Alexander Wood Renton

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The rights and obligations of the lessor and the tenant (e.g. as to the use of the produce, the payment of rent, the quiet possession of the subjects demised, and as to the payment of rates and taxes) are similar to those existing under English law. An agricultural lease does not, apart from stipulation, confer any right to kill game, other than hares and rabbits (as to which, see the Ground Game Act 1880, and Game Laws) or any right of fishing. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ LETTERS PATENT. It is a rule alike of common law and sound policy that grants of freehold interests, franchises, liberties, &c., by the sovereign to a subject should be made only after due consideration, and in a form readily accessible to the public. These ends are attained in England through the agency of that piece of constitutional machinery known as “letters patent.” It is here proposed to consider only the characteristics of letters patent generally. The law relating to letters patent for inventions is dealt with under the heading Patents. ”

“ The remainder-man is not so great a favourite of the law as the heir, and the right to fixtures is construed more favourably for executors than in the preceding cases between heir and executor. Whatever are executor’s fixtures against the heir would therefore be executor’s fixtures against the remainder-man. And the result of the cases seems to be that, as against the remainder, the executor of the tenant for life would be certainly entitled to trade fixtures. Agricultural fixtures are not removable by the executor of a tenant for life. ”

“ Sometimes the term of payment is before the crop is reaped, sometimes after. “The terms thus stipulated are called ‘the conventional terms’; the rent payable by anticipation being called ‘forehand rent,’ that which is payable after the crop is reaped, ‘back rent.’ Where the rent is in grain, or otherwise payable in produce, it is to be satisfied from the produce of the farm, if there be any. If there be none the tenant is bound and entitled to deliver fair marketable grain of the same kind.” ”

“ In agricultural tenancies the legal terms for the payment of rent are at Whitsunday after the crop has been shown, and at Martinmas after it has been reaped. But a landlord and tenant may substitute conventional terms of payment, either anticipating (fore, or forehand rent) or postponing (back, or backhand rent) the legal term. The rent paid by vassal to superior is called feu-duty (see Feu) . Its nearest English equivalent is the fee farm rent. The remedy of distress does not exist in Scots law. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Agricultural tenants are not entitled, at common law, to remove trade fixtures. But the Landlord and Tenant Act 1851 granted such a right of removal in the case of buildings or machinery erected by a tenant at his own expense, and with his landlord’s consent in writing, provided that the freehold was not injured or that any injury was made good, and that before removal a month’s written notice was given to the landlord, who had an option of purchase. ”

“ Drunkenness is also a circumstance of which a jury may take account in considering whether an act was premeditated, or whether a prisoner acted in self-defence or under provocation, when the question is whether the danger apprehended or the provocation was sufficient to justify his conduct or to alter its legal character. Moreover, delirium tremens, if it produce such a degree of madness as to render a person incapable of distinguishing right from wrong, relieves him from criminal responsibility for any act committed by him while under its influence ”

“ The crofter enjoys a perpetual tenure subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions as to payment of rent, non-assignment of tenancy, &c., and to defeasance at his own option on giving one year’s notice to the landlord. A Crofters’ Commission constituted under the acts has power to fix fair rents, and the crofter on renunciation of his tenancy or removal from his holding is entitled to compensation for permanent improvements. ”