354=55 
English Land Law. 
which unwritten law had attained by the end of the eighteenth 
century, that it was determined by Lord Mansfield, in 1781, 
that a customary stipulation might be superadded even to the 
express covenants of a lease, where they did not, in terms or 
by necessary implication, exclude it {WiggUsworth v. DallisoUy 
1 Sm. L. C. 598). 
Effect of The main points to which those customs relate that have 
cnstoms. received the sanction of the law may be very briefly summarised. 
In most cases they refer either to the commencement of the 
tenancy, the mode or course of cultivation, the right to the way- 
going crops, or the compensation to which the outgoing tenant 
is entitled for unexhausted improvements. According to the most 
recent authorities, tenancies commencing at Michaelmas are the 
rule in about fifteen of the forty English counties, in ten Lady- 
day is the favourite period, and in six either Candlemas (Feb. 
2nd) or May holdings are adopted ; whilst in the remainder 
tenants appear to enter either at Michaelmas or Lady-day in- 
differently. It is stated that Lady-day tenancies are considered 
preferable for arable farms, and the customs which regulate the 
rights of the outgoing tenant must of course vary considerably 
according as he surrenders his holding just after seed-time an( 
tillage, or at the completion of his harvest. As to the mode o 
cultivation, the most universal restriction is that which binds th 
tenant to consume on the premises all the straw and manur 
which is made there ; though even this stipulation is often re 
laxed, especially in the case of lands close to a large towi 
where straw finds a ready and profitable market, and from whic 
artificial manures are readily to be procured. With regard f 
the rotation of crops, though a course of three or four years 
frequently prescribed, yet the tenant is often simply prohibite 
from taking two white crops in succession, and in some distric 
the obligation to cultivate his farm according to the rules 
good husbandry is the only one that is laid upon llim. It mu 
be remembered th.it such stipulations are far less necessary 
protect the landlord in the case of a yearly tenancy than in tb 
of one for a longer term, it being always in his power to pul 
summary end to the mischief, by giving a six months' notice 
the offender by whom his land is being impoverished ; but it m 
be mentioned that in some of the principal counties whi 
yearly tenancies are generally adopted, a four-years' course 
in most cases agreed to by implication of custom, and stric 
adhered to. Of this, the counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfo - 
shire, Worcestershire, and the North and East Ridinpfs I 
Yorkshire, may be selected as examples. With regard to i' 
right of the outgoing tenant to the crops which are in i" 
ground at the termination of his tenancy, and to compen^ it n 
I 
