The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-29 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

A Treatise on the Law of Leases, with Forms and Prece-
dents. By T Roam' ?Ler?, Bag., of Lincoln's-inn, Bar.
sister-at-Law.
The extent and importance of the interests in houses
and lands—technically, real property—which in this
country are secured by leases, must always render a
work on the law of leases one of considerable in-
terest to the legal profession; and there are few
others who do not occasionally find some precise know-
ledge of this portion of law of great practical value. In
London, not only are moot of the occupiers of the prin-
cipal trade-houses and private dwellings leaseholders,
but leaseholds in which beneficial interests have been
created, first, by the builders, and since by successive
sub-lessees, constitute a portion of that mass of
securities upon which loans of a permanent character
are based. Nothing is more striking than the dif-
ference in value between a plot of land when first
staked out and let on building leases, and the
same land after it has gone through the
hands of a few enterprising builders or ad-
venturous speculators in building, and has be-
come covered with shops er private houses. All
this improved value is the offspring of commercial
progress. Mr. Platt, in his introductory chapter,
glifs
• OMNI at de ad lady ef 111=111, dads lartas
Weed et Mellselles Mad Id add Ma pada e •
= t
et
woo be yaws; sad It kidded, It de tratneeld twee the
waded andlerada of ik dee, ad tbe ids by ski lie embed
Alain mid pdatepotere keel deedepal refewurd At Int
the dot wpm to Ode bed twidetel leder as the half are w-
rest at We had. ad wedielatek ter Ws deed thew es Maki say
ellrectk do ladd• if aeper. timer, he dna a
more uka. id adds add
er d=rted la-
ter.% h—t We—ell bed rad* grata or d produce
▪ anewapelehe dowsed
In towns, rants were early paid, drat in labour, and
soon in money. Bat for a long period the leaseholder's
interest was somewhat precarious, and he was liable
to be evicted by the fraud or default of those who had
paramount title, the lords of the soil. On this Mr.
Platt says :
fle Min of the lessee perfected Ws mate la the land ; and r kw
se be yedemed the dutlee ot a dd. he bed • distal de deem
the Ida avid the lord ad ill dim be Ma. Side pad
mad tika brawita We Mow* awl as Edam- mai base a ma*
the elbeefig el Sad arna eillaisa. was &di
Enwidelded et the kw to tie peed. eeepenag el
teslelm • WV* rdwery wes same W the wwwwww,
the sok, ellemiltr, et hood he; ls wad. of
a coatedenis; krolred tait=iwi advs.

tiro term for years, ths re:armor being deemed to claim
under • title superior to that of the recoveree, or lessor, and, of
course, entering and evicting the knee. According to the better
opinion, it was not competent to the terroor to falsify the recovery
that being • privilege comeded to wine but • cony having • freehold
estate. It to true, that be might seek hit remedy in • writ of came
tent for damages ; but they were • parr eutionote for the enjoyment
of hie tenement, improved probably at the coot of great akin, Moot,
and expense.

The statute of Gloucester (6 Edward 1., c. 11) was
intended to protect the leaseholder against collusive
recoveries by the freeholder. The operation of that
act was confined to London ; so that its utility was
very limited. Its terms, too, were not sufficient to
comprehend all the cases in which leaseholders suf-
fered from collusive recoveries. In this condition,
however, the termor remained until the reign of
Henry VIII., when the statute 21 Henry VIII., c. 15
put en effectual check upon a course of proceeding
alike impolitic and unjust. This act declared that the
" Tcrmors should hold their terms according to their
leases, as if the recoveries had not been suffered, at
the same time giving the recoverors the like remedies
against the termors for the rents and services, and for
waste, as the lessors had." Thenceforth the interest
of the leaseholder has been as secure in point of title
as that of the freeholder from whom it is derived.

A critical review of this elaborate work, regarding
it as a legal treatise, would be out of place in our
columns; but we may state, that the propositions of law
are clear and precise, generally well arranged, and
supported by full statements of the cases and authorities
upon which they are founded. The appendix of pre-
cedents is excellent. There are leases and parts of
leases, clauses and powers of leasing, which seem to
supply all of precedent and form which the most va-
ried practice can require.
The following summary of the contents of the
work will afford the legal reader some notion of the
complete analysis. to which Mr. Platt has subjected
this branch of the law. Of the definition and general
nature of a lease ; of the subjects of demise ; of the
contracting parties ; and of their contract. This is
divided into four chapters. 1. Who may be lessors;
2. Who may be lessees; 3. Leases between particular
individuals; and 4. Of the contract; of the term of
the lease ; of the instrument of demise, its essential
and formal parts ; of the duration of the liability of
the covenanting parties; and of the effect of trans-
mission by act a law, or alienation by act of the
party, of the reversion, or of the lease; of the deter-
mination of the lease, and its consequences; and,
lastly, of the preparation, custody, production,
stamping, and registration of leases; and of indorse-
ments. . .

--,7-- There is one part of this subject on which it may
just now be useful to dwell a little. In our foregoing
remarks we have referred to the immense capital in-
vested in leasehold property in towns, and at this
moment the general character of such property is
urban and commercial. But ere long the same sort
of property will be created by the investment of
capital in rural and agricultural leaseholds. The
process may and will vary, but the principle of the
outlay will be the same. The enterprising farmer
will take from some arced magnate the raw material,
an unimproved English farm—and that raw enough is
such material, farmers who are striving to improve
well know—and by the judicious application of skill •
and capital, by the erection of buildings and so forth,
he may so increase its yearly value, as to come to
possess a beneficial interest proportionate to that ac-
quired in urban property. At present the farmer will
be generally compelled to avail himself of that bene-
ficial interest by the occupation of the land, be-
cause landowners like to choose their own tenants and
insert stipulations against the assignment of farm
leases; but by-and-by, when the true interests of the
owners of land become better understood, we shall
find such restrictions abandoned, and the terms length-
ened. That, however, is prospective; but when even
leases for 21 years become general—as they must if
rents are to be kept up to the present rate—the bene-
ficial interests of agricultural leaseholders will bear a
comparison with those of the holders of town leases.
This leads to most important considerations as to the
titles to farm-leaseholds. Most English estates are
in settlement, the actual possessors being only tenants
for life ; and their right to grant leases, which shall
be binding on their successors, depends upon "powers"
specially given to them for that purpose in the settle-
ment. Such powers must be executed in strict
conformity with the settlement, otherwise they
are not binding on the successor; and the
tenant who may have laid out his capital on the
faith of a lease may be ejected. And these powers
vary in every conceivable way, according to the ca-
price of the settlor, or the fancy of the conveyancer
who prepared the settlement. Thus, tenants for life
may be authorised to grant leases of lands " usually
or aceustomably demised," and then the question
arises, whether that power applies to lands which
have not been constantly in lease ;• and it is very
doubtful whether the life-owners of estates which have
been let from year to year, notwithstanding the settle-
ments under which they hold contain such a power,
could grant valid leases. Then we find powers to let
at the " usual or accustomed rent ;" or at the " best
and most improved rent;" or with the " usual cove-
nants," or " the same covenants as are contained
in previous leases of the same lands," or " as are
usual in the country where the lands are situate ;"
and these restrictions becoming, from change of circum-
stances, inconvenient, are often disregarded ; but then
the leases are latterly valueless as against the next taker
of the estate. So again, it is sometimes required that
the power to lease be executed by a deed with a par-
ticular number of attesting witnesses, or during a par-
ticular period, as whilst a woman is single, or whilst
the tenants for life arc under or above a defined age,
or with some otherlperson's consent, and so forth, and
very little regard is paid to these matters in granting
farm leases. Yet tee what a perilous position the
farmer who expends his capital in improvement on
s".ch lease stands in. There is no doubt that a per-
son agreeing to grant a lease is morally bound to
adduce his title to the estate ; but then imagine a far-
mer asking my Lerd, or Sir John, for an abstract
of title to the farm either of them may have agreed
to lease! Oliver Twist "asking for more" at the
pauper-table would be deemed modest in compa-
rison. Yet there is no real safety for a tenant-farmer
without knowing the precise terms of the power
under which his landlord can grant leases. This is,
in truth, in the present position of agricultare, a mat-
ter of great and growing importance. On this point
the following from Mr. Platt's book are
instructive, as shPritggesthe vague and uncertain state
of the law.
It is not rue in practice, on an astormat Ihr a lease, especially
where It is to be derived out of a greet err* le require ea layovers.
tine of the title of the treaded ifflKe• bet whirr the rodnetket al
that title can be "shard cis bill foe ipsollbiLikiiimeir *time
hr been the sorest of redeem dteenrstan. wade it need ...
Lord Mandleld tend to sheerthat isernsdrici.b% nslasasithstimisit
;metes right anquesticearr. * Mom mid his Webb) wile
to be secure when he takes a lassa, timid after awl MEOW
the title.deeds;" but be almitteed, at the rase time, that It was
net
often done, because the Meer relied on the honour of his landket
raja cazavvid,buid..that Oa ere of otu:(1.1121m=
.e.,:u7tooe"dmwanderms:
the,
,
of before the subject was r mach earihred as It MOM Milos Is
first, that es a =dna to a hese was ao sr
rashly Wins by et law that the lemerairMelirt
power to plot web a lee" end should show • geed din der the
court arrested the jodiposse en the pooled that less nut a yea
breach of en esessment is pest•
a lam Is slob tint the
had 120 i shwa, owl hod net • sollehet Ilds; onl, essendly, Sot
Nat weirt
there . a°ll"sepsiTyagrene"...tnit I.lll.ltelotictr..
umie=l. "btas
11=4.161011.1.8.4111:1,161":"...goarwri:shareieneeme7ettiu..wedain'ttitulatei
earmot
Nat
46.
tiol2 of ; a party arreelemalther rehires ee Ude.
for the rale at all lease, aurae ((except la IMO eta Wisp% IEIOO
compel a spare performer without prodrellea et his hour% title,
as well as his lea; nor, wrest such ,rarer so action
at law foe a breach of the eireetneat. loyese.
flee szorody to provide, to *Crowell tler 11•Majaltelhalasor
sha abe weed to produce his own title; oak Is he
the Ws eilsesierld interests, that the vender doll sat be Mel to
maw kb hart Ms. And If no enstinneer bodge Os
met of the Ms et lessinid yeepe,ely wawa •
et yoreseemhiss 11=
partied= owl esalltless et sal he Is
which is a paddler ee to ea action by himplay avid Ids emPb7v Ice
work and Is. _ _

Of the actual state of the law on these and other
question' touching leases, full information will be
found in the work before us, and few will look into
it who will hesitate to declare that, like the rest of
the law of real property, the law of leases requires
much amendment.