The agreement for compensation (clause 10) re- Compensation. ferring to the second schedule of the agreement, clause 12 providing for payment of compensation by the incoming to the outgoing tenant, and the second schedule itself, only extend to the matters in part III. of the first schedule to the Act. In practice the compensation for the permanent and durable improvements will be paid by the landlord, but for the By whom paid. transient improvements such as manures and feeding stuffs by the incoming tenant just as he now pays for seeds and tillages. The incoming tenant may leave himself before the value of a durable improvement is exhausted. If the landlord and tenant come to any agreement as to the execution of matters in part I, they will probably do so by a separate agreement. Clauses 9 and 18 provide an agreement for Drainage. drainage. Independently of such an agreement there is no clause in the Act giving the landlord any power to drain and charge the holding in the first instance where he has an obstinate tenant who refuses to drain. He must either give his tenant notice to quit, or do it himself under clause 3 at his own expense, and charge the holding under section 29 of the Act with the amount. As above mentioned the clauses as to cultivation Cultivation. may be dispensed with or greatly modified according to the variety of soils and climates in the country. Those in the Precedent are applicable in the four course system only, as being the most general system in the country. Clause 15 relating to selling off produce will, in Selling off crops. many cases, require considerable modification in form Artificial Last year, and quitting. Arbitration clause. or in practice. In many counties tenants are allowed to sell off produce for the first two or three years. Clause 16 relating to samples of artificial manures may be sometimes found impracticable, owing to the amount of labour which it would entail on the landlord, but where practicable it would be decidedly useful by giving the Landlord control over the quality of the manure put upon the soil, and it would enable him to ascertain the value of the manures in the event of a reference, as otherwise the valuer on estimating the amount of compensation has nothing to go on but the tenant's vouchers. Such a clause would not be within the provisions of s. 55, nor would it render an agreement unfair or unreasonable. Manufactured manures and feeding stuffs are matters in which farmers are very liable to be imposed upon, some of them are hardly worth the cost of carriage. The clauses relating to the last year of the tenancy and quitting are very various. Those which are most general have been inserted, and it is believed that the general valuation clause 24 will be found in most cases to include the tenant right by custom not touched by the Act. It may very likely be objected that the procedure under the Act is not sufficiently satisfactory for general purposes of valuation, but it has been thought better to make use of it to avoid two different kinds of valuation at the termination of a tenancy, one under the Act, and one under custom, especially in view of sect. 17. It will be observed that the procedure has been modified so as to avoid the most objectionable features. The procedure before Justices relating to a distress is also incorporated in this clause. SUMMARY OF PROCEDURE. The procedure under the Act is of three kinds : (1.) PROCEEDINGS BEFORE A REferee, RefereeS, OR Procedure on UMPIRE (a.) To obtain compensation for unexhausted im provements. (b.) To assess the value of a fixture claimed by the tenant. (2.) PROCEEDINGS IN THE COUNTY COURT— (a.) To appoint a referee or umpire. (b.) To extend the time for delivering the award. (c.) On appeal from a reference. (d.) To appoint a guardian or next friend. (e.) To tax costs. (3.) SUMMARY PROCEEDINGS IN THE COUNTY COURT, OR BEFORE Justices— (a.) To decide matters arising under the sections relating to distress. The two first will be treated together, as they both apply to the same matters, the County Court being in fact as well a Court of Assistance as a Court of Appeal from the reference. The forms for use in the proceedings will be found in Appendices 2 to 5 inclusive, infra. reference- (2) In the County Court. Procedure under proceedings. Landlord and tenant are the parties contemplated by the Parties to Act as taking these proceedings; but other persons may, under sect. 46, become parties to the proceedings under the distress clauses, and there is nothing in the Act to prevent mortgagees, remaindermen, and others, from attending the reference or County Court proceedings to see after their interests, though there is no provision in the Act for allowance of their costs if they do so. The costs of the reference are in the discretion of the referees or umpire, and the costs of County Court proceedings and proceedings before the Justices are in the discretion of the Court. By sect. 25, where a landlord or a tenant is an infant without a guardian, or is of unsound mind not so found by inquisition, the County Court, on the application of any person interested, may appoint a guardian for the purposes of this Act, and may change the guardian if and as occasion requires. The County Court may also appoint a person to act as the next friend of a married woman for the purposes of this Act, and may remove or change that next friend if and as occasion requires. No special mode of procedure is provided for such applications, and they may be made by summons. Any notice, request, demand, or other instrument may be served on any person under this Act (1.) Personally. (2.) By leaving it at his last known place of abode in England. (3.) By sending it through the post in a registered letter addressed to him there. Under the compensation clauses all appointments, notices, and requests must be in writing (with the exception perhaps of the notice in sect. 14 by the referees to the parties), and it will always be well to send notices in writing in any case. PROCEDURE ON REFERENCE. See as to consent of landlord, and notice to landlord, before execution of improvements, pp. xv, xx. Where a tenant has executed any improvement in the Schedule to the Act, and he has agreed with his landlord for substituted compensation under any of the ss. 2-5, agreement. pp. 4-8. he need not give notice of his intention to claim compen- Compensation by sation in respect of such improvements, unless he desires Ss. 2-5. to have the compensation under the agreement assessed by reference under the Act (supra p. xvii; sect. 17). Otherwise the compensation is payable in pursuance of the agreement, and the agreement must be set aside in a court of law before either party can claim under the Act. Where, however, the tenant has made no agreement with his landlord, and he wishes to get compensation for unexhausted improvements under the compulsory clauses of the Act, or where he wishes to have the compensation payable under his agreement assessed by reference under the Act, he must be most careful not to neglect giving to his landlord notice in writing at least two months before the determination of his tenancy (see notes to sect. 1) of his intention to claim compensation, in addition to the consents and notices necessary before execution. If he neglect to give this notice or give it a day too late, his claim to all compensation under the Act is clean gone, and he must recover what compensation he can by custom or in any other manner allowed by sect. 57. Compensation under the Act. Ss. 1-6. PP. 1-10. Notice of Claim. S. 7. p. 10. Form 11. Counter notice by landlord. Ss. 6, 7. pp. 8-10. On receipt of such notice the landlord may, on his part, before, or within fourteen days after, the determination of the tenancy, give a counter-notice in writing that he claims to set-off against the tenant's claim a claim for compensation Form 12. in respect of the matters mentioned in sect. 6. begin. It must be noticed that the landlord cannot give notice Tenant only can to a tenant in the first place. The power of beginning proceedings for compensation lies with the tenant. When the tenant has once begun, the landlord may go on with his counterclaim, even if the tenant's claim is withdrawn. See notes to sect. 7. When under sect. 34 the tenant intends to remove a fixture or building put up by him upon his holding, after Jan. 1st, 1884, he must give one month's previous notice in writing of Assessing the value of a fixture S. 34. P. 28. |