ON THE LAW OF FIXTURES AND OTHER PROPERTY PARTAKING BOTH OF A REAL AND PERSONAL NATURE. THIRD EDITION REVISED AND ADAPTED TO THE PRESENT STATE OF THE LAW BY CHARLES AGACE FERARD, OF THE INNER TEMPLE AND OXFORD CIRCUIT, ESQUIRE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW, AND W. HOWLAND ROBERTS, OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE AND WESTERN CIRCUIT, ESQUIRE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW; LONDON: STEVENS AND SONS, 119, CHANCERY LANE, PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. As the Second Edition of this book dates as far back as the year 1847, it will be apparent that very considerable alterations in the Statute law, and many additions to the authorities, bearing upon the subjects treated of, have been made since the last publication of the work. Thus, of the long series of important decisions upon the difficult question of annexation, commencing with the well-known case of Hellawell v. Eastwood in 1850, all are of a date subsequent to that of the last edition; whilst of enactments immediately affecting the law of fixtures, it will be sufficient to mention the Bills of Sale Acts, the Bankruptcy Acts (from that of 1849 to the one of the late Session), the Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Act, 1871, and in particular the Statutes of 1851, 1875, and the present year, respecting the rights of agricultural tenants. It was inevitable, therefore, in the preparation of a new Edition, that a considerable portion of the book should be rewritten, and that a large amount of new material should be introduced. In preparing the present Edition the Editors have endeavoured to bring a work of some authority into accordance with the present state of the law; but, consistently with this, to preserve, so far as possible, the original text and arrangement of the book. The method adopted by them being similar to that in the former Editions, will be best explained by the following passage from the preface by the late Mr. Joseph Ferard, tothe Second Edition : "In availing himself of the modern decisions, "the Editor has followed the course adopted in "the first Edition; and has stated each case some"what fully when discussing the rights of the "particular class of claimants to which it more "particularly refers. But when any principle "recognized by the Court in deciding upon one "class of cases, has been found more or less applicable to another class also, he has thought "it advisable to notice it briefly in the chapter "assigned to that other class. He trusts that "the facility thus afforded to the practitioner, in "investigating the claims more immediately "under his consideration, will be deemed a suffi"cient apology for some little repetition." Some doubt was at first felt as to the advisability of retaining in its original form the section treating of trespass, trover, &c. (Part II. Chap. I. § 3); but, although distinctive forms of action have in great measure lost the importance which they formerly had, yet it was felt that even now it is impossible to disregard the substantial distinctions between the corresponding remedies under present procedure. The subject of deodands has been omitted from the present Edition, as possessing no practical interest at the present day; but many of the authorities upon this doctrine have been still alluded to throughout the book, in illustration of existing peculiarities in the different kinds of property treated of in the course of the work. The Editors trust that the utility of the Summary of Rules contained in Appendices (B), (C), and (D) has been increased by the plan adopted of giving in each case, as far as practicable, a direct reference to the pages of the text where the authorities may be found. The Agricultural Holdings (England) Act, 1883, has been printed at length in Appendix (F); and in Appendices (A), (E), and (G) will be found matter which it was thought might be conveniently transferred from the body of the work. Several American cases have been referred to in support of propositions for which no direct English authority could be found. And it is believed that all decisions of any importance in the United Kingdom have been referred to in this Edition. In the Table of Cases references have been given to contemporaneous reports not cited in the text; and as great pains have been taken in verifying the authorities referred to in the former Edition, it is hoped that accuracy in this respect has been secured. |