The covenants contained in a lease, however few they may be, often occasion difficulty and dispute upon the expiration of the tenancy. The landlord may often claim more than his due, and the tenant may be disposed to do less. These diffi culties are not peculiar to farm tenancies ; they occur continually in the case of dwelling-houses let for a term of years upon the condition of keeping them in good repair. If such disputes cannot be settled amicably, or by reference to arbi tration, the only way is by legal proceed ings. It has been suggested that in the case of dwelling-houses in large towns like London, some easy mode of finally settling such disputes might be estab lished. In such cases, the evidence of surveyors is the evidence on which a jury must give their verdict in case of legal proceedings ; and it would be quite as satisfactory to all parties, if the evidence that is submitted to a jury, for their judg ment, were submitted to a few competent persons to be chosen in some uniform manner, and whose decision should be final.
In 1845 an act was passed (8 & 9 Viet. c. 124) entitled ' An Act to facilitate the granting of certain Leases.' Its object is to substitute abbreviated forms for those now in use, and it is provided that in taxing any bill for preparing and executing any deed under the act, the taxing officer, in estimating the proper sum to be charged, is to consider " not the length of such deed, but only the skill and labour em ployed, and the responsibility incurred in the preparation thereof." It is enacted in section 4, "That any deed or part of a deed which shall fail to take effect by vir tue of this act shall nevertheless be as valid and effectual, and shall hind the parties thereto, so far as the rules of law and equity will permit, as if this act had not been made." There are schedules to the act, one of which gives, in column 1, short forms of expression which may be used in place of the ordinary expressions in leases, which are contained in column 2; and it is enacted by section 1, "That whenever any party to any deed made according to the forms set forth in the first schedule of this act, or to any other deed which shall be expressed to be made in pursu ance of this act, shall employ in such deed respectively any of the forms of words contained in column 1 of the se cond schedule hereto annexed, and dis tinguished by any number therein, such deed shall be taken to have the same effect and be construed as if such party had inserted in such deed the form of words contained in column 2 of the same schedule, and distinguished by the same number as is annexed to the form of words employed by such party ; but it shall not be necessary in any such deed to insert any such number." This act
does not extend to Scotland. The amount of words saved by this act is not sufficient to compensate for the difficulties that may arise from persons using the abbreviated forms in cases where they may not intend them to have the full meaning which this act gives to them. He who wishes to guard himself either as landlord or tenant by suitable covenants will do better to express his meaning at full length, with out availing himself of the abbreviated forms which this act invites him to use.
Leases in general require either an ad valorem stamp or the common deed stamp, without which the instrument cannot be given in evidence. Leases for a term determinable on a life or lives not exceed ing three, and the leases of all ecclesias tical corporations, whether aggregate or sole, for any term not exceeding twenty one years, are exempted from the duty. There is also a stamp duty on agreements for leases. This is one of the many modes of taxation.