property confided to him, permits the person who has the beneficial interest (and who is called his cestui que trust) to remain in possession as actual occupant of the land, the law will imply a tenancy at will on the part of the cestui que trust (d). Again, an implied tenancy at will arises in the case of a person entering upon land under an agreement for a sale of it to him. and remaining in possession after the contract has gone off (e). A tenancy at will may, however, exist by express agreement between the parties, where the money rent, or other compensation to be made to the lessor, is to accrue from day to day, and is not referable to a year or any aliquot part of a year (f); or where there is no rent paid, or any proof of an agreement to pay rent (g). The incidents of the estate of a tenant at will do not Incidents of an call for much notice, since both his responsibilities and estate at will. his privileges are very limited. He is not bound to take any care of the property which he occupies, and is not therefore accountable for "permissive waste," that is, for allowing buildings or fences to get out of repair by mere neglect (h). But he is, notwithstanding, in general entitled, if his estate is summarily determined by his lessor, to have Emblements, that is, Emblements. to come upon the land after the expiration of his tenancy in order to take away such crops (provided they produce an annual profit) as were sown by him during his occupation. If, however, he pays a rack rent, or rent equal to the annual value of the land, he may come within the provisions of the 14 & 15. Vict., c. 25 (i). This statute enacts (j) that when 14 & 15 Vict. the lease or tenancy of any farms or lands held by (d) Melling v. Leak, 16 C. B. 652. (h) Harnett v. Maitland, 16 Mee and W. 257. c. 25. C How tenancy at will is determined. any tenant at rack-rent shall determine by the death or cesser of the estate of any landlord entitled for his life or any other uncertain interest, the tenant shall, instead of claims to emblements, continue to hold until the expiration of the then current year of his tenancy, at which time he shall, without being required to give or receive notice, quit upon the terms of his lease or holding, in the same manner as if his tenancy were determined by effluxion of time, or other lawful means, during the continuance of his landlord's estate. The succeeding owner is to be entitled to recover (as the landlord could have done if his interest had continued) a fair proportion of the rent for the period elapsed from the termination of the landlord's interest to the time of quitting; and the succeeding owner and tenant respectively are to be entitled, as against each other, to all the benefits, and be subject to the terms, to which the landlord and tenant respectively would have been entitled or subject in case the tenancy had determined in manner aforesaid at the expiration of such current year. A tenant at will cannot transfer his interest to another person, either during his lifetime or by will, because that could only be done with the consent of his lessor, and this consent would, of itself, create a new lease. His estate is put an end to by the death. of either himself or his lessor (k), or by any act of either party inconsistent with the existence of the tenancy. Thus an agreement by the lessor to sell his land (), or his making a new lease to another person, although with a proviso that the new lessee shall not enter upon the land until some future period, at once puts an end to the tenancy at will; as does also any act by the lessor in regard to the land for which he (k) James v. Dean, 11 Ves. 383, 391. would otherwise be liable to an action of trespass at the suit of the lessee (m). The inconveniences which attach to tenancies at will are so many that these estates are not favoured by the courts, which always prefer, if possible, to construe them as leases from year to year (n); and any reservation of a yearly rent will be taken to imply a tenancy from year to year (0), which cannot be put an end to by either party without due notice. This lastmentioned estate is only a modified form of an estate for years, to which, accordingly, we will next turn our attention. Is a "term." An estate for years is generally spoken of as a Estate for "term" (p) of years, because it is essential to its years. existence that both its commencement and its duration should be either certain or capable of being made. certain. Littleton defines a tenant for a term of years thus: "Tenant for a term of years is where a man letteth lands or tenements to another for a term of certain years at the number of years that is accorded between the lessor and the lessee, and the lessee entereth by force of the lease, then he is tenant for years" (q). The term for which the lease is made is called in every case a term of years; for although the lease may be made for only half a year, or a quarter, or any less time, this lessee is respected as a tenant for years, and is styled so in some legal proceedings, a year being the shortest term which the law in this case takes notice of (r), and therefore any tenancy of definite duration, as, for instance, one for three months certain, is a term (s). The grant of such a term is By whom it may be created. also called a "demise," and the term itself is distinguished as a "chattel real," a phrase which points, on the one hand, to the fact of its being personal property, and, on the other, to its connection with land. A term of years may, as a general rule, be created by any one having an estate greater than the term. itself. Thus not only can a tenant in fee or for life create a term of years, but, moreover, one who is himself a tenant for years can carve a smaller estate out of his own. The grantor (that is, the person making the grant of the term) is also called the "reversioner," because after the expiration of the term the possession of the land reverts or returns to him. The estate left in him when he makes the grant is therefore called his "reversion." But if he, at the time when he creates the term, parts with the rest of his estate to another person, the latter is called a "remainder-man," and his estate is known as a "remainder." A lease made by a tenant for years out of his own term was always binding on his representatives after his death, but, with this exception, the rule at one time was that if the grantor had an estate less than a fee-simple, all leases made by him were put an end to by his dying or by his forfeiting his estate, and did not bind Tenant in tail. the reversioner or remainder-man. Thus if a tenant in tail made a lease, and died before the expiration of the term, the lease was not binding even on his issue. 32 Hen. VIII. This was partly remedied by the 32 Hen. VIII., c. 28, under which tenants in tail were enabled, subject to certain restrictions, to make leases of such lands as had been accustomed to be let for the last twenty years past, for a period not exceeding twenty-one years or three lives. Such leases, however, only bound the issue of the tenant in tail, and not the remainder-man or reversioner; but now, under the Statute for the Abolition of Fines and Recoveries (t), c. 28. Abolition of Fines and Recoveries Act. (t) 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 74, ss. 15, 40, 41. á tenant in tail can make a lease for any term not exceeding twenty-one years, provided the lease is made by deed, and commences from the date of such lease, or from any time not exceeding twelve calendar months from the date of such lease, and that a rent is thereby reserved, which, at the time of granting such lease, is a rack-rent, or not less than five-sixth parts of a rack-rent. He may also make a lease for any term, by deed inrolled according to the provisions of the Act; and all such leases will be binding on the issue in tail, reversioner, and remainder-man. A tenant in tail can, moreover, avail himself of the provisions of the Settled Land Act, 1882, to be presently mentioned. The Fines and Recoveries Abolition Act rendered the 32 Hen. VIII., c. 28, unnecessary, and it has therefore been repealed except so much of it as relates to leases made by persons having an estate in right of their churches. A tenant for life could not, at one time, make Tenant for life. leases which would bind the persons entitled in reversion or remainder after his death, unless express powers for that purpose had been given to him by the instrument which created his life estate. Subsequently his powers were enlarged by various statutes, known as the Settled Estates Act, which Settled Estates empowered him to make leases, in some cases on his Act, 1877. own authority, and in others by obtaining the sanction of the Court of Chancery or the Chancery Division. The last of these statutes, called The Settled Estates Act, 1877 (u), is still in force so far as it is not inconsistent with the Settled Land Act. 1882 (v), which enables a tenant for life (subject to the provisions of the Act) not only to lease, but also to sell the (u) 40 & 41 Vict. c. 18. |