Agricultural Capital and Profits 83 



have been inequitable exactions on the 

 part of some owners of land — especially 

 new mercantile owners — but on the whole, 

 there has never been in England any general 

 system of rack-renting. On the contrary, 

 it would be much more true to say that 

 for long periods rents were below the 

 natural competition level. 



Similarly, as regards the security of the 

 farmer's capital, for a long time no doubt 

 the law — that is, the technical law — was 

 altogether in favour of the landlord, e.g.^ 

 the law of fixtures, the law of distress, etc. 

 But in dealing with English economic 

 history, even more perhaps than in the 

 similar case of constitutional history, we 

 must always distinguish between the letter 

 of the law and the spirit in which, as a 

 matter of fact, it was carried out. Adam 

 Smith was a great admirer of peasant 

 properties, and he made general reflections 



