought to considerable trouble and expence. 

 In leases no clauses ought to be introduced 

 which may eventually subject the tenant to da- 

 mages, the extent of which cannot be calculated 

 when the bargain is made, without stipulating 

 a compensation adequate to the injury that may 

 be done. Examples of this are not awanting, 

 and have given rise to much altercation and dis- 

 pute between the parties. In some tacks, where 

 the proprietor reserves the liberty of searching 

 for minerals, whilst surface-damages are allowed, 

 the payment of these damages is made to cease, 

 when the workings are given up. In which 

 case it may happen that such trials shall, in the 

 course of two or three years, damage several 

 acres of the best land, perhaps, in the farm, and 

 render them totally unproductive during the 

 residue of the lease ; and consequently the tenant 

 be obliged to pay rent, during many years, for 

 land of which he gets no use. It is surely 



