The word "lands," which refer to the 'subject matter of a leme, comprehends what is upon the lauds, se houses and other buildings, though homes and buildings are generally mentioned specifically in the Isms.
The law of leases comprehends a great number of rules, which may le conveniently reduced to the following general heads : 1. The things which may be subjects of imam.
2. 'I he persons who may grant lease, and their powers to grant. E. The form of lessee, and the legal construction of the agreements es utaineel in than.
The examination of these subjects, belouga to treatises on Law. The article ' Leases anal Terms of Years,' in Bacon's ' Abridgment,' Is gene rally referred to as a good compendium of the law. A lease may contain any agreements that are lawful. The object of the present article is to consider what agreements farm ing-leame should contain or should not contain, in order that the lease may be most beneficial to the landlord and the tenant, and by consequence to the public generally.
The chief subjects of leases are houses and buildings of all kinds, cultivable lands, farad mines. Many pereone who have not the complete ownership of holism and lands are enables] to grant leases under per pewees ; and there are many statutes under which particular classes of persons are enabled or restrained as to the granting of leases such m bishops, deans and chapters, and others.
Thu kind of leases of which we shall treat Imre are farming leases, which are granted by persons who have full power to grant them on such terms as they please. The particular form of each leases, as already intimated, is a matter that belongs to the subject of public, economy, and it is almost beyond the province of direct legislation.
At present a great part of the land in England and Wales is held by large proprietors, and the number of land-owners who cultivate their own estates is comparatively small. In many parts of the king, dom the number of small land-owners who cultivate their own farms has certainly been decreasing for some centuries, end they are pro. bably fewer now than in some former periods of our history. In
England the great sub-divisiun of land has been prevented by the form of government and the habits and feelings of those who have had the chief political power : and the great increase of wealth that has arisen out of the manufacturing and commercial industry of the country has tended to prevent the subdivision of land and not to increase it. Those who acquire great wealth in England by manu factures and commerce generally lay out a large part of it in the pur chase of land; for the ownership of land is that which enables a man to found a family and to perpetuate it, to obtain social respect and consideration, and also political weight in the administration of public affairs. It facilitates his election to the House of Commons, and if he plays his part well, it may introduce him in due time to the House of Lords, and place him among the nobility of England.
Those who cannot acquire land enough to give them political weight, are still anxious to netsuke land as a means of social distinction, and as a permanent investment which must continually rise in value. Thus there is a constant competition among the rich for the acqui sition of land, which raises its price above its simple commercial value ; and a man of moderate means does not find it easy to purchase land in small quantities and on such terms as will enable him to obtain a proper remuneration for the cultivation of it.
The great mass of the cultivators in England are uuw tenant farmers, who hold their land either by leases for years or by such agree ments as amount to a tenancy from year to year only ; and there is the like kind of competition among them to obtain land upon lease, that there is among the wealthy to obtain land by purchase. The con sequence is that more rent is often paid for hand than it is worth : a consequence of the limited amount of had and of the number of com petitors for it. This circumstance, however, combined with othens, enables the landlord to impose conditions which are unfavourable to the tenant and to agriculture, and finally to himself.