360 = 94 
English Land Laio. 
peculiar province. It would no doubt be more generally advan- j 
tageous to English agriculture if agricultural custom was an i 
element less various in its operation, and capable of being ascer- 
tained with greater precision, but at present it is only impossible 
to escape from the uncertainty which universally attends it, by 
an agreement sufficiently full and precise to leave no room, for 
its intrusion. The most safe and satisfactory way of accom- 
plishing this object, is without doubt to establish the relation 
of the parties on a permanent and secure footing ah initio by 
means of a lease, the nature of which instrument is the next 
subject for consideration. 
CHAPTER IV. 
Leases. 
The right of the absolute owner of land to demise its posses-* 
sion for any term, however long, at such rent as he may choose 
to accept, is one which affects his own interests alone, and has 
never been impeached ; but the powers of those whose owner- 
ship is limited to the duration of their own life, or depends foi 
its permanence upon any other contingency, have been froir 
time to time the subject of legislative enactment. It is unneces 
sary to recapitulate the statutes which have been passed on th( 
subject, from the earliest in the sixteenth century (32 Hen. t 
c. 28) until the present day, but the effect of the most recent legis 
Leasing powers lation may be briefly stated. By the statute 19 & 20 Vict 
of life tenants, ^20 (1856), tenants for life under settlements made since tha 
date may demise for any term not exceeding twenty-one years 
at the best rent that can reasonably be obtained, and unde 
certain other minor restrictions ; and whatever the, date of thi 
settlement from which he derives his title, a tenant for life ma' 
make an agricultural lease for the same period by the specia 
authority of the Court of Chancery (21 & 22 Vict, c. 77, s. 2) 
A similar privilege of demising land without application to th 
Court is given by the Act of 1856 to all persons entitled fo 
the time being to the rents and profits or the possession, whethe 
as tenant by the curtesy, tenant in dower, or holding in right of 
wife who is seised in fee. Tenants by curtesy and in dower ar 
simply widowers and widows, respectively, to whom the la\ 
assigns certain life estates in the lands of which the deceased wif 
or husband died possessed. Tenants in tail were formerly con 
trolled by the statute of Henry VIII., which enabled them, unde 
considerable restrictions, to demise land which had been usuall 
let for agricultural purposes ; but such leases were binding onl 
