352 = 55 English Land Law. 
sufficient capital at his disposal, or not sufficient confidence in 
the goodwill of his landlord, to cultivate the soil as a man 
would do who contemplated a series of years during which his 
livelihood was to be drawn from it ; or with one who might be 
tempted by temporary embarrassments or greediness to take as 
much as possible out of the land while it remained in his posses- 
sion, with the intention of throwing it back upon the hands of its 
owner in an impoverished condition as soon as it ceased to be 
profitable to him to retain it. Against this peril the landlord 
may of course protect himself by particular stipulations as to 
the mode of culture, there being no reason in the nature of the 
thing, as has been said in a court of law, why a parol agreement 
for a yearly tenancy should not be as special and obligatory in 
its provisions as a written contract or even a lease. But in many 
cases, and probably in a large majority, a parol agreement for a 
yearly tenancy is made in a less complicated manner, and merely 
incorporates as its conditions the customs which prevail in tht 
particular district where it is entered into. In these customs the 
landlord usually finds sufficient though not the best protection 
but the uncertainty and variety by which they are characterisec 
renders it at once more difficult to ascertain their effect, ant 
more dangerous to rely on their validity, than his true interest 
would require. 
Their effect The advantages of a simple tenancy from year to year to th 
npou tenants, occupier are even more problematical. In theory, the tenant ha 
no security that any year during which he is spending his labou 
and his money on the land may not be the last of his occupn 
tion ; and though his right to six months' notice to quit hi 
holding may save him from losing what he has sunk in the croj 
of the year, he was, up to the year 1875, entirely dependei 
^ upon the custom of the country for any further protection. Bi 
although the value of this protection is impaired by the mult 
fariousness and uncertainty of local customs, yet in practii 
throughout England tenants have suffered only in exception 
cases. In many districts of England tenancies from year to yc 
are not unfrequently transmitted from father to son, and the lai 
remains in the hands of one family for generations. Betwei 
landlord and tenant, at least in the majority of cases, a feeling 
mutual confidence prevails, and leases are never asked for 
wanted by the tenantry on a considerable number of the gr( 
family estates in England. The tenant who holds froni year 
year feels that he has not burdened himself and his family wi 
the responsibility of having permanently undertaken a holdi 
which may prove more onerous than profitable, and that he is 
all times able to avail himself of any opening fo;- his capi 
and industry that he may perceive elsewhere ; while he also Ic ■ 
