(3) By eviction, which is an exclusion of the tenant from the possession or beneficial enjoyment of the whole or a part of the premises;

(4) By forfeiture, which is the loss to the tenant of his right to possession, consequent upon his breach of a duty to his landlord;

(5) By destruction of or injury to the premises, without the fault of the tenant, rendering the premises untenantable; (6) By surrender, which is a yielding up by the tenant of an unexpired term to the owner of the reversion; (7) By notice to quit.

23. May a surrender be effected by the act of the tenant alone?

No, there must be an acceptance by the owner of the reversion.

24. When and by whom must a notice to quit be given? A notice to quit is required only to terminate a tenancy of uncertain duration. It is given by the landlord to the tenant, and, to terminate a tenancy at will or by sufferance, a written notice of thirty days is required. A tenant need never give to his landlord notice of his intention to quit.

25. Where a tenant continues in the possession of premises after the expiration of definite term, what are the rights of the landlord?

(1) He may treat the tenancy as renewed at the same rent for another term equal to the term just expired; except that where the original term was for a year or more, the renewed term will be for one year only; or

(2) He may treat the tenant as a trespasser and remove him by summary proceedings.

26. What are summary proceedings?

A statutory procedure whereby a landlord may summarily recover the possession of premises from a tenant who holds over after the expiration of the term of his tenancy; or after default in the payment of rent; or after the expiration of the time specified in a notice to quit theretofore given.

27. In New York state what is the longest term for which a lease of agricultural lands is permitted?

Twelve years.

HIGHWAYS

"Private rights yield to public good."

1. What is a highway?

A highway is a thoroughfare which is used by the public. In New York State the word is held to mean a road opened through the country upon land, for the travel of persons with their animals and vehicles.

2. How is land acquired for a highway?

(1) By a dedication by the owner, accepted by the public;

(2) By the eminent domain.

3. How may land be dedicated for a highway?

(1) The owner may grant to the public an easement of travel, and such grant must be accepted by the public.

(2) The owner may permit the public to use the land as a highway for a period of twenty years or more, whereupon the public will acquire an easement of travel by prescription.

4. How may land be acquired by the eminent domain for a highway?

The Court, with the aid of commissioners appointed by it, determines, upon notice to the owner, the necessity for the highway; the highway is laid out; a map thereof is filed; and the owner is compensated by the public for the easement which it has thus acquired in his land.

5. What estate has the owner in land which has been acquired for a highway?

He owns the fee of the land, subject to the public's easement of travel.

6. In New York state upon whom is the duty of creating and maintaining highways imposed?

Upon the towns.

7. Through what officers do the towns perform this duty? Through commissioners of highways, who are aided by overseers of highways, or pathmasters, appointed by them.

8. Who is liable for damages resulting from defective highways?

The town; but the commissioner of highways is liable to the town for any damages which it may have been compelled to pay, if the defect was due to his negligence.

9. How may a highway be discontinued?

(1) By non-user by the public for a period of six years. (2) By surrender by the public of its easement of travel thereon.

10. What effect has the discontinuance of a highway upon the title of the owner of the land?

His title becomes absolute.

NUISANCES

"So use your own as not to injure another."

1. What is a nuisance?

A nuisance is such an unreasonable, unwarranted or unlawful use by a person of his own property as produces material and unnecessary damage or annoyance to his neighbor.

2. Into what classes are nuisance divided?

(1) Public, resulting from an invasion of the rights of the community generally, and causing no special injury to one person more than to another;

(2) Private, resulting from the invasion of the rights of one or a few persons only, and causing special injury to them, but not to the community at large.

3. Name some of the frequent sources of nuisances.

Livery stables, slaughter houses, bone-boiling or tallowrendering establishments, pigsties, brothels, brick kilns, vicious animals running at large, powder magazines and encroachments upon one's land.

4. Is the question whether given conditions constitute a nuisance one of law or of fact?

It is always a question of fact to be determined by a jury from all the circumstances.

5. What is the test as to whether a given use of one's own property constitutes a nuisance?

The test is not whether the use causes injury to a neighbor's property, or that the injury was the natural consequence of the use, or that the use is in the nature of a nuisance; but it is as to whether the use is a reasonable exercise of the dominion of the owner over his own property, having regard for all the interests affected, his own and his neighbor's, and also having in view public policy.

6. May a given use amount to a nuisance in one locality and not in another?

Yes; for example, a slaughter-house conducted in the residential part of a municipality would be a nuisance, but not so if carried on beyond the corporate limits.

7. What are the remedies against a public nuisance?

(1) The maintenance of a public nuisance being a crime, the party guilty thereof may be prosecuted by indictment; (2) Any person may enter upon the property of another and summarily abate a public nuisance maintained thereon, provided he occasion no breach of the peace in so doing.

8. What are the remedies against a private nuisance? (1) An action at law by the person aggrieved to recover the damages sustained by him down to the time of the commencement of the action;

(2) A suit in equity to restrain the further continuance of the nuisance, with or without a recovery of the damages sustained by the person aggrieved down to the time of the trial of the action.

9. Is it a defense to an action for nuisance that the nuisance was maintained without negligence, or under legislative sanction?

It is not.

10. What is the measure of damages in an action for a private nuisance affecting property?

The difference in the fair rental value of the property with and without the presence of the nuisance. This rule applies whether the property affected be in the possession of the owner or of a tenant. The right of action always belongs to the owner, except where the nuisance commenced during the occupancy of a tenant, to whom alone in such case the right of action belongs.

II. What is the measure of damages in an action for private nuisance affecting bodily comfort?

It is for a jury to say what, under all the circumstances, the plaintiff ought to have and what the defendant ought to pay, in money, in view of the discomfort or annoyance to which the plaintiff has been subjected by the nuisance.