16 The Agricultural Holdings {England) Act, 1883. 
must be given of valuable consideration ; mere proof, for 
instance, of a low rental in comparison of real value would be 
insufficient unless accompanied by an express agreement that 
such rent was in consideration of the improvements. The 
House of Commons, in their reasons for disagreeing with Lord 
Salisbury's amendment to this clause, expressly justified the 
retrospective contravention of existing agreements, on the ground 
that there was no reason for distinguishing between cases in 
which the tenant's compensation was excluded by express con- 
tract, and those in which it was excluded, without contract, by 
implication of law. It will be strange, indeed, if we do not 
find this argument used hereafter for purposes which would, at 
present, shock no persons more acutely than some of the framers 
of the Agricultural Holdings Bill themselves. 
What an unscrupulous or dishonest tenant may claim under 
§ 2 is one thing ; what he can recover is another. Probably 
under the conditions of proof as to unexhausted value of his 
outlay remaining in the soil, and subject to the sets-ofF in § (i, 
the practical effect of the provision under notice will be small. 
Its principle, however, and the power it gives to unscrupulous 
tenants, or interested persons behind them of (to use a common 
phrase), " trying it on," and involving landlords in uncalled-for 
litigation, are not easily defensible. The second provision 
applicable to permanent improvements and drainage is properly 
safe-guarded. There no claim can be made unless, before 
January 1, 1884, the landlord by writing ratifies the making of 
such improvements ; in other words, creates a claim to com- 
pensation where no previous right whatever existed. Then a 
vested interest accrues to the tenant, who, on quitting his 
holding, will, in common with the tenant entitled to claim for 
temporary improvements, receive such compensation, if any, as 
the Act gives, as though it had been in force when the improve- 
ments were made. 
As to Improvements executed after January 1 (§§ 3 and 4). — It 
will be remembered that, as to temporary improvements, tenants 
now are free to make them without asking leave or giving 
notice ; in this, as in other cases, subject of course to agree- 
ment, the restrictions upon which will be explained presently. 
Owners retain the right of preventing the execution of any 
works which may change the character of their property. No 
compensation, therefore, can be claimed for permanent improve- 
ments unless the landlord, or his authorised agent, has in 
writing consented to the making of them before they were 
made ; and such consent must iiavo been given since January 1. 
It may be given unconditionally, in which case compensation 
will hereafter be paid as the Act provides ; or it may be given 
