There can be no principle in the letting of land, if the object be simply to secure the best rent to the landlord and the permanent improvement of the land, which makes it different from the letting of any other piece of property. The good farmer hires land to cultivate, with the hope of deriving profit from the application of his skill and capital. He does not want the advice and direction of another man : be trusts to himself. The first object of the landlord is to get as much rent as his land is worth, and to secure it against deterioration during the tenant's occupation. The terms of the lease, then, should simply be the payment of the rent agreed on, and the observance of such con ditions as are found by experience and known to practical agriculturists to be necessary to secure the permanent value of the landlord's land. It is admitted by all reasonable people that the landlord should have ample security by the lease for his land being given up to him at the end of the lease in as good condition as he gave it to the tenant. The tenant wants no directions from the landlord, and no conditions in his favour, beyond the simple condition of being allowed to cultivate the land in the best way that he can for his own profit during a period sufficiently long to secure him a return for his outlay; and he acknow ledges that he must submit to all conditions In favour of the landlord which are not inconsistent with his free cultivation, and which shall secure the permanent value of the landlord's property. Perhaps many landlords who now grant hard leases would admit this general principle: but when they came to details, they would insist on many conditions as necessary to secure their permanent interest, which a good farmer would object to as not necessary for that purpose, and also as incon sistent with his profitable cultivation.
The framing of such a lease as we have described in general terms, must be the joint work of intelligent and liberal landlords and of good tenant farmers. It may require some time, some more experience, and suggestions from many quarters before such a lease is got into the hest form. But it is an object worth the consideration of all persons interested in the cultivation of the land, and some attempts in this direction have been made already.
The covenants contained in a lease, however few they may be, often occasion difficulty and dispute upon the expiration of the tenancy. The LIndlord may often claim more than his due, and the tenant may be disposed to do less. These difficulties 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 arbitra tion. the only way is by legal proceedings. 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 established. 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 judgment, were submitted to a few competent persons to be chosen in some uniform manner, and whose decision should be In 1845 an set was passed (8 & 9 Viet. c. 124Yentitled ' An Act to facilitate the granting of certain Leases.' Its object is to substitute abbreviated forms for those previously 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 con sider not the length of such deed, but only the skill and labour employed, 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 virtue of this act shall nevertheless be as valid and effectual, and shall bind 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 sec tion 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 pursuance of this act, shall employ in such deed respectively any of the forms of words contained in column 1 of the second schedule hereto annexed, and distinguished 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 dis tinguished 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 Scot land. 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 a landlord or tenant by suitable covenants will do better to express his meaning at full length, without availing himself of the abbreviated forms which this act invites him to use.
Leases in general require either an ad valorem stamp, now of very moderate amount, or the common deed stamp, without which the instrument cannot be given in evidence. .