English Land Law. 36d^l03 
I ct was passed, it may be asked, what new rights does the Unexhausted 
ct secure to tenants? The answer is, that whereas, in tt^g •™prov«i'^«"*s 
' . ' assumed to be 
isence of contract or custom, the presumption of law used to the property of 
• that unexhausted improvements belong to the landlord, the tenant, 
ct now reverses this presumption, and assigns the property 
such improvements to the tenant, to the extent defined and 
nited by the Act itself. This change in the principle of the 
aglish law is of considerable importance in itself ; but there 
good reason for believing that its influence in guiding and 
•termining the practice of landlords and the conditions of 
nancy will be more considerable still. We pass, however, now 
the provisions of the statute, confining our attention to its 
iding features. 
Though it became law in the Session of 1875, the ' Agricul- Application of 
ral Holdings Act ' did not come into operation till February 14 
the following year. It does not apply to holdings which 
e non-agricultural, or which are under two acres in extent. 
11 new tenancies of agricultural or pastoral lands, or of lands in 
rt agricultural and in part pastoral, comprising more than 
is acreage, are subject to the provisions of the Act, unless there 
a written agreement to the contrary, signed by the tenant as 
'11 as by the landlord or his agent. If no such agreement is 
me to between the parties, the Act will govern the conditions 
the holding, whether it be a tenancy at will, or one from 
ar to year, or for a term of years, or for lives. Tenancies 
isting before February 14, 1876, are not affected by the Act, 
ovided they are tenancies under lease, or for lives ; but all 
lancics from v'ear to year, or at will, were brought under its 
ovisions, unless either the landlord or the tenant gave notice, 
0 months after the date mentioned, that he desired that the 
•isting tenure should remain unaltered by the Act. Thus, if 
th parties were silent, the new law, as in the case of new 
lancies, immediately stepped in to regulate the relations of 
idlord and tenant, and establish the tenant's right to the 
escribed compensation. 
Having thus shortly explained the cases to which the Act Tenant's title 
plies, we may now examine somewhat more fully the pro- to^compensa- 
-ions which govern a tenant's title to compensation for the 
provements he has made in his holding. These are divided 
:o first, second, and third class improvements, each class being 
bject to different conditions ; and all must have been executed 
er February 14, 1876. Here, then, is fixed the new era in 
iglish farming. Before this period all such improvements, 
)ugh made with the tenant's capital, were the property of the 
llord, subject only to any contract entered into between 
parties, or to the local customs already mentioned. Since 
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