Mr. Ricardo regarded the owners of land in the same light as the possessors of a monopoly, advantageous to them selves and proportionably injurious to the mass of consumers. Mr. Malthus proposed to modify this view of their ad vantages, and to consider them as origi nating only hi a "partial monopoly." The former is accused of underrating the national importance of rents, and Mr. Malthus of overrating them. Under a system of free importation of the pro duce of the soil, it may be correct to con sider the owners of land as possessed only of a " partial monopoly," but it is scarcely so when laws are passed which, except in seasons of high prices, pro hibit the supply of provisions from foreign countries; and in this case the interests of the community do not coin cide with that of the owners of land.
When rights of property are fully established, rents will exist, whether they accrue to the farmer-proprietor or are paid by the farmer tenant to a land lord. That quality of land which ter minates in rent, Mr. Malthus regards as a boon most important to the happiness of mankind, and the main security against the time of the whole society being em ployed in procuring mere necessaries. "'this," he observes, " is the source of all power and enjoyment ; and without which, in fact, there would be no cities, no naval and military force, no arts, no learning, none of the finer manufactures, none of the conveniences and luxuries of foreign countries, and none of that cultivated and polished society which not only elevates and dignifies individuals, but which extends its beneficial influences through the whole mass of the people." In Mr. Malthus's Principles of Pol. Econ.' the subject of section 7, chap. iii., is " On the causes which may mislead the landlord in letting his lands, to the injury both of himself and the country." Most of the considerations which he urges are of a practical nature, and re late to rent in agriculture. On this part of the subject the reader may refer to Grainger and Kennedy, " On the Tenancy of Land in Great Britain." (Ricardo, Malthus, Mill, and Mac Culloch's D•atises on the Elements and Principles of Political Economy ; Pro fessor Laws of Wages, Profits, and Rent investigated, Philadelphia, 1837 ; Professor Jones's Essay on the Distribution of Wealth and on the Sources of Taxation.') RENT (in Law Latin, redditus, "a return") is a right to the periodical re ceipt of money or something valuable in respect of lands or tenements held by him from whom the rent is due. There are three kinds of rent—rent-service, rent-charge, and rent-seek.
There is rent-service when a tenant holds lands of his lord by fealty and cer tain rent, or by homage, fealty, and cer tain rent, or by other services and certain rent. Rent-service therefore implies tenure, and it may be due to the lord of the inanor of which the lands are held, or to some other chief (that is, immediate) lord of the fee, or to the reversioner. The right of distress is an incident to rent service in arrear, so long as it is due to the same person to whom fealty is due. In order that rent-service may now be created, the person to whom the rent is reserved must have a reversion in the lands and tenements out of which the rent is to issue ; but any reversion is suf ficient. Thus a person who has a term of twenty years may grant it to another, all but one day. and this will leave him a reversion, so that a rent-service may be reserved, with its incidents of fealty and the right of distress. If he assign all his term, reserving a rent, but without a clause of distress in the assignment, he cannot distrain for the rent.
Rent-service therefore which has been created since the statute of Quia Emptores can only be reserved to the lessor who retains a reversion, and it will belong to the person who is entitled to the reversion. If a man seised in fee simple makes a lease of lands for years, reserving rent, the rent-service is descendible to his heir with the reversion ; though all rents which accrue due to the lessor before his death will belong to his personal repre sentatives. A rent-service reserved out of chattels real will of course belong to the personal representatives of the lessor. A rent is now most commonly reserved in leases for years, but it may be reserved on any conveyance which passes or en larges an estate ; and it may be reserved in the grant of an estate in remainder or reversion, or in a grant of a lease for years to commence at a future time.
A rent-service may be separated from the reversion or seignory, by the rever sioner granting the rent and retaining the in this case the lands are still held of the grantor, but the rent is due to the grantee ; not however as rent-service, but as rent-seek (redditus siccus), so called, "for that no distress is incident to it." (Litt. 218.) If the seignory or reversion is granted, the rent-service will pass by the grant, and the grantee is entitled to receive the rent from the tenant from the time that he gives him notice of the grant, together with all rent that had accrued due since the grant, and is unpaid at the time of such notice.