LANDAU,a town in the Bavarian Palatinate, on the Queich, lying under the eastern slope of the Hardt Mountains, 32 m. by rail S.W. from Mannheim, at the junction of lines to Neustadt an der Hardt, Weissenburg and Saarbrücken. Pop. (1905) 17,165. Among its buildings are the Gothic Evangelical church, dating from 1285; the chapel of St Catherine built in 1344; the church of the former Augustinian monastery, dating from 1405; and the Augustinian monastery itself, founded in 1276 and now converted into a brewery. There are manufactures of cigars, beer, hats, watches, furniture and machines, and a trade in wine, fruit and cereals. Large cattle-markets are held here. Landau was founded in 1224, becoming an imperial city fifty years later. This dignity was soon lost, as in 1317 it passed to the bishopric of Spires and in 1331 to the Palatinate, recovering its former position in 1511. Captured eight times during the Thirty Years’ War the town was ceded to France by the treaty of Westphalia in 1648, although with certain ill-defined reservations. In 1679 Louis XIV. definitely took possession of Landau. Its fortifications were greatly strengthened; nevertheless it was twice taken by the Imperialists and twice recovered by the French during the Spanish Succession War. In 1815 it was given to Austria and in the following year to Bavaria. The fortifications were finally dismantled in 1871.
The town is commonly supposed to have given its name to the four-wheeled carriage, with an adjustable divided top for use either open or closed, known as a “landau” (Ger.Landauer). But this derivation is doubtful, the origin of the name being also ascribed to that of an English carriage-builder, Landow, who introduced this form of equipage.
See E. Heuser,Die Belagerungen von Landau in den Jahren 1702 und 1703(Landau, 1894); Lehmann,Geschichte der ehemaligen freien Reichsstadt Landau(1851); and Jost,Interessante Daten aus der 600 jährigen Geschichte der Stadt Landau(Landau, 1879).
See E. Heuser,Die Belagerungen von Landau in den Jahren 1702 und 1703(Landau, 1894); Lehmann,Geschichte der ehemaligen freien Reichsstadt Landau(1851); and Jost,Interessante Daten aus der 600 jährigen Geschichte der Stadt Landau(Landau, 1879).
LANDECK,a town and spa in the Prussian province of Silesia, on the Biele, 73 m. by rail S. of Breslau and close to the Austrian frontier. Pop. (1905) 3,481. It is situated at an altitude of 1400 ft. It has manufactures of gloves. Landeck is visited by nearly 10,000 people annually on account of its warm sulphur baths, which have been known since the 13th century. In the neighbourhood are the ruins of the castle of Karpenstein.
See Langner,Bad Landeck(Glatz, 1872); Schütze,Die Thermen von Landeck(Berlin, 1895); Wehse,Bad Landeck(Breslau, 1886); Joseph,Die Thermen von Landeck(Berlin, 1887), and Patschovsky,Führer durch Bad Landeck und Umgebung(Schweidnitz, 1902).
See Langner,Bad Landeck(Glatz, 1872); Schütze,Die Thermen von Landeck(Berlin, 1895); Wehse,Bad Landeck(Breslau, 1886); Joseph,Die Thermen von Landeck(Berlin, 1887), and Patschovsky,Führer durch Bad Landeck und Umgebung(Schweidnitz, 1902).
LANDEN, JOHN(1719-1790), English mathematician, was born at Peakirk near Peterborough in Northamptonshire on the 23rd of January 1719, and died on the 15th of January 1790 at Milton in the same county. He lived a very retired life, and saw little or nothing of society; when he did mingle in it, his dogmatism and pugnacity caused him to be generally shunned. In 1762 he was appointed agent to the Earl Fitzwilliam, and held that office to within two years of his death. He was first known as a mathematician by his essays in theLadies’ Diaryfor 1744. In 1766 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He was well acquainted with the works of the mathematicians of his own time, and has been called the “English d’Alembert.” In hisDiscourseon the “Residual Analysis,” he proposes to avoid the metaphysical difficulties of the method of fluxions by a purely algebraical method. The idea may be compared with that of Joseph Louis Lagrange’sCalcul des Fonctions. His memoir (1775) on the rotatory motion of a body contains (as the author was aware) conclusions at variance with those arrived at by Jean le Rond, d’Alembert and Leonhard Euler in their researches on the same subject. He reproduces and further develops and defends his own views in hisMathematical Memoirs, and in his paper in thePhilosophical Transactionsfor 1785. But Landen’s capital discovery is that of the theorem known by his name (obtained in its complete form in the memoir of 1775, and reproduced in the first volume of theMathematical Memoirs) for the expression of the arc of an hyperbola in terms of two elliptic arcs. His researches on elliptic functions are of considerable elegance, but their great merit lies in the stimulating effect which they had on later mathematicians. He also showed that the roots of a cubic equation can be derived by means of the infinitesimal calculus.
The list of his writings is as follows:—Ladies’ Diary, various communications (1744-1760); papers in thePhil. Trans.(1754, 1760, 1768, 1771, 1775, 1777, 1785);Mathematical Lucubrations(1755);A Discourse concerning the Residual Analysis(1758);The Residual Analysis, book i. (1764);Animadversions on Dr Stewart’s Method of computing the Sun’s Distance from the Earth(1771);Mathematical Memoirs(1780, 1789).
The list of his writings is as follows:—Ladies’ Diary, various communications (1744-1760); papers in thePhil. Trans.(1754, 1760, 1768, 1771, 1775, 1777, 1785);Mathematical Lucubrations(1755);A Discourse concerning the Residual Analysis(1758);The Residual Analysis, book i. (1764);Animadversions on Dr Stewart’s Method of computing the Sun’s Distance from the Earth(1771);Mathematical Memoirs(1780, 1789).
LANDEN,a town in the province of Liége, Belgium, an important junction for lines of railway from Limburg, Liége and Louvain. Pop. (1904) 2874. It is the birthplace of the first Pippin, distinguished as Pippin of Landen from his grandson Pippin of Herstal. In 1693 the French under Marshal Luxemburg defeated here the Anglo-Dutch army under William III. This battle is also called Neerwinden from a village 3 m. W. of Landen. Here in 1793 the Austrians under Frederick of Saxe-Coburg and Clerfayt defeated the French under Dumouriez.
LANDER, RICHARD LEMON(1804-1834) andJOHN(1807-1839), English explorers of the Niger, were natives of Cornwall, sons of an innkeeper at Truro. At the age of eleven Richard went to the West Indies in the service of a merchant. Returning to England after an absence of three years he took service with various wealthy families, with whom he travelled on the continent. In 1823-1824 he accompanied Major (afterwards General Sir) W. M. Colebrooke, on a tour through Cape Colony. In 1825 Richard offered his services to Hugh Clapperton, then preparing for his second expedition to West Africa. He was Clapperton’s devoted servant and companion in this expedition, and on Clapperton’s death near Sokoto in April 1827 Richard Lander, after visiting Kano and other parts of the Hausa states, returned to the Guinea coast through Yoruba bringing with him Clapperton’s journal. To this on its publication (1829) was addedThe Journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the Coast, and in the next year Lander published another account of the expedition entitledRecords of Captain Clapperton’s Last Expedition to Africa ... with the subsequent Adventures of the Author. To this narrative he prefixed an autobiographical note. Richard Lander, though without any scientific attainments, had exhibited such capacity for exploration that the British government decided to send him out to determine the course of the lower Niger. In the expedition he was accompanied by his brother John, by trade a printer, and better educated than Richard, who went as an unsalaried volunteer. Leaving England in January 1830, the brothers landed at Badagry on the Guinea coast on the 22nd of March. They then travelled by the route previously taken by Clapperton to Bussa on the right bank of the Niger, reached on the 17th of June. Thence they ascended the river for about 100 m. Going back to Bussa the travellers began, on the 20th of September, the descent of the river, not knowing whither it would lead them. They journeyed in canoes accompanied by a few negroes, their only scientific instrument a common compass. They discovered the Benue river, ascertaining when passing its confluence, by paddling against its stream, that their course was not in that direction. At the beginning of the delta they were captured by the Ibos, from whom they were ransomed by “King Boy” of Brass Town; by him they were taken to the Nun mouth of the river, whence a passage was obtained to Fernando Po, reached on the 1st of December. The Landers were thus able to lay down with approximate correctness the lower course of the Niger—a matter till then as much in dispute as was the question of the Nile sources. In the attack by the Ibos the Landers lost many of their records, but they published a narrative of their discoveries in 1832, in three small volumes—Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger. In recognition of his services the Royal Geographical Society—formed two years previously—granted Richard Lander in 1832 the royal medal, he being the first recipient of such an award. In the same year Richard went to Africa again as leader of an expedition organized by Macgregor Laird and other Liverpool merchants to open up trade on the Niger and to found a commercial settlement at the junction of the Benue with the main stream. The expedition encountered many difficulties, suffered great mortality from fever, and was not able to reach Bussa. Lander made several journeys up and down stream, and while going up the river in a canoe was attacked by the natives on the 20th of January 1834 at a spot about 84 m. above the Nun mouth, and wounded by a musket ball in the thigh. He was removed to Fernando Po, where he died on the 6th of February. John Lander, who on his return to England in 1831 obtained a situation at the London customs house, died on the 16th of November 1839 of a disease contracted in Africa.
See, besides the books mentioned, theNarrativeof the Niger expedition of 1832-1834, published in 1837 by Macgregor Laird and R. A. K. Oldfield.
See, besides the books mentioned, theNarrativeof the Niger expedition of 1832-1834, published in 1837 by Macgregor Laird and R. A. K. Oldfield.
LANDES,a department in the south-west of France, formed in 1790 of portions of the ancient provinces of Guyenne (Landes, Condomios Chalosse), Gascony and Béarn, and bounded N. by Gironde, E. by Lot-et-Garonne and Gers, S. by Basses Pyrenées, and W. (for 68 m.) by the Bay of Biscay. Pop. (1906) 293,397. Its area, 3615 sq. m., is second only to that of the department of Gironde. The department takes its name from theLandes, which occupy three-quarters of its surface, or practically the whole region north of the Adour, the chief river of the department. They are separated from the sea by a belt of dunes fringed on the east by a chain of lakes. South of the Adour lies the Chalosse—a hilly region, intersected by the Gabas, Luy and Gave de Pau, left-hand tributaries of the Adour, which descend from the Pyrenees. On the right the Adour is joined by the Midouze, formed by the junction of the Douze and the Midou. The climate of Landes is the Girondine, which prevails from the Loire to the Pyrenees. Snow is almost unknown, the spring is rainy, the summer warm and stormy. The prevailing wind is the south-west, and the mean temperature of the year is 53° F., the thermometer hardly ever rising above 82° or falling below 14°. The annual rainfall in the south of the department in the neighbourhood of the sea reaches 55 in., but diminishes by more than half towards the north-east.
The fertility of La Chalosse is counterbalanced by the comparative poorness of the soil of the Landes, and small though the population is, the department does not produce wheat enough for its own consumption. The chief cereal is maize; next in importance are rye, wheat and millet. Of vegetables, the bean is most cultivated. The vine is grown in the Chalosse, sheep are numerous, and the “Landes” breed of horses is well known. Forests, chiefly composed of pines, occupy more than half the department, and their exploitation forms the chief industry. The resin of the maritime pine furnishes by distillation essence of turpentine, and from the residue are obtained various qualities of resin, which serve to make varnish, tapers, sealing-wax and lubricants. Tar, and an excellent charcoal for smelting purposes, are also obtained from the pine-wood. The department has several mineral springs, the most important being those of Dax, which were frequented in the time of the Romans, and of Eugénie-les-Bains and Préchacq. The cultivation of the cork tree is also important. There are salt-workings and stone quarries. There are several iron-works in the department; those at Le Boucau, at the mouth of the Adour, are the most important. There are also saw-mills, distilleries, flour-mills, brick and tile works and potteries. Exports include resinous products, pine-timber, metal, brandy; leading imports are grain, coal, iron, millinery and furniture. In its long extent of coast the department has no considerable port. Opposite Cape Breton, however, where the Adour formerly entered the sea, there is, close to land, a deep channel where there is safe anchorage. It was from this once important harbour of Capbreton that the discoverers of the Canadian island of that name set out. Landes includes three arrondissements (Mont-de-Marsan, Dax and St Sever), 28 cantons and 334 communes.
Mont-de-Marsan is the capital of the department, which comes within the circumscription of the appeal court of Pau, the académie (educational division) of Bordeaux and the archbishopric of Auch, and forms part of the region of the 18th army corps. It is served by the Southern railway; there is some navigation on the Adour, but that upon the other rivers is of little importance. Mont-de-Marsan, Dax, St Sever and Aire-sur-l’Adour, the most noteworthy towns, receive separate notice. Hagetmau has a church built over a Romanesque crypt, the roof of which is supported on columns with elaborately-carved capitals. Sorde has an interesting abbey-church of the 13th and 14th centuries.
LANDES,an extensive natural region of south-western France, known more strictly as the Landes de Gascogne. It has an areaof 5400 sq. m., and occupies three-quarters of the department of Landes, half of that of Gironde, and some 175,000 acres of Lot-et-Garonne. The Landes, formerly a vast tract of moorland and marsh, now consist chiefly of fields and forests of pines. They form a plateau, shaped like a triangle, the base of which is the Atlantic coast while the apex is situated slightly west of Nérac (Lot-et-Garonne). Its limits are, on the S. the river Adour; on the E. the hills of Armagnac, Eauzan, Condomois, Agenais and Bazadais; and on the N.E. the Garonne, the hills of Médoc and the Gironde. The height of the plateau ranges in general from 130 to 260 ft.; the highest altitude (498 ft.) is found in the east near Baudignan (department of Landes), from which point there is a gradual slope towards north, south, east and west. The soil is naturally sterile. It is composed of fine sand resting on a subsoil of tufa (alios) impermeable by water; for three-quarters of the year, consequently, the waters, settling on the almost level surface and unable to filter through, used to transform the country into unwholesome swamps, which the Landesats could only traverse on stilts. About the middle of the 18th century an engineer, François Chambrelent, instituted a scheme of draining and planting to remedy these evils. As a result about 1600 m. of ditches have been dug which carry off superficial water either to streams or to the lakes which fringe the landes on the west, and over 1,600,000 acres have been planted with maritime pines and oaks. The coast, for a breadth of about 4 m., and over an area of about 225,000 acres, is bordered by dunes, in ranges parallel to the shore, and from 100 to 300 ft. in height. Driven by the west wind, which is most frequent in these parts, the dunes were slowly advancing year by year towards the east, burying the cultivated lands and even the houses. Nicolas Thomas Brémontier, towards the end of the 18th century, devised the plan of arresting this scourge by planting the dunes with maritime pines. Upwards of 210,000 acres have been thus treated. In the south-west, cork trees take the place of the pines. To prevent the formation of fresh dunes, a “dune littorale” has been formed by means of a palisade. This barrier, from 20 to 30 ft. high, presents an obstacle which the sand cannot cross. On the eastern side of the dunes is a series of lakes (Hourtin et Carcans, Lacanau, Cazau or Sanguinet, Biscarrosse, Aureilhan, St Julien, Léon and Soustons) separated from the sea by the heaping up of the sand. The salt water has escaped by defiltration, and they are now quite fresh. The Basin of Arcachon, which lies midway between the lakes of Lacanau and Cazau, still communicates with the ocean, the current of the Leyre which flows into it having sufficient force to keep a passage open.
LANDESHUT,a town in the Prussian province of Silesia, at the north foot of the Riesengebirge, and on the river Bober, 65 m. S.W. of Breslau by rail. Pop. (1905) 9000. Its main industries are flax-spinning, linen-weaving and manufactures of cloth, shoes and beer. The town dates from the 13th century, being originally a fortress built for protection against the Bohemians. There the Prussians defeated the Austrians in May 1745, and in June 1760 the Prussians were routed by a greatly superior force of Austrians.
See Perschke,Beschreibung und Geschichte der Stadt Landeshut(Breslau, 1829).
See Perschke,Beschreibung und Geschichte der Stadt Landeshut(Breslau, 1829).
LANDGRAVE(Ger.Landgraf, fromLand, “a country” andGraf, “count” ), a German title of nobility surviving from the times of the Holy Roman Empire. It originally signified a count of more than usual power or dignity, and in some cases implied sovereignty. The title is now rare; it is borne by the former sovereign of Hesse-Homburg, now incorporated in Prussia, the heads of the various branches of the house of Hesse, and by a branch of the family of Fürstenberg. In other cases the title of landgrave is borne by German sovereigns as a subsidiary title;e.g.the grand-duke of Saxe-Weimar is landgrave of Thuringia.
LANDLORD AND TENANT.InRoman Law, the relationship of landlord and tenant arose from the contract of letting and hiring (locatio conductio), and existed also with special incidents, under the forms of tenure known asemphyteusis—the long lease of Roman law—andprecarium, or tenancy at will (seeRoman Law).
Law of England.—The law of England—and the laws of Scotland and Ireland agree with it on this point—recognizes no absolute private ownership of land. The absolute and ultimate owner of all land is the crown, and the highest interest that a subject can hold therein—viz. an estate in fee simple—is only a tenancy. But this aspect of the law, under which the landlord, other than the crown, is himself always a tenant, falls beyond the scope of the present article, which is restricted to those holdings that arise from the hiring and leasing of land.
The legal relationship of landlord and tenant is constituted by a lease, or an agreement for a lease, by assignment, by attornment and by estoppel. And first of a lease and an agreement for a lease. All kinds of interests andLeases.property, whether corporeal, such as lands or buildings, or incorporeal, such as rights of common or of way, may be let. The Benefices Act 1898, however, now prohibits the grant of a lease of an advowson. Titles of honour, offices of trust or relating to the administration of justice, and pensions granted by the crown for military services are also inalienable. Generally speaking, any person may grant or take a lease. But there are a number of common-law and statutory qualifications and exceptions. A lease by or to an infant is voidable at his option. But extensive powers of leasing the property of infants have been created by the Settled Estates Act 1877 and the Settled Land Act 1882. A person of unsound mind can grant or take a lease if he is capable of contracting. Leases may be made on behalf of lunatics subject to the jurisdiction in lunacy under the provisions of the Lunacy Act 1890 and the Settled Land Act 1882. A married woman can lease her “separate property” apart from or under the Married Women’s Property Acts, as if she were a single woman (feme sole). As regards other property, the concurrence of her husband is generally necessary. An alien was, at common law, incapable of being either a lessor or a lessee. But this disqualification is removed by the Naturalization Act 1870. The right to deal with the property of a convict while he is undergoing sentence (but not while he is out of prison on leave) is, by the Forfeiture Act 1870, vested in his administrator. Leases by or to corporations must be by deed under their common seal, and the leasing powers of ecclesiastical corporations in particular are subject to complicated statutory restrictions which cannot here be examined (see Phillimore,Eccl. Law, 2nd ed., p. 1281). Powers of granting building and other leases have been conferred by modern legislation on municipal corporations and other localauthorities.
A person having an interest in land can, in general, create a valid interest only to the extent of that interest. Thus a tenant for years, or even from year to year only, may stand in his turn as landlord to another tenant. If he profess, however, to create a tenancy for a period longer than that to which his own interest extends, he does not thereby give to his tenant an interest available against the reversioner or remainder man. The subtenant’s interest will expire with the interest of the person who created it. But as between the subtenant and his immediate lessor the subtenancy will be good, and should the interest of the lessor become greater than it was when the subtenancy was created the subtenant will have the benefit of it. On his side, again, the subtenant, by accepting that position, is estopped from denying that his lessor’s title (whatever it be) is good. There are also special rules of law with reference to leases by persons having only a limited interest in the property leased,e.g.a tenant for life under the Settled Land Acts, or a mortgagor or mortgagee.
The Letting.—To constitute the relationship of landlord and tenant in the mode under consideration, it is necessary not only that there should be parties capable of entering into the contract, but that there should be a letting, as distinct from a mere agreement to let, and that the right conveyed should be a right to the exclusive possession of the subject of the letting and not a simple licence to use it. Whether a particular instrument is a lease, or an agreement for a lease, or a bare licence, is a question the answer to which depends to a large extent on the circumstances of individual cases; and the only general ruleis that in a lease there must be an expression of intention on the part of the lessor to convey, and of the lessee to accept, the exclusive possession of the thing let for the prescribed term and on the prescribed conditions. The landlord must not part with the whole of his interest, since, if he does so, the instrument is not a lease but an assignment. Where a tenant enters under an agreement for a lease and pays rent, the agreement will be regarded as a lease from year to year; and if the agreement is one of which specific performance would be decreed (i.e.if it contains a complete contract between the parties and satisfies the provisions—to be noted immediately—of the Statute of Frauds, and if, in all the circumstances, its enforcement is just and equitable), the lessee is treated as having a lease for the term fixed in the agreement from the time that he took possession under it, just as if a valid lease had been executed. At common law a lease for a term of years (other than a lease by a corporation) might be made by parol. But under the Statute of Frauds (1677, ss., 1, 2) leases, except those the term of which does not exceed three years, and in which the reserved rent is equal to two-thirds at least of the improved value of the premises, were required to be in writing signed by the parties or their lawfully authorized agents; and, under the Real Property Act 1845, a lease required by law to be in writing is void unless made by deed. The Statute of Frauds also prohibits an action from being brought upon any agreement for a lease, for any term, unless such agreement is in writing and signed by the party to be charged therewith or by some agent lawfully authorized by him.
Forms of Tenancy.—The following are the principal forms of tenancy: (i.)Tenancy for Life.—A lease for life must be made by deed, and the term may be the life of the lessee and the life or lives of some other person or persons, and in the latter case either for their joint lives or for the life of the survivor; also for the lives of the lessee himself and of some other person or persons, and this constitutes a single estate. A tenant for life under a settlement has extensive powers of leasing under the Settled Land Act 1882. He may lease the settled land, or any part of it, for any time not exceeding (a) in the case of a building lease, 99 years; (b) in the case of a mining lease, 60 years, (c) in the case of any other lease, 21 years. He may also grant either a lease of the surface of settled land, reserving the mines and minerals, or a lease of the minerals without the surface. A lease under the Settled Land Act 1882 must be by deed and must be made to take effect in possession not later than 12 months after its date; the best rent that can reasonably be obtained must be reserved and the lease must contain a covenant by the lessee for payment of the rent, and a condition of re-entry on non-payment within a specified time not exceeding 30 days, (ii.)Tenancy for Years,i.e.for a term of years.—This tenancy is created by an express contract between the parties and never by implication, as in the case of tenancy from year to year and tenancy at will. Here the tenancy ends on the expiry of the prescribed term, without notice to quit or any other formality. (iii.)Tenancy from Year to Year.—This tenancy may be created by express agreement between the parties, or by implication as,e.g.where a person enters and pays rent under a lease for years, void either by law or by statute, or without any actual lease or agreement, or holds over after the determination of a lease whether for years or otherwise. In the absence of express agreement or custom or statutory provision (such as is made by the Agricultural Holdings Act 1883), a tenancy from year to year is determinable on half a year’s notice expiring at the end of some current year of the tenancy. Where there is no express stipulation creating a yearly tenancy, if the parties have contracted that the tenant may be dispossessed by a notice given at any time, effect will be given to this provision. The common law doctrine of a six months’ notice being required to terminate a tenancy from year to year of a corporeal hereditament, does not apply to an incorporeal hereditament such as a right to shoot. (iv.)Tenancies for Shorter Periods.—Closely associated with tenancies from year to year are various other tenancies for shorter periods than a year—weekly, monthly or quarterly. Questions of considerable importance frequently arise as to the notice necessary to terminate tenancies of this character. The issue is one of fact; the date at which the rent is payable is a material circumstance, but it may be said generally that a week’s notice should be given to determine a weekly tenancy, a month’s to determine a monthly tenancy, and a quarter’s to determine a quarterly tenancy. It is chiefly in connexion with the letting of lodgings, flats, &c., that tenancies of this class arise (seeFlats,Lodger and Lodgings). (v.)Tenancy at Will.—A tenancy at will is one which endures at the will of the parties only,i.e.at the will of both, for if a demise be made to hold at the will of the lessor, the law implies that it is at the will of the lessee also and vice versa. Any signification of a desire to terminate the tenancy, whether expressed as “notice” or not, will bring it to an end. This form of tenancy, like tenancy from year to year, may be treated either by express contract or by implication, as where premises are occupied with the consent of the owner, but without any express or implied agreement as to the duration of the tenancy, or where a house is lent rent free by one person to another. A tenancy at will is determined by either party alienating his interest as soon as such alienation comes to the knowledge of the other. (vi.)Tenancy at Sufferance.—A tenant who comes into possession by a lawful demise, but “holds over” or continues in possession after his estate is ended, is said to be a “tenant at sufferance.” Properly speaking, tenancy at sufferance is not a tenancy at all, inasmuch as if the landlord acquiesces in it, it becomes a tenancy at will; and it is to be regarded merely as a legal fiction which prevented the rightful owner from treating the tenant as a trespasser until he had himself made an actual entry on or had brought an action to recover the land. The Distress for Rent Act 1737, however, enables a landlord to recover double rent from a tenant who holds over after having himself given notice to quit; while another statute in the reign of George II.—the Landlord and Tenant Act 1730—makes a tenant who holds over after receiving a notice from his landlord liable to the extent of double the value of the premises. There is no tenancy by sufferance against the crown.
Forms of Tenancy.—The following are the principal forms of tenancy: (i.)Tenancy for Life.—A lease for life must be made by deed, and the term may be the life of the lessee and the life or lives of some other person or persons, and in the latter case either for their joint lives or for the life of the survivor; also for the lives of the lessee himself and of some other person or persons, and this constitutes a single estate. A tenant for life under a settlement has extensive powers of leasing under the Settled Land Act 1882. He may lease the settled land, or any part of it, for any time not exceeding (a) in the case of a building lease, 99 years; (b) in the case of a mining lease, 60 years, (c) in the case of any other lease, 21 years. He may also grant either a lease of the surface of settled land, reserving the mines and minerals, or a lease of the minerals without the surface. A lease under the Settled Land Act 1882 must be by deed and must be made to take effect in possession not later than 12 months after its date; the best rent that can reasonably be obtained must be reserved and the lease must contain a covenant by the lessee for payment of the rent, and a condition of re-entry on non-payment within a specified time not exceeding 30 days, (ii.)Tenancy for Years,i.e.for a term of years.—This tenancy is created by an express contract between the parties and never by implication, as in the case of tenancy from year to year and tenancy at will. Here the tenancy ends on the expiry of the prescribed term, without notice to quit or any other formality. (iii.)Tenancy from Year to Year.—This tenancy may be created by express agreement between the parties, or by implication as,e.g.where a person enters and pays rent under a lease for years, void either by law or by statute, or without any actual lease or agreement, or holds over after the determination of a lease whether for years or otherwise. In the absence of express agreement or custom or statutory provision (such as is made by the Agricultural Holdings Act 1883), a tenancy from year to year is determinable on half a year’s notice expiring at the end of some current year of the tenancy. Where there is no express stipulation creating a yearly tenancy, if the parties have contracted that the tenant may be dispossessed by a notice given at any time, effect will be given to this provision. The common law doctrine of a six months’ notice being required to terminate a tenancy from year to year of a corporeal hereditament, does not apply to an incorporeal hereditament such as a right to shoot. (iv.)Tenancies for Shorter Periods.—Closely associated with tenancies from year to year are various other tenancies for shorter periods than a year—weekly, monthly or quarterly. Questions of considerable importance frequently arise as to the notice necessary to terminate tenancies of this character. The issue is one of fact; the date at which the rent is payable is a material circumstance, but it may be said generally that a week’s notice should be given to determine a weekly tenancy, a month’s to determine a monthly tenancy, and a quarter’s to determine a quarterly tenancy. It is chiefly in connexion with the letting of lodgings, flats, &c., that tenancies of this class arise (seeFlats,Lodger and Lodgings). (v.)Tenancy at Will.—A tenancy at will is one which endures at the will of the parties only,i.e.at the will of both, for if a demise be made to hold at the will of the lessor, the law implies that it is at the will of the lessee also and vice versa. Any signification of a desire to terminate the tenancy, whether expressed as “notice” or not, will bring it to an end. This form of tenancy, like tenancy from year to year, may be treated either by express contract or by implication, as where premises are occupied with the consent of the owner, but without any express or implied agreement as to the duration of the tenancy, or where a house is lent rent free by one person to another. A tenancy at will is determined by either party alienating his interest as soon as such alienation comes to the knowledge of the other. (vi.)Tenancy at Sufferance.—A tenant who comes into possession by a lawful demise, but “holds over” or continues in possession after his estate is ended, is said to be a “tenant at sufferance.” Properly speaking, tenancy at sufferance is not a tenancy at all, inasmuch as if the landlord acquiesces in it, it becomes a tenancy at will; and it is to be regarded merely as a legal fiction which prevented the rightful owner from treating the tenant as a trespasser until he had himself made an actual entry on or had brought an action to recover the land. The Distress for Rent Act 1737, however, enables a landlord to recover double rent from a tenant who holds over after having himself given notice to quit; while another statute in the reign of George II.—the Landlord and Tenant Act 1730—makes a tenant who holds over after receiving a notice from his landlord liable to the extent of double the value of the premises. There is no tenancy by sufferance against the crown.
Form of a Lease.—The component parts of a lease are the parties, the recitals (when necessary) setting out such matters as the title of the lessor; the demise or actual letting (the word “demise” is ordinarily used, but any term indicating an express intention to make a present letting is sufficient); the parcels in which the extent of the premises demised is stated; thehabendum(which defines the commencement and the term of the lease), thereddendumor reservation of rent, and the covenants and conditions. The Conveyancing Act 1881 provides that, as regards conveyances subsequent to 1881, unless a contrary intention is expressed, a lease of “land” is to be deemed to include all buildings, fixtures, easements, &c., appertaining to it; and, if there are houses or other buildings on the land demised, all out-houses, erections, &c., are to pass with the lease of the land. Rights which the landlord desires to retain over the lands let are excepted or reserved. Sporting rights will pass to the lessee unless reserved (seeGame Laws). A grant or reservation of mines in general terms confers, or reserves, a right to work the mines, subject to the obligation of leaving a reasonable support to the surface as it exists at the time of the grant or reservation. It is not necessary that a lease should be dated. In the absence of a date, it will take effect from the day of delivery.
Covenants in Leases.—These may be roughly divided into four groups: (i.)Implied Covenants.—A covenant is said to be implied when it is raised by implication of law without any express provision being made for it in the lease. Thus a lessee is under an implied obligation to treat the premises demised in a tenant-like or “husband-like” manner, and again, where in a lease by deed the word “demise” is used, the lessor probably covenants impliedly for his own title and for the quiet enjoyment of the premises by the lessee. (ii.)”Usual” Covenants.—Where an agreement for a lease specifies only such essential conditions as the payment of rent, and either mentions no other terms, or provides that the lease shall contain the “usual” covenants, the parties are entitled to have inserted in the lease made in pursuance of the agreement such other provisions as are “usual” in leases of property of the same character, and in the same district, not being provisions tending to abridge or qualify the legal incidents of the estate intended to be granted to the lessee. The question what covenants are “usual” is a question of fact. A covenant by the lessor, limited to his own acts and those of persons claiming under or through him, for the “quiet enjoyment” by the lessee of the demised premises, and covenants by the lessee to pay rent, to pay taxes, except such as fall upon the landlord, to keep the premises in repair, and to allow the landlord to enter and view the condition of the premises may be taken as typical instances of “usual” covenants. Covenants by the lessee to build and repair, not to assign or underlet without license, or to insure, or not to carry on a particular trade on the premises leased, have been held not to be “usual.” Where the agreement provides for the insertion in the lease of “proper” covenants, such covenants only are pointed at as are calculated to secure the full effect of the contract, and a covenant against assignment or under-letting would not ordinarily be included. (iii.)The Covenants running with the Land.—A covenant is said to “run with the land” when the rights and duties which it creates are not merely personal to the immediate parties (in which case a covenant is said to be “collateral”), but pass also to their assignees. At common law, it was said that covenants “ran with the land” but not with the reversion, the assignee of the reversion not having the rights of the original lessor. But the assignees of both parties were placed on the same footing by a statute of Henry VIII. (1540). A covenant “runs with the land” if it relates either to a thingin esse,which is part and parcel of the demise,e.g.the payment of rent, the repair of houses or fixtures or machinery already built or set up, or to a thing notin esseat the time of the demise, but touching the land, provided that the word “assigns” is used in the covenant. All implied covenants run with the land. As instances of “collateral” covenants, we may take a covenant by a lessor to give the lessee a right of pre-emption over a piece of land adjoining the subject of the demise, or in the case of a lease of a beer-shop, not to keep any similar shop within a prescribed distance from the premises demised, or a covenant by a lessee to pay rates on premises not demised. A covenant not to assign without the lessor’s assent runs with the land and applies to a re-assignment to the original lessee. (iv.)Restrictive Covenants.—These may be subdivided into two classes—covenants not to assign or underlet without the lessor’s consent (it may be noted that such consent must be applied for even if, under the covenant, it cannot be withheld); and covenants in restraint of trade,e.g.not to use the demised premises for certain trading purposes, and in the case of “tied houses” a covenant by the lessees to purchase all beer required from the lessors.In addition a lease frequently contains covenants for renewal of the lease at the option of the lessee, and for repairs or insurance against damage by fire by the lessee. Leases frequently contain a covenant by the lessee to bear and pay rates, taxes, assessments and other “impositions” or “charges,” or “duties” or “outgoings,” or “burdens” (except property tax) imposed upon the demised premises during the term. Considerable difficulty has arisen as to the scope of the terms “impositions,” “charges,” “duties,” “outgoings,” “burdens.” The words, “rates, taxes, assessments” point to payments of a periodical or recurring character. Are the latter words in such covenants limited to payments of this kind, or do they include single and definite payments demanded, for example, by a local authority, acting under statutory powers, for improvements of a permanent kind affecting the premises demised? The decisions on the point are numerous and difficult to reconcile, but the main test is whether, on the true construction of the particular covenant, the lessee has undertaken to indemnify the landlord against payments of all kinds. The stronger current of modern authority is in favour of the landlords and not in favour of restricting the meaning of covenants of this class. It may be added that, if a lessee covenants to pay rates and taxes, no demand by the collector apparently is necessary to constitute a breach of the covenant; where a rate is duly made and published it is the duty of the parties assessed to seek out the collector and pay it.
Covenants in Leases.—These may be roughly divided into four groups: (i.)Implied Covenants.—A covenant is said to be implied when it is raised by implication of law without any express provision being made for it in the lease. Thus a lessee is under an implied obligation to treat the premises demised in a tenant-like or “husband-like” manner, and again, where in a lease by deed the word “demise” is used, the lessor probably covenants impliedly for his own title and for the quiet enjoyment of the premises by the lessee. (ii.)”Usual” Covenants.—Where an agreement for a lease specifies only such essential conditions as the payment of rent, and either mentions no other terms, or provides that the lease shall contain the “usual” covenants, the parties are entitled to have inserted in the lease made in pursuance of the agreement such other provisions as are “usual” in leases of property of the same character, and in the same district, not being provisions tending to abridge or qualify the legal incidents of the estate intended to be granted to the lessee. The question what covenants are “usual” is a question of fact. A covenant by the lessor, limited to his own acts and those of persons claiming under or through him, for the “quiet enjoyment” by the lessee of the demised premises, and covenants by the lessee to pay rent, to pay taxes, except such as fall upon the landlord, to keep the premises in repair, and to allow the landlord to enter and view the condition of the premises may be taken as typical instances of “usual” covenants. Covenants by the lessee to build and repair, not to assign or underlet without license, or to insure, or not to carry on a particular trade on the premises leased, have been held not to be “usual.” Where the agreement provides for the insertion in the lease of “proper” covenants, such covenants only are pointed at as are calculated to secure the full effect of the contract, and a covenant against assignment or under-letting would not ordinarily be included. (iii.)The Covenants running with the Land.—A covenant is said to “run with the land” when the rights and duties which it creates are not merely personal to the immediate parties (in which case a covenant is said to be “collateral”), but pass also to their assignees. At common law, it was said that covenants “ran with the land” but not with the reversion, the assignee of the reversion not having the rights of the original lessor. But the assignees of both parties were placed on the same footing by a statute of Henry VIII. (1540). A covenant “runs with the land” if it relates either to a thingin esse,which is part and parcel of the demise,e.g.the payment of rent, the repair of houses or fixtures or machinery already built or set up, or to a thing notin esseat the time of the demise, but touching the land, provided that the word “assigns” is used in the covenant. All implied covenants run with the land. As instances of “collateral” covenants, we may take a covenant by a lessor to give the lessee a right of pre-emption over a piece of land adjoining the subject of the demise, or in the case of a lease of a beer-shop, not to keep any similar shop within a prescribed distance from the premises demised, or a covenant by a lessee to pay rates on premises not demised. A covenant not to assign without the lessor’s assent runs with the land and applies to a re-assignment to the original lessee. (iv.)Restrictive Covenants.—These may be subdivided into two classes—covenants not to assign or underlet without the lessor’s consent (it may be noted that such consent must be applied for even if, under the covenant, it cannot be withheld); and covenants in restraint of trade,e.g.not to use the demised premises for certain trading purposes, and in the case of “tied houses” a covenant by the lessees to purchase all beer required from the lessors.
In addition a lease frequently contains covenants for renewal of the lease at the option of the lessee, and for repairs or insurance against damage by fire by the lessee. Leases frequently contain a covenant by the lessee to bear and pay rates, taxes, assessments and other “impositions” or “charges,” or “duties” or “outgoings,” or “burdens” (except property tax) imposed upon the demised premises during the term. Considerable difficulty has arisen as to the scope of the terms “impositions,” “charges,” “duties,” “outgoings,” “burdens.” The words, “rates, taxes, assessments” point to payments of a periodical or recurring character. Are the latter words in such covenants limited to payments of this kind, or do they include single and definite payments demanded, for example, by a local authority, acting under statutory powers, for improvements of a permanent kind affecting the premises demised? The decisions on the point are numerous and difficult to reconcile, but the main test is whether, on the true construction of the particular covenant, the lessee has undertaken to indemnify the landlord against payments of all kinds. The stronger current of modern authority is in favour of the landlords and not in favour of restricting the meaning of covenants of this class. It may be added that, if a lessee covenants to pay rates and taxes, no demand by the collector apparently is necessary to constitute a breach of the covenant; where a rate is duly made and published it is the duty of the parties assessed to seek out the collector and pay it.
Mutual Rights and Liabilities of Landlord and Tenant.—These are to a large extent regulated by the covenants of the lease. (i.) The landlord generally covenants—and, in the absence of such a proviso, a covenant will be implied from the fact of letting—that the tenant shall have quiet enjoyment of the premises for the time agreed upon. This obligation makes the landlord responsible for any lawful eviction of the tenant during the term, but not for wrongful eviction unless he is himself the wrong-doer or has expressly made himself responsible for evictions of all kinds. It may be noted here that at common law no lease for years is complete till actual entry has been made by the lessee. Till then, he has only a right of entry orinteresse termini. (ii.) The tenant, on his part, is presumed to undertake to use the property in a reasonable manner, according to the purposes for which it was let, and to do reasonable repairs.Repairs.A landlord is not presumed to have undertaken to put the premises in repair, nor to execute repairs. But the respective obligations of parties where repairs are, as they always are in leases for years, the subject of express covenant, may vary indefinitely. The obligation is generally imposed upon the tenant to keep the premises in “good condition” or “tenantable repair.” The amount and quality of the repairs necessary to fulfil the covenant are always relative to the age, class and condition of the premises at the time of the lease. A tenant is not responsible, under such a covenant, for deterioration due to diminution in value caused by lapse of time or by the elements. Where there is an unqualified covenant to repair, and the premises during the tenancy are burnt down, or destroyed by some other inevitable calamity, the tenant is bound to rebuild and restore them at his own expense, even although the landlord has taken out a policy on his own account and been paid by the insurance company in respect of it. A covenant to keep in repair requires the tenant to put the premises in repair if they are out of it, and to maintain them in that condition up to and at the end of the tenancy. A breach of the covenant to repair gives the landlord an action for damages which will be measured by the estimated injury to the reversion if the action be brought during the tenancy, and by the sum necessary to execute the repairs, if the action be brought later. (iii.) The improper user of the premises to the injury of the reversioner iswaste(q.v.). (iv.) Covenants by the tenants to insure the premises and keep them insured are also common; and if the premises are left uninsured for the smallest portion of the term, though there is no damage by fire, the covenant is broken. (v.) Covenants to bear and pay rates and taxes have been discussed above. (vi.) As to the tenant’s obligation to pay rent, seeRent.
Assignment, Attornment, Estoppel.—The relationship of landlord and tenant may be altered either voluntarily, by the act of the parties, or involuntarily, by the operation of law, and may also be dissolved. The principal mode of voluntary alteration is an assignment either by the tenant of his term or by the landlord of his reversion. An assignment which creates the relationship of landlord and tenant between the lessor or lessee and the assignee, must be by deed, but the acceptance by a landlord of rent from a tenant under an invalid assignment may create an implied tenancy from year to year; and similarly payment of rent by a tenant may amount to an acknowledgment of his landlord’s title. This is one form of tenancy by estoppel. The principle of all tenancies of this kind is that something has been done by the party estopped, amounting to an admission which he cannot be allowed to contradict. “Attornment,” or the agreement by a tenant to become tenant to a new landlord, is a term now often used to indicate an acknowledgment of the existence of the relationship of landlord and tenant. It may be noted that it is still common to insert in mortgage deeds what is called an “attornment clause,” by which the mortgagor “attorns” tenant to the mortgagee, and the latter thereupon acquires a power of distress as an additional security. If the lands assigned are situated in Middlesex or Yorkshire, the assignment should be registered under the Middlesex Registry or Yorkshire Registries Acts, as the case may be; and similar provision is now made for the registration by an assignee of his title under the Land Transfer Acts 1875 and 1897.
Underlease.—Another form of alteration in a contract of tenancy is an under-lease, which differs from assignment in this—that the lessor parts with a portion of his estate instead of, as in assignment, with the whole of it. There is no privity of contract between an underlessee and the superior landlord, but the latter can enforce against the former restrictive covenants of which he had notice; it is the duty of the underlessee to inform himself as to the covenants of the original lease, and, if he enters and takes possession, he will be considered to have had full notice of, and will be bound by, these covenants.
Bankruptcy, Death.—The contract of tenancy may also be altered by operation of law. If a tenant become bankrupt, his interest passes to his trustee in bankruptcy—unless, as is frequently the case, the lease makes the occurrence of that contingency determine the lease. So, on the death of a tenant, his interest passes to his legal representatives.
Dissolution of Tenancy.—Tenancy is dissolved by the expiry of the term for which it was created, or by forfeiture of the tenant’s interest on the ground of the breach of some condition by the tenant and re-entry by the landlord. A breach of condition may, however, be waived by the landlord, and the legislature has made provision for the relief of the tenant from the consequences of such breaches in certain cases. Relief from forfeiture and rights of re-entry are now regulated chiefly by the Conveyancing Acts 1881 and 1882. Under these acts a right of re-entry or forfeiture is not to be enforceable unless and until the lessor has served on the lessee a written notice specifying the breach of covenant or condition complained of, and requiring him to remedy it or make compensation, and this demand has not within a reasonable time been complied with; and when a lessor is proceeding to enforce such a right the court may, if it think fit, grant relief to the lessee. A forfeiture is also waived if the landlord elects not to take advantage of it—and shows his election either expressly or impliedly by some act, which acknowledges the continuance of the tenancy,e.g.by the acceptance of, or even by an absolute and unqualified demand for,rent, which has accrued due since the forfeiture, by bringing an action for such rent, or by distraining for rent whether due before or after the forfeiture.
A tenancy may also be determined by merger,i.e.where a greater and a less estate coincide and meet in one and the same person, without any intermediate estate, as, for instance, when a tenant for years obtains the fee simple. There may also be a surrender, either voluntary or by operation of law, which will determine a tenancy, as, for example, when a tenant is party to some act, the validity of which he is legally estopped from denying and which would not have been valid had the tenancy continued to exist.
The land, on the expiration of the tenancy, becomes at common law the absolute property of the landlord, no matter how it may have been altered or improved during the occupation. In certain cases, however, the law has discriminated between the contending claims of landlord and tenant. (1) In respect offixtures(which may be shortly defined as movables so affixed to the soil as to become part thereof), the tenant may sometimes remove them,e.g.when they have been brought on the premises for the purpose of being used in business (seeFixtures). (2) In respect ofemblements,i.e.the profits of sown land, a tenant may be entitled to these whose term comes to an end by the happening of an uncertain contingency (seeEmblements). (3) A similar right is very generally recognized by custom in tenants whose term expires in the ordinary way. The custom of the district, in the absence of stipulations between the parties, would be imported into their contract—the tenant going out on the same conditions as he came in. Such customary tenant right only arises at the expiration of the lease, and on the substantial performance of the covenants; and is forfeited if the tenant abandons his tenancy during the term. Tenant right is assignable, and will pass under an assignment of “all the estate and interest” of the outgoing tenant in the farm. But, with the exceptions noted, the land in its improved condition passes over at common law to the landlord. The tenant may have added to its value by buildings, by labour applied to the land, or by the use of fertilizing manures, but, whatever be the amount of the additional value, he is not entitled to any compensation whatever. This again is a matter which the parties may, if they please, regulate for themselves.
The law as toEjectmentis dealt with under that heading.