15. The tenant's general obligation to re pair also renders him responsible for any injury a stranger may sustain by his neglect to keep the premises in a safe oondition : as, by not keeping the covers of his vaults suffi ciently closed, so that a person walking in the street falls tbrough, or is injured thereby. If he repairs or improves the building, he must guard against accident to the pass ers-by in the street, by erecting a suitable barricade, or stationing a person there to give notice of the danger. 4 Tenn, 318; 28 Barb. N .Y. 194; 6 N. Y. 48 ; 4 id. 222. For any unreasonable obstruction which he places in the highway adjoining his premises, he may be indicted for causing a public nui eance, as well as rendered liable to an action for damages, at the suit of any individual injured. The law will tolerate only such a partial and temporary obstruction of the street as may be necessary for business pur poses: as in receiving and delivering goods from a warehouse, or coals, or fuel on the sidewalk, or the like ; provided, always, that the public convenience does not suffer from it. 1 Serg. & R. Penn. 217 ; 6 East, 427 ; 6 Carr. & P. 636 ; 1 Den. N. Y. 524 ; Taylor, Landl. & Ten. 192.
16. The tenant's chief duty, however, is the payment of rent, the amount of which is either fixed by the terms of the lease, or, in the absence of an express agreement, is such a reasonable compensation for the occupation of the premises as they are fairly worth. If there has been no particular agreement be tween the parties, the tenant pays rent only for the time he has had the beneficial enjoy ment of the premises; but if he has entered into an express agreement to pay rent during th.e term, no casualty or injury to the premises by fire or otherwise, nothing, in fact, short of an eviction, will excuse him from such pay ment. 4 Paige, Ch. N. Y. 355 ; 18 Yes. Ch. 415 ; I Harr. & J. Md. 42 ; 16 Mass. 240 ; 3 Den. N. Y. 464 ; 3 Bos. & P. 420 ; 6 Term, 650 ; 24 Wend. N. Y. 454 ; Al. 26 ; 4 Harr. & J. Md. 564; 1 Bay, So. C. 499. But if he has been deprived of the possession of the premises, or any part thereof, by a third person under a. title superior to that of the landlord, or if the latter annoys his tenant, erect or causes the erection - of such a nui sance upon or near the premises as renders his occupation so uncomfortable as to justify his removal, he is in either case discharged from the payment of rent. 2 Wend. N. Y. 561; 12 id. 529; 4 Cow. N. Y. 58; 8 id. 727; 4 N.Y. 217; 2 Ired. No. C. 350; 3 Ohio, 364'; 4 Rawle, Penn. 329 ; Coke, Litt. 148 b ; 2 East, 576 ; 1 Cowp. 242 6 Term, 458.
17. The obligation to pay rent niay be ap portioned; for, as rent is incident to the re version, it will become payable to the as signees of the respective portions thereof whenever that reversion is severed by an act of the parties or of the law. But the tenant's consent is necessary for an appor tionment when made by the landlord, unless the proportion of rent chargeable upon each portion of the land has been settled by the intervention of a jury. 22 Wend. N. Y. 121; 2 Barb. N. Y. 643 ; 3 Den. N. Y. 454 ; 1 Dowl. & R. 291 ; 5 Barnew. & Ald. 876. A *tenant, however, cannot get rid of or apportion his rent by transferring the whole or a part of his lease ; for if he assigns it, or underlets a portion of it, he still remains liable to his landlord for the whole. Croke Eliz. 633; 24 Barb. N. Y. 333. Instances of an apportion ment by act of law occur where there is a descent of the reversion among a number of heirs, or upon a judicial sale of a portion of the premises ; for in such cases the tenant will be bound to pay rent to each of the pas ties for the portion of the _premises belong ing to them respectiv,ely. So, if a man dies, leaving a widow, she will have a right to re ceive one-third of the rent, while the remain ing two-thirds will be payable to his heirs., Croke Eliz. 742 ; 15 Wend. N. Y. 464 ; Croke Jac. 160; Coke, Litt. 148; 1 Mee& & W. Exch. 747. • 1S. These rights and liabilities are not confined to the immediate parties to the con tract, but vrill be found to attach to all per sons to whom the estate may be transferred, or wbo may succeed to the possession of the premises, either as landlords or tenants. This principle follows as a necessary consequence of that privity of estate which is incident to the relation of landlord and tenant. A land lord may not violate his tenant's rights by a sale of the property; neither can a tenant avoid his responsibilities by substituting an other tenant in his stead without the land lord's consent. The purchaser of the pro perty becomes in one case the landlord, and is entitled to all the rights and remedies against the tenant or his assignee which the seller had, while in the other case the as signee of the lessee assumes all the liabili ties of the latter, and is entitled to the same protection whick he might claim frona the assignee of the reversion ; but the original lessee is not thereby discharged from his obligations. 17 John& N. Y. 239 . 3 Harr. ic M'H. Md. 387 ; 24 Barb. N. YY. 365 ; 13 Wend. N. Y. 136 ; 19 N. Y. 68 ; 8 Ves. Ch. 95 ; 1 Yes. & B. Ch. Ir. 11; 4 Term, 99.