50 The Agricultural Holdings {England) Act, 1883. 
ments made in §§ 35-40 for improvements on Crown, duchy, 
ecclesiastical and charity lands, " a landlord, w hatever mav be 
his estate or interest in his holding:, mav give any consent, make 
any agreement, or do or have done to him any act in relation to 
improvements in respect of which compensation is payable 
under this Act," as though he were owner in fee if his estate 
is one of inheritance, or if he be a lessee, as though he were 
possessed of the whole estate in the leasehold. A landlord who 
is tenant for life, therefore, may, for all purposes of this Act, 
be regarded as owner in fee. In the case of a leasehold, any 
person for the time being " entitled to receive the rents and 
profits of any holding " which is the subject of the lease may act 
and be treated as though he had the whole estate under the 
lease ; and his powers will extend over the whole term of the 
lease, and will not be limited by his interest in the lease. 
Provision in case of Reservation of Rent (§ -iB). — Life tenants, 
not excepting corporations sole and aggregate, have frequently 
abused their powers by leasing settled property at low rents, in 
consideration of fines or lump sums applied for their own 
benefit, at the expense of the persons entitled in reversion or 
remainder. To guard against this abuse, it is generally pro- 
Tided in statutes, or in the deed of settlement, that leases should 
only be made at the best rent, or reservation in the nature of rent, 
which can be obtained. It would be necessary, in strict com- 
pliance with such provisions, that sitting tenants, on the expira- 
tion and renewal of their leases, should have their rents raised 
upon the improved value due to their own improvements. In 
order to protect sitting tenants against rack-rentals imposed 
under this obligation, which is often considered imperative by 
trustees and others, § 43 relieves landlords from anv obligation 
so imposed, whether by statute, deed, or other instrument. 
Henceforth they need not " take into account against the tenant 
the increase (if any) in the value of his holding arising from any 
improvements made or paid for by him on such holding.'' They 
are not, however, prohibited from doing so ; the section only 
says " it shall not be necessary" for them to do so; in other 
words, they are left to make an equitable arrangement in view 
of the circumstances of each case. 
Distress. 
In 1882 a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed 
to consider the law of distress. The Chairman was Mr. Goschen, 
and the Report and Minutes of Evidence contain a bodv of 
valuable information as to the origin of the law, the successive 
changes made in it, and its practical working. The first statute 
