I disclosed the fact to T. J., who, being somewhat of a naturalist, might, I thought, be able to prescribe some cure for this new found evil. He at once exclaimed:
“I tell you what, old fellow, some scientific folks say that these creatures always retire from public life to their own quarters about midnight. Test the point. You tumble into bed at once, and I will endeavor to entertain Mrs. Lawyer until twelve, and will call in the morning to hear the result of the experiment.”
“You’re very kind, I am sure. But I am always willing to share things equally with my wife; besides, when two are in bed the creepers lose time in deciding which to bite, so one can get occasional naps. To-morrow we will quit,” I replied.
“But can you give up your lodgings in that summary manner?”
“Long since it was decided that where a man rents ready furnished houses or lodgings and they are infested by bugs, the tenant may leave without paying rent. Baron Parke, in giving judgment, said that the authorities appeared fully to warrant the position that if the demised premises are encumbered with a nuisance of so serious a nature that no person can reasonably be expected to live in them, the tenant is at liberty to throw them up. And he said that this was so because of the implied condition that the landlord undertakes to rent the place in an habitable state. Lord Abinger, in the same case, went even further, and gave it as his opinion that no authorities were wanted to establish the point, and that the case was one which common sense alone enabled them to decide. A man, he remarked, who lets a ready furnished house, surely does so under an implied condition, or obligation, that the house is in a fit state to be inhabited. His lordship had no doubt whatever on the subject, and thought that tenants under such circumstances were fully justified in leaving.”[439]
“But have not other equally learned judges had very grave doubts upon the subject?” queried Jones.
“Well, I must confess that later cases have somewhat shaken the authority of the one I have been referring to, and it has been held that there is no implied warranty in a lease of a house, or of land, that it is or shall be reasonably fit for habitation, occupation, or cultivation, and that there is no contract, still less any condition, implied by law on the demise of real property only that it is fit for the purpose for which it is let.”[440]
“Does not that put an extinguisher on the authority you cited?” said Jones.
“No; in some of these latter decisions the case of a ready furnished house is expressly distinguished upon the ground that the letting of such a house is a contract of a mixed nature, being in fact a bargain for a house and furniture, which, of necessity, must be such as are fit for the purpose for which they are to be used. Abinger was particularly strong on the point. He said that ‘if a party contract for the lease of a house ready furnished, it is to be furnished in a proper manner, and so as to be fit for immediate occupation. Suppose,’ said he, ‘it turn out that there is not a bed in the house; surely the party is not bound to occupy it or continue in it. So, also, in the case of a house infected with vermin; if bugs be found in the bed, even after entering into possession, the lodger or occupier is not bound to stay in the house. Suppose again,’ he continued, ‘the tenant discover that there are not sufficient chairs in the house, or that they are not of a sort fit for use: he may give up possession.’[441] And so late as April of the year of grace 1877, Lord C. B. Kelly said that he was of the opinion, both on authority and on general principles of law, that there is an implied condition that a furnished house shall be in a good and tenantable state and reasonably fit for human occupation from the very day on which the tenancy is dated to begin, and that where such a house is in such a condition that there is either great discomfort or danger to health in entering and dwelling in it, then the intending tenant is entitled to repudiate the contract altogether.”[442]
“Well, that is strong, I am sure.”