The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-07-23

time when the land would become salable or
How encumbrance is thus added to encumbrance
may be family imagined when say that it is usual.
when father and son join to make those deeds. to
nroyide in the deed settlement of money out of
lie rents the sons future wife aud for other
settlements upon younger sons and upon any
dauc hters the may have. Estates, indeed
often so burdened with charges for wives and chill
dren and relatives that many landowner, the
extent OF whose possessions make his acquaintance
believe him very rich and able to live great STYLE
Is in reality a very poor man, hardly knowing how
to aye seen more than @ an one
scone in London by-street for his luncheon. Many
never know how they stand legally the fam
ily lawyer tells them they entitled receive so
much aud that is all they know
PRIMoGENITURE.
Such are few of the hundreds of WAYS in which
estates may be, and generally tied up and encum-
bered. But the evils caused by this entailing OF
nronerty are still further aggravated by the law of
Observation-Disclosures By this law if a landowner dies in
testate and free from debt. the law gives it
divided to the person the law defines to be the heir
of the family. If such 'heir' happens, according to
the law to be several females then the estate goes
undivided to those females Should the owner of
and divides the money in defined shares among the
nearest relatives, whether they be male female;
is aside and made subscrvien to the idea OF
preventing estate from being diminished
divided. Then. to make the confusion worse con-
founded, the law permits the landowner to grant
leases for terms OF years extending periods
varying from u to 900 years. This really in
creascs the powers of landowners to bind their
land and keep the ultimate ownership in their own
families while it enables them TO get capital to de-
velop their estates, mines quarries, &c. which would
ROMAN undeveloped LETT to the unaided energies
or fox hunter or partridge breeder Besides.
preventing land from freely coming into the market
and of allowing OF the growth OF an independent
yeoman and peasant proprietary, there secondary
consequences of these laws less weighty. such
the Iessening of parental CONTROL the inducing of
landowners to be more careless than they otherwise
would be, the maintenance in influential positions
OF unworthy OF those positions. the retardation
of the progress of agricultural Improvement. &C., of
which one cannot attempt to speak more fully in q
DANGEROUS TO BUY.
One secondary consequence. however. is SO i'm
portant that it should be touched on. Suppose
plot of land does into the market it is often
SO affected by ancient deeds. wills, mortgages and
leases, and these are often scattered in many
hands, and there is frequently much difficulty
in finding out whether all the persons entitled
under the various deeds and wills dead, that
the mere inquiry into the title Of the plot
often quite sufficient to deter o man who is
not rich from venturing to agree to buy where he
would otherwise have been glad to do So $50 lately
as the month OF December 1871" says Mr. Kay, in
his Free Trade in Land "a poor man who pur-
three of gebe land and Els per Of
1.-THE rent charge had to pay ELY S. I'd for the
legal expenses attending the examination Of title
aud the deed conveying them to him." Stupid and
mischievous" hardly the adjcctves to apply to
other laws affecting the land; stronger epithet is
needed. Take the law OF distress. hypotheca,
as is called in Scotland concerning which much
has been heard in Parliament of late. II a farmer
takes farm for term OF years. say at $500 year,
and if the end of the year he is unable pay this
a very summary manner merchant would have
to treat defaulter by the slow process Of law. Not
so the landowner. lie is enabled by law, by means
of his agents. and without the trouble expense
delay of an action or trial judgment execution to
enter upon the farm and to seize much of the
cattle, stock, furniture. &C.. will when sold
by public auction suffice to satisfy his claim for
rent and incidental expenses. Nay, the law enables
him to proceed to greater lengths Of iniquty than
this; for even If the farmer tradesmen and
for this very stock, cattle and furniture the
landlord may still seize them in utter disregard of
In loy
still harsher than In England and Ireland and yet
when a few weeks ago bill introduced into
Parliament to modify its powers land owners hocked
from all parts OF the country to vote against it.
LAW FIXTURES
The law OF fixtures is another land owners law.
which enables him to turn every thing to his own
benefit and advantage. The old feudal law that
anything a tenant annexed to the land during his
tenancy should from that moment belong to the
land owner. Some exemptions were obtained in
later times in regard to 'trade fixtures but the law
still holds good in reference agricultural fixtures.
Thus, whatever tenant-no matter whether his
lease be short or long-annexes to his holding.
barns greenhouses mill or what not 1t immediately
becomes the property of the land owner and cannot
be removed. The law is equally stringent whether
the fixture DO removed without doing injury to
the premises not 1t needs not the intellect of
Mill or a Fawcett to how such law must mill
tate against the progress OF agricultural improve
that the land owner objects to grant long leases He
knows that when u tenant has made improvements
farm he has only to turn him OF and he can get
higher rent from another tenant.
THE GAME LAWS.
The game laws come, like natural corollary from
the above laws. 1t is held in legal morality, that
man, be he judge juror. should sit ana adjudi-
cate a in which he is directly indirectly
interested But the aistocrac land owners set them
selves above such delicaeies. They still hold to
themselves the right of trying and adjudicang
game law offences in which they are all. % body,
greatly interested. Squire Puss, it is true would
leave the bench when poacher was brought up who
accused of committing an offence upon his
cerned Squire Bum of the adjoining estate. which
is pretty much the same thing when nobody but
land owners and preservers sit tho bench. In
poachng offences one justice may sit Alone and,
without jury any check try game offenders and
impose sentences which practically the ruin
of the offenders family and the destruction of his
good name In other cases two justices must
sit together, but whether two only one. the
rssui. is the same tine quality OF Justice
man punished more severely for smuggling rabbit"
than another for committing an outrage While on
the subject OF the game laws cannot do better than
quote couple OF paragraphs from Mr.. Kay's book
showing the Christian spirit" which aninates
Years ago" he says. 81 was invited to spend day
two with the steward of great nobleman dis
tinguished by his learning his generosity. his
philanthropy and his great statesmanlike qualities
But his vast estates he was of the keenest OF
game preservers.
zone afternoon my friend took up to the hall
to the young pheasants IN their pens.
While we we're looking at them the head pamckeeper
sad to me, Would you like to go and the dog
hunt the poachers with?' l hardly realized his
question. but we all walked up to yard surrounded
chained, by long, heavy chain, fastened to great
block stone, of the largest and crcest looking
dogs ever saw in any country. When it us.
though its master was among ii did nothing but
in semicirce. straining it's chain to the utter
most. uttering kind OF shrek of fury and foaning
from the mouth. never saw such sight. l got
to the door OF the yard. and kept my hand
tho latch. while the gamekecper said Now. sir. il
that chain broke. one of you would be dead man
in u minute. said But you don't mean 20 say
you hunt poachers with that horrible beastY oh.
yes he said do, but nuzzlc him.
But then. If wedid not get up quickly he would
strange man he had got down. for he rams his
snout into the mans neck, and II his muzzle were
not tight lac would get hod OF the fellows skin and
begin tearing it on. Is comment necessary on such
a story? Only this comment that II such thing
told OF any other country II would be Exeter
Hall affair. with no end OF defamation cambria
handkerchief"
WHERE ARE THE nrMsSrrAhIASs1
Can It be wondered that John Bright became warm
when he spoke OF these iniquitous laws, which have
been justly enough designated relics OF barbar-
ismT Or that at length there to have been
aroused spirit among the people which will not DO
quoted until they have been abrogatcd2 Or, again,