less than 35 feet for a turnpike road, 25 feet for a public carriage. road, or 12 feet for a private road.

1159. The ascent on either approach to the bridge shall be of a gradient not exceeding 1 in 30 for a turnpike road, I in 20 for a public carriage road, or 1 in 16 for a private carriage road:

1160. Provided that no bridge need be wider than the average of the road within 50 yards on either side thereof; but,

1161. Should the road be afterwards widened to the width hereinbefore in either case specified, then the company may be compelled to make the bridge so wide, but no wider in any case.

FOOTPATHS.

1162. Width. In the statutory rules for making roads across railways no additional width is allowed for footpaths; and

1163. Height.-It has been decided that in lowering a road to get under a railway bridge the company may elect to lower the road without lowering the footpath, unless any danger can be fairly anticipated from the omission.

ALTERNATIVE ROADS.

1164. Temporary Deviations.-If, during the construction of a railway, a road be rendered impassable or dangerous, the company must construct and sufficiently maintain a temporary deviation road, until the works are completed, afterwards restoring the original road as good at least as it was before.

1165. Permaneni Deviations.-In some cases a railway company may permanently deviate a road, and in such cases they must construct the new portion so as to make it at least as good as the road of which it is to form a part.

RESTRAINT OF CARELESSNESS.

1166. Railway companies, in constructing these works, are expressly required to do as little damage as possible to all parties in the vicinity, so that anything in the way of careless or wanton injury may be restrained by the aggrieved parties.

1167. Necessity for Promptitude.-Persons desiring to restrain the proceedings of a company, in reference to the construction of works, are expressly required to be prompt in their interference ; for,

1168. Risks of Delay.—After a railway is once opened for traffic, there may be much difficulty in getting any omission or encroachment rectified.

1169. Evasion of a Bridge.—In one case a road was constructed by means of a level crossing where a bridge had been stipulated for, and the owner of the road moved for an injunction to stop the traffic till the bridge was built, but the court accepted an undertaking from the company that a bridge should be built at their convenience.

LEASES FOR LIVES.

1170. Any life interest in land, however it may arise, is a freehold, whether it be as tenant in tail (194), tenant by the curtesy (245), or otherwise (1278); and

1171. Uncertainty of Period.-A lease may be effectually granted for the uncertain period of an existing life, or any number of existing lives, and the uncertainty alone constitutes a freehold interest, though of rare occurrence in modern times; but,

FREEHOLD LEASES.

1172. Special reference is demanded for a very peculiar and anomalous class of freeholds, common on some manors, known as leases for lives, perpetually renewable at the option of either the lessee in possession or expectancy.

1173. Origin and Decay.-Renewable leases for lives are of very obscure origin, and are very rarely created now; because,

1174. Inadequate Rent.-Experience proves that a lease for lives, unless accompanied by such a bonus as would be almost tantamount to purchase-money, is contrary to the interest of the lessor; because, 1175. Chief Rent. The rent reserved under a renewable lease for lives, commonly called the 'chief rent," being perpetually binding, becomes, by lapse of time and progressive increase in the value of property, only nominal in amount; hence,

1176. Peculiar Value.-The value of leases renewable for lives consists in the extremely low rent payable, in accordance with the annual value anciently estimated when the lease was created; and

1177. Permanence of Tenure.—The parties interested in a renewable lease for lives, have a permanent and indestructible tenure, as long as they think fit, with the option of terminating it at pleasure, by refraining from entering new lives.

THE PRINCIPLE OF LEASES FOR LIVES.

1178. A lease for lives is usually for three lives, and during the

continuance of either of the lives the lease may be renewed at the sole option of the tenants.

1179. Possible Extinction.—If all three of the lives in a lease for lives are suffered to lapse, the lease ceases, and the freehold reverts to the lord of the manor; consequently,

1180. Importance of a New Life.—When a life ends upon which a lease for lives depends, no time should be lost in finding a substitute; and

1181. Extreme Urgency.—If two lives out of three, in a lease for lives, are suffered to lapse, the necessity for finding substitutes becomes of urgent importance.

1182. Parties Entitled to Move.-The holder, or any person interested in a renewable lease for lives, may proceed to a necessary renewal; and

UNLIMITED CHOICE.

1183. In renewing a life in a lease for lives, any person may be selected at the option of the parties moving; thus,

1184. Relatives or Strangers.-The holder of a lease for lives, in effecting a renewal, may nominate his own infant son, or the infant son of the Prince of Wales, or any other young person who can be identified, and in whom reliance may happen to be felt with reference to health and longevity; for,

1185. Prospect of Longevity Essential.—It is advantageous in renewing a life in a lease for lives, to select a young healthy person, whose death may be presumed to be as remote as possible; because,

FINES.

1186. Upon every renewal of a life for the purpose of sustaining a lease for lives a fine has to be paid to the lord of the manor, which, compared to the rent, is usually rather a heavy sum.

NOMINAL FREEHOLDS.

1187. Leases for lives are technically "freehold," subject to all the laws of descent (129) and other laws relating to freehold property in fee-simple; but,

1188. Resemblance to Copyhold.-Leases for lives very much resemble copyholds, with the addition of rent, which, indeed, is the only practical difference; on the other hand,

HYBRID CHARACTER.

1189. Though renewable leases for lives, in respect of perpetuity,

resemble freeholds in fee-simple, and are hence classed in "real property," the obligation to pay a yearly rent associates them with leases for years, and hence gives them a kind of hybrid character justifying their juxtaposition with "chattels real."

CHATTELS REAL.

1190. The feudal rules which respected the holding and culture of land, became the elements of the law of real property; so, in like manner, the ancient rules relating to the disposition of goods, were the origin of the law of personal property; yet,

1191. Modern Recognition.—The division of property into real and personal, though now well recognized, is comparatively of modern date; for,

1192. Ancient Abnegation.-Personal property, as it is now called, was anciently of little importance, and its laws were few, simple, and of such small account as to excite but little observation.

1193. Two Distinctions only.—Formerly there were but two kinds of property, namely, real and personal-immovable land and movable goods, or chattels, as they are called in law; but,

1194. Spontaneous Development.-In process of time certain estates and interests in land grew up which were anciently unknown;

and

1195. Necessity for Chattels Real.-The exigences of modern forms of tenure have led to the recognition of what are called "chattels real."

LEASES FOR YEARS AND MORTGAGES.

1196. The most important kinds of chattels real are leases for years and mortgages.

1197. Appertainment to Land.-Leases for years and mortgages, though not in themselves real property, have acquired the name of chattels real," because they appertain to land.

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LEASES FOR YEARS.

1198. Some Antiquity.—The period when leases for years were first granted is not known; but,

1199. Not Extremely Ancient.-There is good reason to conclude that amongst the Anglo-Saxons there was no such thing as what is now called a lease.

1200. Time of Edward I.-The first authentic mention of leases appears to be in the Statute of 6 Edward I. c. 11 (1212), which refers to a tenancy for a term of years as a state of things commonly recognized; so that,

1201. Norman Origin.—It may be safely asserted that the practice of letting on lease, for a term of years, arose soon after the Norman Conquest, and some time previous to the reign of Edward I.

GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT.

1202. The first recorded particulars of leases indicate that the lessees were regarded rather as the bailiffs or servants of the lord, to whom they were accountable for the profits, which afterwards merged into an annual supply of produce, and thence arose a fixed pecuniary rental in lieu of such supply.

1203. Limitation of Time.-Ancient leases were jealously limited to terms of short duration; and

1204. Forty Years.-All ancient leases for more than forty years were void after the expiration of that time.

1205. Motives for Limitation.-The ground for limiting the duration of ancient leases, was that a long period risked the inheritance of the freeholder, which was apt in turbulent times to fall by long continuance, and the violent death of the lessors, into the free possession of the lessees; and

1206. "Fights Against God."-As late as the time of Elizabeth, Lord Egerton declared that he would give no aid in Chancery for the maintenance of leases for hundreds or thousands of years, because he considered they were "fights against God;" but,

RESTRICTIONS ABOLISHED.

1207. All restrictions of terms of leases have long since been removed, except in cases of life tenancies.