220. Electric Motor.
Clockwork.—Motors with the mechanism propelled by a spring have not yet been brought to any degree of perfection or efficiency. A self-acting motor of this description was being manufactured and attached to sewing machines by a company formed in London, but it is to be regretted that for some reason the company has now ceased to exist: their motor could be adapted to any make of sewing machine, and their efforts were worthy of success, for they were applied to the domestic machine, which, although a grand institution, entails labour both trying and harmful.
See also p. 1012.
[HOUSEHOLD LAW.]
The wants of modern society are so various, and the relations consequently created are so far-reaching, that it is absolutely impossible, within the space that can be spared to the subject in this manual, to fully explain the position in law of a householder or head of a family. The reader of the following remarks must never forget that they attempt to state a few general rules merely, and that there are few, if any, households which are not in some respects under the sway of some special Act of Parliament or some special agreement with somebody. The chapter will, it is hoped, keep its reader, with these limitations, clear of some litigation, and show him some of his rights; but it has been written on the principle that silence is far better than a misleading statement.
The House
The House. Renting and Letting.—Agreement.—In all cases have a memorandum of agreement written in duplicate, stamped, and signed by both parties, each keeping a copy. This should state clearly the commencement of the tenancy and its duration (quarterly, yearly, or for a term of years), the rental, the share of repairs to be borne by the landlord and the share to be done by the tenant, and attached to it should be a schedule detailing the dilapidations (if any) on entering on the tenancy, and any fixtures, such as gaseliers, blinds, &c., which may be intended to be included in the letting, and to remain the property of the landlord. An agreement for a tenancy for three years or less, which, of course, includes a yearly or monthly tenancy, may be made verbally if the rent is two-thirds or more of the full yearly value, which may be assumed to be the rateable value as appearing in the parish books.
Insanitary Houses.—The mere letting of a furnished house implies a contract on the part of the landlord that the house is “fit for human habitation.” What constitutes “fitness” is a matter of degree. The presence of bugs, infection from measles, or defective drains, has each in turn been held to justify the tenant in declaring his tenancy at an end. But with regard to an unfurnished house the law has been in the habit of taking a different view. In such a case the old maxim of “caveat emptor” applies, and the tenant is presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to have taken the house as he found it. More especially when there is a lease or a written agreement, such a document is presumed to embody all the covenants, on either side, which are required for the protection of the interests of either landlord or tenant; and in such a case no tacit or implied covenant of a conflicting nature can be inferred. The house may be defective in sundry details, but the tenant is presumed to have informed himself beforehand on these points, and to have taken them into consideration when he agreed to the rent. Therefore, every one who is about to take a house should have it properly surveyed before committing himself by signing an agreement even for a yearly tenancy, or should have inserted in the lease an undertaking by the landlord that the drainage of the premises is in perfect order, which possibly would be the better way, as defects in drains are not found out at once. It is possible that the landlord would object to putting a clause of this kind in. It is unusual, but that is no reason why it should not be made usual and universal.