United States.—The law of landlord and tenant in the United States is in its principles similar to those of English law. It is only possible to indicate, by way of example, some of the points of similarity. The relationship of landlord and tenant is created, altered and dissolved in the same way, and the rights and duties of parties are substantially identical. A lease must contain, either in itself or by clear reference, all the terms of a complete contract—the names of the parties, description of the property let, the rent (see [Rent]) and the conditions. The date is not essential. That is a matter of identification as to time only. In Pennsylvania, parol evidence of the date is allowed. The general American doctrine is that where the contract is contained in separate writings they must connect themselves by reference, and that parol evidence is not admissible to connect them. The English doctrine that a verbal lease may be specifically enforced if there has been part performance by the person seeking the remedy has been fully adopted in nearly all the American states. The law as to the rights and obligations of assignees and sub-lessees and as to surrender is the same as in England. Forfeiture only renders a lease void as regards the lessee; it may be waived by the lessor, and acceptance by the landlord of rent due after forfeiture, with notice of such forfeiture, amounts to waiver. Where there is a lease for a certain period, no notice to quit is necessary. In uncertain tenancies there must be reasonable notice—i.e. at common law six months generally. The notice necessary to determine a monthly or weekly tenancy is generally a month or a week (see further under [Lodger]; [Lodgings]). In the United States, as in England, the covenant for quiet enjoyment only extends, so far as relates to the acts of third parties, to lawful acts of disturbance in the enjoyment of the subject agreed to be let.
Laws of other Countries.—It is impossible here to deal with the systems of land tenure in force in other countries. Only the question of the legal relations between landlord and tenant can be touched upon. In France, the Code Civil recognizes two such relationships, the letting to hire of houses (bail à loyer) and the letting to farm of rural properties (bail à ferme). To a certain extent, both forms of tenancy are governed by the same rules. The letting may be either written or verbal. But a verbal lease presents this disadvantage that, if it is unperformed and one of the parties denies its existence, it cannot be proved by witnesses. The party who denies the letting can only be put to his oath (Arts. 1714-1715). It may further be noted that in the case of a verbal lease, notice to quit is regulated by the custom of the place (Art. 1736). The tenant or farmer has the right of underletting or assigning his lease, in the absence of prohibiting stipulation (Art. 1717). The lessor is bound by the nature of his contract and without the need of any particular stipulation (i.) to deliver to the lessee the thing hired in a good state of repair; (ii.) to maintain it in a state to serve the purpose for which it has been hired; (iii.) to secure to the lessee peaceable enjoyment during the continuance of the lease (Arts. 1719-1720). He is bound to warrant the lessee against, and to indemnify him for, any loss arising from any faults or defects in the thing hired which prevent its use, even though he was not aware of them at the time of the lease (Art. 1721). If during the continuance of the letting, the thing hired is entirely destroyed by accident, the lease is cancelled. In case of partial destruction, the lessee may, according to circumstances, demand either a diminution of the price, or the cancellation of the lease. In neither case is there ground for damages (Art. 1722). The lessor cannot, during the lease, change the form of the thing hired (Art. 1723). The lessee is bound, on his side (i.) to use the thing hired like a good head of a household (bon père de famille), in accordance with the express or presumed purpose of the hiring; (ii.) to pay the price of the hiring at the times agreed (Art. 1728). On breach of the former obligation, the lease may be judicially cancelled (Art. 1729). As to the consequences of breach of the latter, see [Rent]. If a statement of the condition of the property (état des lieux) has been prepared, the lessee must give it up such as he received it according to the statement, except what has perished or decayed by age or by means of force majeure (Art. 1730). In the absence of an état des lieux, the lessee is presumed to have received the thing hired in a good state of tenantable repair, and must so yield it up, saving proof to the contrary (Art. 1731). He is liable for injuries or losses happening during his enjoyment, unless he prove that they have taken place without his fault (Art. 1732); in particular, for loss by fire unless he show that the fire happened by accident, force majeure, or defect of construction, or through communication from a neighbouring house (Art. 1733). The lessee is liable for injuries and losses happening by the act of persons belonging to his house or of his sub-tenants (Art. 1735). A lease terminates (i.) at the expiration of the prescribed term (Art. 1737)—if at that period the lessee remains and is left in possession, there is, in the case of written leases, a tacit renewal (tacite reconduction) of the lease as a verbal lease (Arts. 1738-1739); (ii.) by the loss of the thing hired and by the default of the lessor or lessee in the fulfilment of their respective obligations (Art. 1741), but (iii.) not by the death either of the lessor or of the lessee (1742). The conditions of [Ejectment] are stated under that heading. The special rules (Arts. 1752-1762) relative to the hire of houses are touched upon in [Lodger and Lodgings]. It only remains here to refer to those applicable to leases to farm. The lessee is bound to stock the farm with the cattle and implements necessary for its husbandry (Art. 1766), and to stack in the places appointed for the purpose in the lease (Art. 1767). A lessee, who farms on condition of dividing the produce with the lessor, can only underlet or assign if he is expressly empowered to do so by the lease (Art. 1763). The lessee must give notice to the lessor of any acts of usurpation committed on the property (Art. 1768). If at least half of the harvest in any year is destroyed by accident, the lessee (a) in the case of a lease for several years, obtains, at the end of his lease, a refund of rent, by way of indemnity, unless he has been indemnified by preceding harvests; (b) in the case of a lease for a year only, may secure a proportional abatement of the current rent. No refund is payable if the produce was severed before the accident, unless the lessor was entitled to a portion of it, when he must bear his share of the loss, provided the lessee was not in morâ as regards the delivery of the lessor’s portion. The lessee has no right to a refund when the cause of damage was existing and known at the date of the lease (Arts. 1769-1771). Liability for loss by “accidents” may be thrown on the lessee by express stipulation (Art. 1772). “Accidents” here mean ordinary accidents only, such as hail, lightning or frost, and the lessee will not be answerable for loss caused by extraordinary accidents such as war or floods, unless he has been made liable for all accidents, foreseen or unforeseen (Art. 1773). A verbal lease is deemed to be for the term necessary to enable the lessee to gather in all the produce, thus for a year in the case of a meadow or vineyard; in the case of lands leased in tillage, where they are divided into shifts or seasons, for as many years as there are shifts (Art. 1774). The outgoing must leave for the incoming tenant convenient housing and other facilities for the labours of the year following; the incoming must procure for the outgoing tenant conveniences for the consumption of his fodder and for the harvests remaining to be got in. In either case the custom of the place is to be followed (Art. 1777). The outgoing tenant must leave the straw and manure of the year, if he received them at the beginning of his lease, and even where he has not so received them, the owner may retain them according to valuation (Art. 1778). A word must be added as to letting by cheptel (bail à cheptel)—a contract by which one of the parties gives to the other a stock of cattle to keep under conditions agreed on between them (Art. 1800). There are several varieties of the contract, (i.) simple cheptel (cheptel simple) in which the whole stock is supplied by the lessor—the lessee taking half the profit and bearing half the loss (Art. 1804); (ii.) cheptel by moiety (cheptel à moietié)—here each of the contracting parties furnishes half of the stock, which remains common for profit or loss (Art. 1818); (iii.) cheptel given to a farmer (fermier) or participating cultivator (colon partiaire)—in the cheptel given to the farmer (also called cheptel de fer) stock of a value equal to the estimated price of the stock given must be left at the expiry of the lease (Art. 1821); cheptel given to the participating cultivator resembles simple cheptel, except in points of detail (Arts. 1827-1830); (iv.) the term “cheptel” is also improperly applied to a contract by which cattle are given to be housed and fed—here the lessor retains the ownership, but has only the profit of the calves (Art. 1831).
The French system just described is in force in its entirety in Belgium (Code Civil, Arts. 1713 et seq.) and has been followed to some extent in Italy (Civil Code, Arts. 1568 et seq.), Spain (Civil Code, Arts 1542 et seq.), and Portugal (Civil Code, Arts. 1298 et seq., 1595 et seq.). In all these countries there are varieties of emphyteutic tenure; and in Italy the mezzadria or metayer system (see Civil Code, Arts. 1647 et seq.) exists. The German Civil Code adopts the distinction between bail à loyer (Miehl, Arts. 535 et seq.) and bail à ferme (Pacht, Arts. 581 et seq.). Dutch law also (Civil Code, Arts. 1583 et seq.) is similar to the French.
The Indian law of landlord and tenant is described in the article [Indian Law]. The laws of the various British colonies on the subject are too numerous and too different to be dealt with here. In Mauritius, the provisions of the Code Civil are in force without modification. In Quebec (Civil Code, Arts. 1605 et seq.) and St Lucia (Civil Code, Arts. 1512 et seq.) they have been reproduced by the local law. In many of the colonies, parts of the English law of landlord and tenant, common law and statutory, have been introduced by local enactments (cf. British Guiana, Ord. 4 of 1846; Jamaica, 1 Vict. c. 26). In others (e.g. Victoria, Landlord and Tenant Act 1890, No. 1108; Ontario, Rev. Stats. 1897, c. 170) consolidating statutes have been passed.
Authorities.—English Law: Wolstenholme, Brinton and Cherry, Conveyancing and Settled Land Acts (London, 9th ed., 1905); Hood and Challis, Conveyancing and Settled Land Acts (London, 7th ed., 1909); Foà, on Landlord and Tenant (London, 4th ed., 1907); Woodfall, on Landlord and Tenant (London, 18th ed., 1907); Fawcett, Landlord and Tenant (London, 3rd ed., 1905). Scots Law: Hunter, on Landlord and Tenant (Edinburgh, 4th ed., 1876); Rankine, on Land Ownership (Edinburgh, 3rd ed., 1891); Rankine, on Leases (Edinburgh, 2nd ed., 1893); Hunter, Landlord and Tenant (4th ed. G. Guthrie, Edinburgh, 1876). Irish Law: Kelly’s Statute Law of Landlord and Tenant in Ireland (Dublin, 1898); Barton and Cherry’s Land Act 1896 (Dublin, 1896); Quill, Hamilton and Longworth, Irish Land Acts of 1903 and 1904 (Dublin, 1904). American Law: Bouvier, Law Dictionary (ed. Rawle) (London, 1897); McAdam, Rights, Remedies and Liabilities of Landlord and Tenant (New York, 1900); Wood, Law of Landlord and Tenant (New York, 1888). Foreign and Colonial Laws: Field, Landholding and the relation of Landlord and Tenant in various Countries; Ruling Cases (American Notes), (London and Boston, 1894-1901).
(A. W. R.)
LANDON, CHARLES PAUL (1760-1826), French painter and art-author, was born at Nonant in 1760. He entered the studio of Regnault, and won the first prize of the Academy in 1792. After his return from Italy, disturbed by the Revolution, he seems to have abandoned painting for letters, but he began to exhibit in 1795, and continued to do so at various intervals up to 1814. His “Leda” obtained an award of merit in 1801, and is now in the Louvre. His “Mother’s Lesson,” “Paul and Virginia Bathing,” and “Daedalus and Icarus” have been engraved; but his works on painting and painters, which reach nearly one hundred volumes, form his chief title to be remembered. In spite of a complete want of critical accuracy, an extreme carelessness in the biographical details, and the feebleness of the line engravings by which they are illustrated, Landon’s Annales du Musée, in 33 vols., form a vast repertory of compositions by masters of every age and school of permanent value. Landon also published Lives of Celebrated Painters, in 22 vols.; An Historical Description of Paris, 2 vols.; a Description of London, with 42 plates; and descriptions of the Luxembourg, of the Giustiniani collection, and of the gallery of the duchesse de Berry. He died at Paris in 1826.
LANDON, LETITIA ELIZABETH (1802-1838), English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L. E. L. than as Miss Landon or Mrs Maclean, was descended from an old Herefordshire family, and was born at Chelsea on the 14th of August 1802. She went to a school in Chelsea where Miss Mitford also received her education. Her father, an army agent, amassed a large property, which he lost by speculation shortly before his death. About 1815 the Landons made the acquaintance of William Jerdan, and Letitia began her contributions to the Literary Gazette and to various Christmas annuals. She also published some volumes of verse, which soon won for her a wide literary fame. The gentle melancholy and romantic sentiment her writings embodied suited the taste of the period, and would in any case have secured her the sympathy and approval of a wide class of readers. She displays richness of fancy and aptness of language, but her work suffered from hasty production, and has not stood the test of time. The large sums she earned by her literary labours were expended on the support of her family. An engagement to John Forster, it is said, was broken off through the intervention of scandalmongers. In June 1838 she married George Maclean, governor of the Gold Coast, but she only survived her marriage, which proved to be very unhappy, by a few months. She died on the 15th of October 1838 at Cape Coast from an overdose of prussic acid, which, it is supposed, was taken accidentally.