LODGINUS, in the law of landlord and tenant, is applicable only to apartments let for habitation in the same house with another; and whether the apartments be furnished or no, the law is the same.
The letting, as it comprises an interest in land, should satisfy the 29 Car. II. c. 3 § 4 by being in writing, and must, when produced in court, appear to be signed at least by the party against whom it is pro duced. Such letting entitles the lodger, without express mention fur that purpose in the contract, to the use of all those conveniences which are properly common to the inmates of the same house, and necessary to the comfortable use of his apartments, such as door-knocker, door bell, water-closet, and the like, the withdrawal of any of which by his landlord may be a ground of action for the lodger, During the term of occupancy, if any of the lodger's goods are lost or stolen from the house, the landlord is not liable to make good the loss, as an innkeeper would be, unless it appear that he was privy to the wrong. On the other hand, if rent is in arrear to the superior landlord be may distrain on the goods of the lodger found in the house, notwithstanding no rent is due from him to the mesne landlord ; the lodger's remedy in that case being against his immediate lessor, by action at law for the value of the goods taken.
The term for which lodgings are let may extend to any period what ever, with this difference however as to the -instrument of contract, that it must be by deed if the term exceeds three years by so much as a day. Usually, however, such apartments are let for a portion of a year merely—it may be six months, a quarter of a year, a month, or a week—and the rent, if not a gross sum for the whole period, may be stipulated as payable by the week, month, or other convenient period. If it appear by the contract, taken as a whole, that it was for a period absolutely, the tenancy expires with the end of the time, and there is no necessity for notice to terminate it. But if it appear that both parties to the contract contemplated a continuing tenancy, terminable by either on giving the usual notice, it then becomes a question what notice must be given. It is by no means certain that a weekly tenant
is bound, in the absence of usage or contract, to give any notice what ever of his wish to end the tenancy ; in London he must give a week's notice, but that depends on the custom. Some text-writers have inferred that monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly tenancies are only terminable by a notice of equal length with the tenancy. No doubt such a notice would be sufficient, and it is the safer course to adopt when convenience will allow. But in the absence of any contract between the parties, it does not appear but that a month's notice, terminating with the end of the period, would suffice to determine a tenancy for any shorter time than a year. Where a person hired furnished apartments for three months, and a receipt was given for the rent payable for the whole period, but at the end of the time he continued still to occupy, it was held that the jury might infer from these circumstances that the tenancy was continued afterwards from week to week.
The 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, § 45, protects the property of those who let lodgings from the dishonesty of their tenants by making it felony for the person in occupation to steal or appropriate any chattel or fixture allowed to be used in any house or lodging.
On this subject see further Woodfall, Landlord and Tenant.
LOG and LOGLINE. The apparatus by which the velocity of a ship's motion through the water is measured. If at any moment a piece of wood, or other light substance, be thrown out of a ship while as soon as it touches the water it ceases to partake of the ship's motion ; the ship goes on, and leaves it behind. If then after a certain interval, say of half a minute, the distance of the vessel from the floating body be accurately measured, the rate of the ship's motion through the water will be ascertained ; we do not say the actual rate of the ship's going, but only that of its motion through the water, because in many cases currents exist, and the wood itself is carried along ; consequently the true rate cannot thus be known.