Alexander Wood Renton

“ The police power fetters rights of property; eminent domain takes them away. The power of taxation is analogous to eminent domain as regards the purposes to which the contribution of the tax-payer is to be applied. But, unlike eminent domain, it does not necessarily involve a taking of specific property for those purposes. The destruction of property in military operations—or in the discharge by Government of other duties in cases of necessity, e.g. in order to check the progress of a fire in a city—clearly cannot be said to be an exercise of the power of eminent domain. ”

“ The porter is usually appointed and paid by the landlord, who is liable for his acts while engaged on his general duties; while engaged on any special duty for any tenant the porter is the servant of the latter, who is liable for his conduct within the scope of his employment.
In Scots law the rights and obligations of the lessors and lessees of flats, or—as they are called—“flatted houses,” spring partly from the exclusive possession by each lessee of his own flat, partly from the common interest of all in the tenement as a whole. ”

“ It is distinguished from profits à prendre—another species of servitude which involves a right to participate in the profits of the soil of another—since an easement confers merely a convenience (aisiamentum) to be exercised over the land of another (without any participation in the profits of it) , i.e. a right to use the soil or produce of the soil in a way tending to the more convenient enjoyment of another piece of land. Thus a right of way is an easement, a right of common is a profit. ”

“ Compensation, in its most familiar sense, is however a nomen juris for the reparation or satisfaction made to the owners of property which is taken by the state or by local authorities or by the promoters of parliamentary undertakings, under statutory authority, for public purposes. There are two main legal theories on which such appropriation of private property is justified. The American may be taken as a representative illustration of the one, and the English of the other. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Corporal punishment in defence of self or others needs no comment, except that, like all other acts done in defence, its justification depends on whether or not it was reasonably necessary for the protection of the person attacked. Among persons invested with punitive authority, mention must first be made of parents and guardians, and of teachers, who have, by implied delegation from the parents, and as incidental to the relation of master and pupil, powers of reasonable corporal punishment. ”

“ An arbitrator (and the following observations apply mutatis mutandis to an umpire after he has entered on his duties) has power to administer oaths to, or take the affirmations of, the parties and their witnesses; and any person who wilfully and corruptly gives false evidence before him may be prosecuted and punished for perjury (Arbitration Act 1889, sched. i. and s. 22) . At any stage in the reference he may, and shall if he be required by the court, state in the form of a special case for the opinion of the court any question of law arising in the arbitration. ”

“ The owner of an upper storey, without any express grant or enjoyment for any given time, has a right to the support of the lower storey (Dalton v. Angus, 1881, 6 A.C. 740, 793) . The owner of the lower storey, however, so long as he does nothing actively in the way of withdrawing its support, is not bound to repair, in the absence of a special covenant imposing that obligation upon him. The right of support being an easement in favour of the owner of the upper storey, it is for him to repair. He is in law entitled to enter on the lower storey for the purpose of doing the necessary repairs. ”

“ The rent stipulated for must not be illusory, and must fairly represent the value of the subjects leased, and the term of the lease must not be excessive (as to rent generally, see Rent) . A life-renter can only grant a lease that is effectual during the subsistence of the life-rent. There is practically no limitation, but the will of the parties, as to the persons to whom a lease may be granted. A lease granted to a tenant by name will pass, on his death during the subsistence of the term to his heir-at-law, even if the lease contains no destination to heirs. ”

“ For example, a man builds two houses, each of which by the plan of construction receives support from the other; this mutual right of support is a quasi-easement, of which on severance of the tenements the grantee of one will have the benefit; where the enjoyment of the severed tenement could not be had at all without such a right, it is said to be an “easement of necessity.” ”

“ But while a rack rent is generally higher in amount than a ground rent, the latter is usually better secured, as it carries with it the reversionary interest in buildings and improvements put on the ground after the date at which the ground rent was fixed, and accordingly ground rents have been regarded as a good investment. Trustees empowered to invest money on the security of freehold or copyhold hereditaments, may invest upon freehold ground rents reserved out of house property. ”

“ In the United States, the old English action of ejectment was adopted to a very limited extent, and where it was so adopted has often been superseded, as in Connecticut, by a single action for all cases of ouster, disseisin or ejectment. In this action, known as an action of disseisin or ejectment, both possession of the land and damages may be recovered. In some of the states a tenant against whom an action of ejectment is brought by a stranger is bound under a penalty, as in England, to give notice of the claim to the landlord in order that he may appear and defend his title. ”

“ An arbiter who has accepted office may be compelled by an action in court of session to proceed with his duty unless he has sufficient cause, such as ill-health or supervening interest, for renouncing. The court may name a sole arbiter, where provision is made for one only and the parties cannot agree (Arbitration [Scotland] Act 1894, s. 2) ; and may name an arbiter where a party having the right or duty to nominate one of two arbiters will not exercise it (ib. s. 3) . Scots law as to the requisites of a valid award is practically identical with the law of England. ”

“ 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. ”

“ An arbitrator cannot resign if he has once commenced to act, and can only be relieved on some ground arising subsequently to the submission (art. 1014) . Each party to the arbitration is required to produce his evidence at least fifteen days before the expiration of the period fixed by the submission (art. 1016) . If the arbitrators, differing in opinion, cannot agree upon an umpire (tiers arbitre) , the president of the Tribunal of Commerce will appoint one, on the application of either party (art. 1017) . ”

“ There remains the question how far drunkenness itself is a crime. Mere private intoxication is not, either in England or in the United States (Bishop, Crim. Law, 8th ed., i. s. 399) indictable as an offence at common law; but in all civilized countries public drunkenness is punishable when it amounts to a breach of the peace (see Liquor Laws) or contravention of public order; and modern legislation in many countries provides for deprivation of personal liberty for long periods in case of a frequent repetition of the offence. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Rent service is the oldest and most dignified kind of existing rent. It is the only one to which the power of distress attaches at common law, giving the landlord a preferential right over other creditors exercisable without the intervention of judicial authority (see Distress) . The increasing importance of socage tenure, arising in part from the convenience of paying a certain amount, whether in money or kind, rather than comparatively uncertain services, led to the gradual evolution of the modern view of rent as a sum due by contract between two independent persons. ”

“ 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 word “covenant” has been used in a variety of senses in English law.
1. In its strict sense, covenant means an agreement under seal, that something has or has not already been done, or shall or shall not be done hereafter (Shep. Touchstone, 160, 162) . It is most commonly used with reference to sales or leases of land, but is sometimes applied to any promise or stipulation, whether under seal or not. The person who makes, and is bound to perform, the promise or stipulation is the covenantor: the person in whose favour it is made is the covenantee. ”

“ Scotland.—In Scots law “waste” is not used as a technical term, but the respective rights of fiar and life-renter are much the same as in England. As a general rule, a life-renter has no right to cut timber, even though planted by himself. An exception is admitted in the case of coppice wood, which is cut at regular intervals and allowed to grow again from the roots. Grown timber is also available to the life-renter for the purpose of keeping up the estate or repairing buildings. Before making use of mature timber for estate purposes, the life-renter should give notice to the fiar. ”

“ Where an estate of uncertain duration terminates unexpectedly by the death of the tenant, or some other event due to no fault of his own, the law gives to the personal representative the profits of crops of this nature as compensation for the tilling, manuring and sowing of the land. If the estate, although of uncertain duration, is determined by the tenant’s own acts, the right to emblements does not arise. ”