English Land Law. 357 = 91 
•states at will only. Such a tenancy at will is converted, as has 
)een already stated, into a yearly holding by entry and payment 
>1 rent, but to confirm the tenant's right for a longer period a 
\ritten document is absolutely necessary. Until the year 1845, 
his was all that was required to create an actual demise for a term 
,)f any length ; but the Real Property Act (8 & 9 Vict. c. 106) 
hen further provided that leases which the law required to be in 
vriting should be void unless made by deed, that is, under seal, and 
he difficulty which had long been felt, of distinguishing between 
n actual demise and an agreement for a lease, was thus rendered 
if comparatively small importance. But as an actual lease gives 
he right to either party to sue on the covenants or terms con- 
ained in it, and enables the landlord to recover rent from the 
lay of the demise without proof of entry or occupation, the 
listinction is still sometimes material. It is sufficient here to 
ay that the test by which the Courts are guided in deciding the 
[uestion is in all cases the intention of the parties deduced from 
he contract itself; and a clause providing that the instrument 
hall operate only as an agreement for a future lease, and not as 
i present demise, affords the simplest and most secure method 
if avoiding any uncertainty on the subject. It should be added 
hat a lease void under the statute last mentioned, by reason of 
lot being under seal, may nevertheless be good as an agreement 
or a future demise, the provisions of which may be enforced by 
ither of the parties to it. 
The terms of a tenancy, however they may have been deter- Forms of 
•nined, may be evidenced in any one of several different ways, written con- 
fhey may be contained in a memorandum signed by the tenant 
inly, which amounts in general to mere evidence of a parol 
ontract ; or in an agreement signed by both parties, which con- 
Bmplates a future demise or lease ; or in a document purporting 
) be a demise for a term, but valid only as a mere agreement 
y reason of its assuming to extend over a longer period than 
tie three years allowed by the statute ; or lastly, in an actual 
"ase, which must be by deed if it falls within the condition just 
lentioned. 
(1.) Memorandum of Terms of Tenancy. — The first class of MemorandTim 
ocument generally takes the form either of a proposal to take, of terms of 
n acknowledgment by the proposed tenant of the terms of the *^°^°''y^- 
olding, or a declaration as to the custom of the country. Any 
ich instrument, if signed by the tenant alone, amounts, as has 
Jst been stated, to evidence of the agreement only, and does 
ot by itself constitute a contract. If signed by the lessor also, 
becomes a valid agreement, or — if for a short term and pur- 
orting to create the relation of landlord and tenant at on-.e — 
ven an actual demise, and in such cases must be properly 
I 
