VALUATION OF LAND. 



for a tertn of years, is here, it is faid, to be noticed. The 

 difference between the leafe rent and the full rental value, 

 encumbered with tlie fame outgoings and repairs as the leafe 

 rent, being afcerl;uned, it is multiphed by the number of 

 years unexpired, and tlie produft in full deduAed from the 

 •value of the land, free from fuch encumbrance. But from 

 the produft, thus found, ought to be deduded half the 

 intereft thereof, during the faid number of years, together 

 with that of one half-year over, if the rent be payable half- 

 yearly, or of one year, if payable annually. For all that a 

 purchafer has a right to expeCl is to receive the full rent for 

 his land, during the continuance of the leafe. The tenant 

 pays him what the leafe llipulales ; and if the feller were to 

 make up the remainder, at the end of every fix or twelve 

 months, whenevei' the tenant is to pay his part, the pur- 

 chafer would receive the full rent, the fame as if no encum- 

 brance liad exifted. But if the feller pay down the whole 

 fum in ready money, at the time of the fale, which in effeft 

 he does, he is certainly entitled to fome difcount for prompt 

 payment. Thus, fuppoftng the difference of rent, occa- 

 fioned by the leafe, to be ten pounds a year, and the length 

 of the term to run to be ten years, the produft would be 

 one hundred pounds. And fuppofing, for the eafe of cal- 

 culation, the ftipulated payments to be annual, the inteneft 

 to be deduAed would be the half of fifty pounds, (the in- 

 tereil of one hundred pounds for ten years, at J per cent. ) 

 with the half of five pounds (one year's intereft), together 

 amounting to twenty-feven pounds ten (hillings ; which 

 being deduAed from one hundred pounds, the grofs pro- 

 duA, leaves feventy-two pounds ten fhillings, the clear fum 

 to be deduAed. And the truth of this rule of calculation 

 may, it is thought, be familiarly proved : for if the feller 

 were only to pay the deficiency of rent, as it (hould be- 

 come due, he would, during the firft year, hold the whole 

 hundred pounds in his hands, the interelt of which, at 

 5 per cent., is 5/. 



The firft year (as above) he would hold £ 100 £ 5 o o 



The fecond ditto - - - - 90 4100 



The third ditto - - - - 80 400 



The fourth ditto - - - - 70 3100 



The fifth ditto - - - - 60 300 



The fixth ditto - - - - 50 2 10 o 



The feventh ditto - - - - 40 200 



The eighth ditto - - - - 30 1100 



The ninth ditto - - - - 20 100 



The tenth ditto - - - - 10 0100 



27 10 o 



In refpeA to tithes, where in valuing lands they are con- 

 fidered as tithe-free, the tithe or modus, if any, requires to be 

 deduAed, as an encumbrance ; and from the great variation 

 in the values of tithes and modufes, according to cuftom, and 

 plans of occupation, it is the plaineft way of proceeding to 

 value all lands as free of tithe, and afterwards to make an 

 allowance for whatever they may be eftimated to be worth. 

 In regard to taxes, too, although it may be called the cuf- 

 tom of the country for proprietors to pay the Jand-tax, and 

 the occupier all the other taxes ; yet this is not the univerfal 

 praAice ; nor is it, in valuing an eftate on fale, and to be 

 let at will, a matter to be inquired into. The annual 

 amount of payable taxes, and other outgoings, are the faAs 

 to be afcertained : for whofoever difcharges them, they 

 come as a burden upon the grofs value of the lands, out of 

 which they are payable. For if a tenant pay them, his rent 

 IS, or ought to be, eftimated and fixed accordingly. But 



Vol. XXXVI. 



if an eftate on fale is already let un^r leafe, for a term to 

 come, it is highly requifite to afcertain what parts of, the 

 annual outgoings and repairs are difcharged by the tenants, 

 and what the proprietor will be hable to, during the term to 

 run. The land-tax, where it ftill exifts, is extremely un- 

 certain as to its value ; and the poor-tax is equally varying 

 in diff'erent fituations. The church, highways, and county 

 rates are, taking them on a par of years, lefs liable to local 

 uncertainty, and are confequently lefs entitled to inquifty- by 

 a valuer of lands. And the fixed payments, or rent charges, 

 fuch as chief rents, quit-rents, annuities, endowments, 

 fchoolmafters' falaries, charitable donations, and others of 

 the fame kind, to which an eftate is liable ; alfo repairs of 

 pubhc works, buildings, roads, &c. incumbent on the eftate, 

 are fubjeAs of inquiry and eftimation ; as well as the ordi- 

 nary repairs. Further, too, the hazard or rifle under valu- 

 ation, as that of their being liable to be inundated in funvmer, 

 or to be torn away by floods at any feafon, is entitled to 

 mature confideration. For although thefe evils may gene- 

 rally be remedied by river-breaks and embankments, the 

 ereAing of tliem is moftly attended with great expence ; and 

 the eftimated value of this becomes, in courfe, a fair deduc- 

 tion to be confidered by the land-valuer. It is noticed that 

 there are two praAical methods of valuation, with refpeA 

 to taxes and other outgoings, as in regard to tithes ; namely, 

 either to fet down the grofs value ofthe lands, and then to 

 deduA the outgoings ; or to view tliem under their encum- 

 brances, and to eftimate in a fummary way their neat rental 

 value. The latter is the more general, but the lefs accu- 

 rate, manner of performing the bufinefs. 



This, it is faid, is what relates to the purchafe value of 

 the lands, but that, appurtenant to an extenfive eftate, there 

 are generally other valuable confiderations ; as minerals and 

 foffils, whether metals, fuels, calcareofities, or groffer earths ; 

 waters, whether they are valuable for fifheries, decoys, mills, 

 domeftic ufcs, or the irrigation of lands ; and timber, as of 

 woods and hedge-rows. Buildings, too, that are not let 

 with the farms, but which bear rent, independent of the 

 lands ; which, when fcattered over an eftate, may well be 

 confidered as belonging to landed property. To thefe may 

 be added, the eftimated value of evident improvements : 

 and, laftly, the abflradi rights which arife out of appro- 

 priated lands, or their appurtenances, as the right of com- 

 manage, which is generally of fome value, even when com- 

 mons lie open, and may be of more, when they (liall be in- 

 clofed ; provided tlie coft of inclofure do not turn out to be 

 more than the extra value of the appropriated lands, above 

 that which naturally or forluitoufly attends the lands of the 

 common right in their open ftate. Tiie right nf feigniority 

 to fee-farm rents, or other chief rents, payable to the pof- 

 feflbr of lands on fale out of the lands of other proprietors. 

 Thefe rents, though fmall, are of certain value in thcm- 

 felves ; and the idea of fuperiority, which they convey to 

 the minds of fome, may be worth more than the pecuniary 

 value ; which indeed, where the furas are very fmall, as is 

 often the cafe, is much lowered by the expence of colleAing 

 them. The rights of feudality, or manorial rights, are at 

 prefent, if not in their origin, very different from thofe laft 

 mentioned ; and the value of whicli is to be eftimated by the 

 quit-rents, fines, lieriots, efcheats, and amerciaments, which 

 lono- cuftom and a train of circumftances have attaahed to 

 the given court. And befide what relates to the appro- 

 priated lands of the manor, the lord has a profit arifing from 

 the commonable lands, if any lie within it, as lord of the 

 foil ; wliich cannot be broken without his permifTion : hence 

 the minerals and foffils which it covers belong to him, as 

 well as the timber which grows upon the wafte, and the 

 A. E water* 



