THE A MATE UK AND HORTICULTURAL LAW. 



20 



at all, and anyone, even a private tenant, can remove it. It does not 

 matter how large or how heavy the article may be ; if it merely rests on 

 the surface of the land by reason of its own weight it is not a fixture. If, 

 however, the article is attached to the land, or to some building on the 

 land, then it is a fixture, and we have to consider whether it is a landlord's 

 or a tenant's fixture. The first test to apply is whether the article can be 

 removed without causing serious injury to the freehold. If it cannot be 

 removed without such injury then it is usually a landlord's fixture ; if it 

 can be removed without such injury it is usually a tenant's fixture, and 

 it is for this reason that tenants are generally advised to employ screws 

 instead of nails when putting up fixtures for their own use. 



But even in the case of what would ordinarily be construed to be 

 landlord's fixtures a tenant who is a professional grower has certain special 

 rights under the common law, because these rights are in fact necessary 

 to the carrying on of his trade. For instance, the nurseryman is entitled 

 to remove nursery trees and shrubs, although growing in the ground and 

 therefore fixed to the soil ; and he is also entitled at the expiration of his 

 tenancy to remove his greenhouses, although it is still doubtful whether 

 under English law he may remove the low brick walls on which the green- 

 houses are usually raised. But the private owner has no such right, because 

 the garden is maintained, and the greenhouses are erected, for his own 

 pleasure and not by way of trade. It has been held, for instance, that the 

 private tenant must not remove fruit trees even though they have been 

 planted by himself, nor, strictly speaking, can he take away other things 

 which he may have planted, such as hedges, plants, or a border of box. 

 Possibly some of those present may have read a short article of mine on 

 this subject which appeared in the "Gardeners' Chronicle" last year, in 

 which I mentioned that whatever may be the actual law on the subject I 

 had been given to understand that amateurs often "pot" a few of their 

 favourite plants before their tenancy comes to an end. It is of course 

 quite clear that private owners may remove plants standing in pots or 

 growing in a detachable window-box. 



Of course, we are now considering what are the strict legal rights of 

 the private owner, and in practice one knows that a good deal of latitude is 

 taken by tenants ; unless the matter assumes serious proportions the 

 English landlord usually does not interfere with a tenant who takes an 

 interest in his garden even if he sometimes exceeds his strict legal 

 rights. 



Before leaving the subject of fixtures it may be useful to quote a few 

 lines from the article to which I have just referred : — 



"It has been held that a non-trading tenant cannot take away a 

 conservatory erected on a brick foundation affixed to and communicating 

 by windows and doors with rooms in his dwelling-house even where he 

 has put it up at his own expense, neither can he remove a verandah the 

 lower part of which is attached to posts fixed in the ground. Further- 

 more, the non-trading tenant cannot take away greenhouses constructed 

 of wooden frames fixed with mortar to foundation walls or brickwork, and 

 some learned writers have even doubted whether he can take them away 

 although only resting on the foundation walls or ground by reason of 

 their own weight. However, this seems to carry the doctrine rather far 



