The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1810-08-09 00:00:00

Men Jv L'S 21.

tErrimo, sato ctr.on an.l 'Awes fancy.
&WIS. af(dlrta RICHARD IiILOW. of Chia:net,
one of the friegds,
The decision in the. OMR* has emit- d much ob.
servatioa amongst the Irish B. r, and mast produce
senuus.consequeuces to the landed sesi.lent interest
of Ireland.
Mr. Keating, the. principal •Pluintiff. Ints long
possenedthe valuable e,tate of Dorf asks. in the
county Tipperary, under the title of fires renewable
,for ever, at a' tow teat, and the small renewal fine of
151. upou the fall of each life. •
It is notorious, that estates of this nature are very
prevalent w Ireland, considered equivelentla per-
petuates, and the sutrj-et of constant fron4 settle-
ments untotiw,st even oisr Nobility and Gentry.
Mr. Sparrow' the Defennatit, has aerpri.eil the
right to the head rents and several does—and upon
the felt of one of the three lives, lie tleiu.nided the
fine from Mr. Keating. The latter, tint feeling
that*, srosll a stun %,a$ any object, and nut sus-
pecting that Iris landlord speculated upon a for-
feiture. neglected to pay the line. Mr. Sparrow
brought his Attorney, Mr. J. Labarte, to witness
a demand made, and to inslte a written minute of
it—he then filed a bill in Chancery, to perpetuate
the evidence of this demand. The tenant, Mr.
Keating, being at length *wakened to his danger,
and desirous to retrieve his inattention, tendered
tire line, with the usual interest, to I.llr. Sparrow.
The latter now refused to receiie it—alledged that
the lily in question hail fallen tl.ree years ago—
that 'lbw months hid elapsed since the demand was
made—that the tenant is 11011 too late—thst he
(Mr. Sparrow) hiss acquired advantage over his te-
nant. in point rf farm, by the curelessattss of the
latter—arid that be insists upon his strict right to
have his tenant's interest henceforth considered as

only a tease of two lives, instead (fa peoretuity, as
Aceetofire it had been.
Mr. Keating sits therefore di leen In tile this bill
against Mr. Sparrow, pravieg that Mr. Sparrow
should epeeist the flue, and usual interest, i,isi rt a
new life, and permit his estate to be piescrted to
him. Tins estate had been settle" several jeers ago,
upon the oeciisioo of Mr. Keating's marriage,
wheeehy he was made tenant for life, with teinein-
dler to the issue, remainder to h.mself ;
list charged with a certain jetiutur,e for Mrs. Kea.
fing. hi wife, who is still living. For this reason,
therefore. the Trustees of the 151:i1ia...1e settlement,
Messrs. 1,310 r and Damp, were necessarily made
Plaiiiiitlk with Mr.-Keating.
It was argued for the Plaintiffs, that Mr. Spar-
row was bound in equity and Itnuutir to renew this
lease—that no fraud could be imputed to thle te-
naiit—nothing beyond mere inattention and care-
lessness. It is the province of Courts of Equity to
relieve against lapse of time, and especially in cases
of forfeiture—that hem the amount of the line was
too insiguilicant to a.lind a presutuption agates' the
tenant—oni• can the landlord complain of the
aludduai the t:1111 of 151. for a few month's sa a
serious iiijuiy, rt as warranting so rigorous a pin.
reeding. Estates of this description. have always
been highly favoured and protected in Ireland.
properties vre held by standar tenures, miller
the Duke of Ormond, and other great proprie-
tors. There bad eased; in the Irish Courts, au
iinmemorial local eiwity in Leveler of aside
and for their rotection against harshness. The,
qnity has certainly discountenanced all captious
end crafty objections to granting renewals upon
"quitable erm•, and treated the parties, as hat lug
iiginally contracted in subsume for a perpetual
onterest, as bound in conscience to act upon that
principle. as foregoing all idea of reasslimption, and
as having no subject of a ljustintnit thereafter re-
m silting, save the mere qmantstm of occasional tines
seed interest. Even Lord Laurel, an English Chin-
eel lot, was so itnpres.ed with this local equity, its
solid fsundation, and the sound public policy of
anstaiumg the tenant's right in a couatry eirediat.
stanc-d as Ireland is, that he uniformly recognised
and acted upon it to the fullest extent, so in Mur-
ray a. Bateman, and mato other caves. That this
attempt by Mr. Sparrow, if successful, will throw
much landed oropeity in Ireland into serious
na-
certainty and haeard, a id coosequently depreciate
the value of estates of this Oita re, perhaps he one
or two years nlet• Of Irnretr.tsr. Lord Redesdale
had curried the doctrine very fir agsmst u e Irish
tenantry upon almost eery subject—hut eh,, i„
those came, the three lives had dropped sithou re-
newal--and his refusal, even there, has been munch
complained of, and is at this moment the subject of
appeal to the House of Lords, in the great ease of
Jackson e. Saunders.
But. in this iiistsore, the case is alto. et:i. r with-
out emunple. One lite only has dropped. o still
Iremain, and yet the Defendant contends for as üb.
itoitite * forfeiture by the tenant, and is severe an
linfliction, ns in the most fraudulent and wanton
case that can be devised.
To prevent this injustice, the present suit was
deemed necerear., on the part of Mr. Keating, as
well us of his wife and children.
The Defendant, Mr. Sparrow, by his Counsel, in
mistral insisted upon the letter of his covenant, and
stood upon his strict right. He admitted it to he a
new case. and that tio direct decision leas hitherto
carried the doctrine against the Irish -tenautry so
' far as was sought in this instance.—llowever, he
was moved to the attempt by what fell from Lord
Redesdale, in de. tiling the cause of Jackson v.
Saunders, in Jena. 'Though this point diJ notoc-
cur to that case, nor was it in any manner neces-
sary for Counsel to discus it, yet his Lordship, in
the eenberance of his argument. was pleased to say,
that if a car:. circumstanced like the present rase,
were to come before him. he would decide upon it
against the tenant. 'Clough his Lordship hail cer.
Healy travelled out of his way, io baying down this
broad and hovel.position, yet lets high mthority dr-
ea ends uuplien acquiescence; and Mr. Sparrow
therefore relied upon it as final and conclusive to
the present caw.
Lord M• maim rerapittifited the several facts al-
reedy mated, adopted all the arguments oil Mr.
Sparrow's behalf, coincided in Lord Itedetiale's
notions upon the subject, and considered the old
Irish equity as entitled to no i•eight in the case,
Ile treated these covenants as subjects of rigid
construction ; and, however harsh tie: nature or
ttttttt of th. Imilliord's conduct might be. yet he
would gi oi: hint the full hew lit of his truant's ue-

glett er iiiattention, whether wilful o stride:ital.—.
He therefore distnis.ied the bill in into, both as to
Mr. lie•iting and the trist,tres of his marriage settle-
ment (ii which the inteistkrt provi4itin for his wife
end children is defeated) ; but, as this is the drat
case reaching to so serious All extent, he declared
that he would not give costs against Nlr. Keating.

Thus u valuable estate unexpectedly falls into
the hands of Mr. Sparrov, expectant upon the full
of the two surviving lives, men advanced in years.
The importance of this decision, and the general
alarm it has already diffused, render it highly ne-
cessary to hr protuttlged throughout all parts of
Irelitud. It is supposed that, at this moment, a
large proportion of the most Lucrative and respec-
table leasehold property in the empire is liable, un-
der this decision, to a similar forfeiture ; and of
late years, landlords in general are become too
acute not to profit, without delay, by the suet:es-fitl
experiment of this wily Quaker. However, I..sr the
present, there reaming' some procitect that the
rigour of Lord Mappers's judg.amitt against the te-
nantry may be corrected by the high and honour-
*We feelings of a superior tribunal. •An appeal was
immediately lodged against this Decree, and it will
be curious to learn how it will be treated in Parlia-
ment by Lords Erskine, Eldon, Elletintwough,
Carleton, etc. The result will be looked for with
no common anxiety.