notice. But the notice must terminate on a day when the rent is payable. It may be given at any time, but operates only after the required interval or period between two payments. Thus, if a tenant whose lease terminates on the 31st of December holds over by consent, and pays rent quarterly, and the landlord wishes that he should leave the house on the last day of September, he may give notice on the preceding 30th day of June, or any day preceding that. But if he gives notice on any day before the 30th of June, the tenant will still have a right to stay until the 30th of September. Properly, the notice should specify the day, and the right day, when the tenant must leave; and should be in writing.

A tenancy at will may also be terminated by a written lease of the premises made by the landlord to a third person. The lessee under such a lease is entitled to immediate possession, and the tenant at will, after notice from the lessee to vacate, is entitled only to such reasonable time as may be necessary to remove his property from the premises.

A tenant at will may give notice of his intention to quit, and generally it will be subject to the same rules already stated in reference to the notice given by a landlord. A tenant should give his notice to the party to whom he is bound to pay rent, or to an authorized agent of that party.

In all well-drawn leases there is a proviso that if the rent be in arrear the lessor may enter on the premises and expel the lessee, and so terminate the tenancy. Under the common law this was a very technical proceeding, requiring among other things a demand by the landlord of the exact amount of rent due, and on the very day it fell due. By statute, however, in nearly all, if not all, of our States it is provided in substance that if the rent be in arrear the lessor may, by giving the tenant a written notice to quit for non-payment of rent, terminate his tenancy at the end of the period named in the notice, and if the rent be not then paid he may by a summary proceeding in the courts obtain possession of the premises. The time allowed by such notice is usually brief; the statutes of the different States vary on this point, but a frequent period is fourteen days. And if notice to quit is given because the rent is unpaid, it may be given at any time and will operate at the end of the period which the law

designates; but it should specify the day on which the tenant must quit.

It is quite important that both tenant and landlord should have some knowledge of the law of fixtures; for this tells them. what things the tenant may take away and what he cannot. For there are many things which a tenant may add, and afterwards remove, and many which he cannot remove. The method of affixing them may be a useful criterion, as it indicates the purpose of removal or otherwise. If with screws, or in such a way as to show that removal was intended, things may be taken away, when, if the same things were fastened more permanently, they could not be. In modern times the rule in favor of the tenant seems to extend as far as this: whatever he has added, and can remove, leaving the premises entirely restored and in as good order as if he had not removed it, that he may take away. Among the things held to be removable, in different adjudged cases, are these: ornamental chimney-pieces; coffee-mills; cornices screwed on; furnaces; fire-frames; stoves; iron backs to chimneys; looking-glasses; pumps; gates; rails and posts; barns or stables on blocks.

Among those held not removable are these: barns fixed in the ground; benches fastened to the house; trees, plants, an hedges, not belonging to a gardener by trade; conservatory strongly affixed; glass windows; locks and keys.

But almost every one of these might be removable, or not, according to the intent of the parties, and the rule above stated, of removableness with or without injury.

If a man sells a house, the law of fixtures is construed far more severely against him than against a tenant who leaves a house; that is, the seller must permit the buyer to hold a great many things which an outgoing tenant might remove. Of course, a seller may take what he will from his house before he sells it, or make what bargain the parties choose to make about the fixtures. But if he makes no such bargain, and sells the house, he cannot then take from the house what a tenant who put them there might take.

In favor of trade and manufactures, the law permits almost anything which was put in by a tenant for such purposes to be taken away, if the premises can be restored substantially to their original condition.

The tenant takes his lease subject to the state of the landlord's title at that time. If the land was then mortgaged or subject to any easement or restriction the tenant is liable to be turned out of possession by a foreclosure of the mortgage, or to a limitation in the use of the property by reason of such easement or restriction.

In case of a sale by the landlord, his interest in the lease passes to his grantee without any special assignment, and the grantee may collect the rents and enforce the covenants of the tenant in the lease. The landlord may also assign the rents, without parting with his title to the premises. The interest of the tenant is assignable, unless forbidden by the terms of the lease. If the lease is recorded, the assignment should be recorded also.

If the tenant be evicted-that is, turned out of possessionduring the term of his lease, his obligation to pay rent ceases. Such eviction may be caused by one having a paramount title to that of the landlord, as in the case of the foreclosure of a mortgage in existence at the date of the lease, or by some act of the landlord himself. The eviction may be actual-such as a forcible dispossession of the tenant-or constructive, the latter term being applied to any act of the landlord which so affects the tenant's enjoyment of the premises that he is legally justified in relinquishing his possession. What acts amount to a constructive eviction is often a question of difficulty. In general, it may be said that they must be of such a character as to cause a substantial and permanent interference with the tenant's enjoyment of the premises. A mere trespass is not sufficient. Examples of such acts are, the closing of a road which furnished the only means of access to the leased premises; digging drains under a house and so undermining the foundations as to render the house uninhabitable; the erection of buildings closing up windows and cutting off light and air, and shutting off the supply of water from a leased stable occupied by the tenant's horses. So too, it has been held that shutting off power from a factory where power was leased with the building, and failure to furnish suitable elevator service in an office building, rendering the premises entirely unsuitable for the purposes for which they were hired, amounted to constructive eviction.

The eviction may be partial, extending only to a part of the leased premises, as where the landlord locked up one room in a

suite of three. While a partial eviction may justify the tenant in abandoning the whole of the leased premises, he is not obliged to do so, and may, if he chooses, continue to occupy the remainder. In such case the tenant is not liable for rent, or to pay for use and occupation of the premises while the acts of eviction continue.

In most of the States leases for a term of more than one year must be in writing, otherwise they take effect only as tenancies at will, even as between the parties thereto.

In Florida leases for two years must be in writing; so in Indiana, New Jersey, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, must leases for three years; in Virginia, leases for five years; and in Maryland leases for seven years.

In Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Vermont and Washington leases not in writing take effect only as tenancies at will.

Leases for more than one year are not valid unless recorded, in California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Vermont; leases for more than three years in: Indiana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming; leases for more than five years in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia; leases for more than seven years in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Hampshire; or for more than twenty-one years in Delaware and Pennsylvania. In the following States all conveyances of land-including leasesmust be acknowledged and recorded: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Texas.

In North and South Dakota and California, leases of agricultural land are limited to ten years; those of city lots in South Dakota to twenty years. In California leases of city lots are limited to ninety-nine years, and of property of a municipality, a minor or incompetent person to ten years. In North Dakota leases of lands of a town or city are limited to ninety-nine years.

The remarks in respect to the variety of forms which will be found at the close of the chapter on deeds of land, are equally applicable to forms of leases, and should be read in connection with the following forms.

(288.)

A Short Form of Lease.

This Indenture, Made the
Lord one thousand nine hundred and

day of

:

County of

in the year of our

Witnesseth, That I, (name and residence of the lessor) do hereby lease, demise, and let unto (name and residence of the lessee) a certain parcel of land, in the city (or town) of and State of with all the buildings thereon standing, and the appurtenances to the same belonging, bounded and described as follows (or, a certain house in said city, giving the street and number, with the land under and adjoining the same).

(The premises need not be described quite as minutely or fully as is proper in a deed or mortgage of land, but must be so described as to identify them perfectly, and make it certain just what premises are leased.)

To Hold for the term of yielding and paying therefor the rent of

from the

day of per annum.

19.

And said lessee does promise to pay the said rent in four quarterly payments on the first days of January, April, July, and October in each year during said term, (or state otherwise just when the payments of rent are to be made) and to quit and deliver up the premises to the lessor or his attorney, peaceably and quietly at the end of the term, in as good order and condition, reasonable use and wearing thereof, fire and other unavoidable casualties excepted, as the same now are or may be put into by the said lessor, and to pay the rent as above stated, and all taxes and duties levied or to be levied thereon during the term, and also the rent and taxes as above stated for such further time as the lessee may hold the same, and not make or suffer any waste thereof; nor lease, nor underlet, nor permit any other person or persons to occupy or improve the same, or make or suffer to be made any alteration therein, but with the approbation of the lessor thereto in writing, having been first obtained; and that the lessor may enter to view, and make improvements, and to expel the lessee, if he shall fail to pay the rent and taxes as aforesaid, or make or suffer any strip or waste thereof.

In Witness Whereof, The said parties have hereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals the day and year first above written.

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered in Presence of

(289.)

(Signatures.) (Seals.)

A Fuller Form, with a Provision for Abatement of Rent.

This Indenture, Made this
Lord one thousand nine hundred and

day of

in the year of our by and between (name and

residence of lessor) and (name and residence of lessee).

Witnesseth, That the said (name of lessor) does hereby lease, demise, and let unto the said (name of lessee) (describe the premises).

day of

To Hold for the term of

years, commencing the A. D. one thousand nine hundred and

the said lessee, or