poll or by indenture, or even whether there be any written. lease at all. And again the estoppel terminated with the expiration of the lease; while at the present day the estoppel continues until the surrender of possession.

ID., 393. The conclusion appears to be justified that the origin and character of the modern estoppel of the tenant is to be found in this ancient action of assumpsit for use and occupation. In this form of action what was sought to be recovered was, not technically rent, but compensation from day to day for actual enjoyment. But to the maintenance of the action the relation of landlord and tenant must be established; and when established the modern estoppel in pais arises. Enjoyment by permission is the foundation of the action, and is therefore the foundation of the rule that a tenant shall not be permitted to dispute the title of his landlord. Two conditions then are essential to the existence of the estoppel: first, possession; secondly, permission; when these conditions are present the estoppel arises.

CHAPTER II.

ESTATES AT WILL.

(a) Pure Tenancies at Will.

LIT., § 68. Tenant at will is, where lands or tenements are let by one man to another, to have and to hold to him at the will of the lessor, by force of which lease the lessee is in possession. In this case the lessee is called tenant at will, because he hath no certain or sure estate, for the lessor may put him out at what time it pleaseth him. Yet if the lessee soweth the land, and the lessor, after it is sowne and before the corne is ripe, put him out, yet the lessee shall have the corne, and shall have free entry, egresse and regresse to cut and carrie away the corne, because he knew not at what time the lessor would enter upon him. Otherwise it is if the tenant for yeares, which knoweth the end of his terme, doth sow the land, and his terme endeth before the corn is ripe. In this case the lessor, or he in the reversion shall have the corne, because the lessee knew the certainty of his terme and when it would end.

§ 69. Also, if a house be letten to one to hold at will, by force whereof the lessee entreth into the house, and brings his household stuff into the same, and after the lessor puts him out, yet he shall have free entrie, egresse and regresse into the said house by reasonable time to take away his goods and utensils. As if a man seised of a mese in feesimple, fee-taile, or for life, hath certaine goods within the sayd house, and makes his executors, and dieth; whosoever after his decease hath the house, his executors shall have free entry, egresse and regresse to carrie out of the same house the goods of their testator by reasonable time.

§ 70. Also if a man make a deed of feoffment to another of certaine lands, and delivereth to him the deed, but not liverie of seisin; in this case he, to whom the deed is made, may enter into the land, and hold and occupie it at the will of him, which made the deed, because it is proved by the words of the deed, that it is his will that the other should have the land; but he which made the deed may put him out when it pleaseth him.

Co. LIT., 55, a. It is regularly true that every lease at will must in law be at the will of both parties, and therefore when the lease is made, to have and to hold at the will of the lessor, the law implyeth it to be at the will of the lessee also; for it cannot be onely at the will of the lessor, but it must be at the will of the lessee also. And so it is when the lease is made to have and to hold at the will of the lessee, this must be also at the will of the lessor; and so are all the bookes that seeme prima facie to differ, cleerly reconciled.

"Uncore si le lessee emblea la terre, et le lessor apres le embleer, &c." The reason of this is, for that the estate of the lessee is uncertaine, and therefore lest the ground should be unmanured, which should be hurtful to the commonwealth, he shall reape the crop which he hath sowed in peace, albeit the lessor doth determine his will before it be ripe. And so it is if he set rootes, or sow hempe or flax, or any other annual profit, if after the same be planted, the lessor oust the lessee; or if the lessee dieth, yet he or his executors shall have the yeare's crop. But if he plant young fruit trees, or yong oaks, ashes, elmes, &c., or sow the ground with acornes, &c., there the lessor may put him out notwithstanding, because they will yeeld no present annuall profit. And this is not only proper to a lessee at will, that when the lessor determines his will that the lessee shall have the corne sowne, &c., but to every particular tenant that hath an estate incertaine, for that is the reason which Littleton expresseth in these words (pur ceo que il n'ad ascun

certaine ou sure estate). And therefore if tenant for life soweth the ground, and dieth, his executors shall have the corne, for that his estate was uncertaine, and determined by the act of God. And the same law is of the lessee for yeares of tenant for life.

2 BL. COM., 145-147. The second species of estates not freehold are estates at will. An estate at will is where lands and tenements are let by one man to another, to have and to hold at the will of the lessor; and the tenant by force of the lease obtains possession. Such tenant hath no certain indefeasible estate, nothing that can be assigned by him to any other; because the lessor may determine his will, and put him out whenever he pleases. But every estate at will is at the will of both parties, landlord and tenant; so that either of them may determine his will, and quit his connection with the other at his own pleasure. Yet this must be understood with some restriction. For if the tenant at will sows his land, and the landlord, before the corn is ripe, or before it is reaped, puts him out, yet the tenant shall have the emblements, and free ingress, egress and regress, to cut and carry away the profits. And this for the same reason upon which all the cases of emblements turn; viz., the point of uncertainty: since the tenant could' not possibly know when his landlord would determine his will, and therefore could make no provision against it; and having sown the land, which is for the good of the public, upon a reasonable presumption, the law will not suffer him to be a loser by it. But it is otherwise, and upon reason equally good, where the tenant himself determines the will; for in this case the landlord shall have the profits of the land.

What act does, or does not, amount to a determination of the will on either side, has formerly been matter of great debate in our courts. But it is now, I think, settled, that (besides the express determination of the lessor's will, by declaring that the lessee shall hold no longer; which must either be made upon the land, or notice must be given to the

lessee) the exertion of any act of ownership by the lessor, as entering upon the premises and cutting timber, taking a distress for rent and impounding it thereon, or making a feoffment, or lease for years of the land to commence immediately; any act of desertion by the lessee, as assigning his estate to another, or committing waste, which is an act inconsistent with such a tenure; or, which is instar omnium, the death or outlawry of either lessor or lessee; puts an end to or determines the estate at will.

The law is, however, careful that no sudden determination of the will by one party shall tend to the manifest and unforeseen prejudice of the other. This appears in the case of emblements before mentioned; and, by a parity of reason, the lessee, after the determination of the lessor's will, shall have reasonable ingress and egress to fetch away his goods and utensils. And if rent be payable quarterly, or halfyearly, and the lessee determines the will, the rent shall be paid to the end of the current quarter or half year. And, upon the same principle, courts of law have of late years leaned as much as possible against construing demises, where no certain term is mentioned, to be tenancies at will; but have rather held them to be tenancies from year to year so long as both parties please, especially where an annual rent is reserved, in which case they will not suffer either party to determine the tenancy even at the end of the year, without reasonable notice to the other, which is generally understood to be six months.

(b) Estates from Year to Year.

2 BL. COM., 147. A tenancy from year to year is where tenements are expressly or impliedly demised by the landlord to the tenant to hold from year to year, so long as the parties shall respectively please; and there cannot be such a tenancy determinable only at the will of the tenant; for then it would operate as a tenancy for his life, which is not