LANDS CLAUSES ACTS rected to be converted into land, by will or contract, marriage articles, settlement, or otherwise; Bisp. Eq. § 307. See CONVERSION. LANDS CLAUSES CONSOLIDATION ACTS. Important acts, beginning in 1845, and last amended by 32 & 33 Vict. c. 18, the object of which was to provide legislative clauses in a convenient form for incorporation by reference in future special acts of parliament for taking lands, with or without the consent of their owners, for the promotion of railways, and other public undertakings; Moz. & W. LAND CEAP, LAND CHEAP (land, and Sax. ceapan, to buy). A fine payable in money or cattle, upon the alienation of land, within certain manors and liberties. Cowel, Gloss. LAND COURT. In American Law. The name of a court which formerly existed in the city of St. Louis, state of Missouri, having sole jurisdiction in St. Louis county in suits respecting lands, and in actions of ejectment, dower, partition. LANDIRECTA. Rights charged upon land. Toml. See TRINODA NECESSITAS. 42 LAND-MARK. A monument set up in order to ascertain the boundaries between two contiguous estates. For removing a landmark an action lies. 1 Thomas, Co. Litt. 787. See MONUMENTS. LAND-REEVE. One whose business it is to overlook parts of an estate. Moz. & W. LAND TAX. A tax on the beneficial LANDLORD AND TENANT who had only the possession and use of the land, was styled the feudatory, or vassal, which was only another name for the tenant or holder of it. In the popular meaning of the word, however, it is applied to a person who owns lands or tenements which he rents out to others. LANDLORD AND TENANT. A term used to denote the relation which subsists by virtue of a contract, express or implied, between two or more persons, for the possession or occupation of lands or tenements either for a definite period, from year to year, for life, or at will. When this relation is created by an express contract, the instrument made use of for the purpose is called a lease. See LEASE. But it may also arise by necessary implication from the circumstances of the case and the relative position of the parties to each other; for the law will imply its existence in many cases where there is an ownership of land on the one hand and an occupation of it by permission on the other; and in such cases it will be presumed that the occupant intends to compensate the owner for the use of the premises; 4 Pet. 84; 39 Ill. 578; 60 N. Y. 102. The intention to create. This relation may be inferred from a variety of circumstances; but the most obvious acknowledg ment of its existence is the payment of rent; and this principle applies even after the expiration of a lease for a definite term of years; for if a tenant continues to hold over, after his term has run out, the landlord may, if he proprietor of land such as is imposed in chooses, consider him a tenant, and he is, in many of the states; so far as a tenant is bene-fact, understood to do so, unless he proceeds If the landlord suffers ficial proprietor, aud no farther, does it rest to eject him at once. on him. It has superseded all other methods of taxation in Great Britain. Sugden, Vend. 268. It was first imposed in 1693, a new valuation of the lands in the kingdom having been made in 1692, which has not since been changed. In 1798 it was made perpetual, at a rate of four shillings in a pound of valued rent. Under the provisions of the stat. 16 & 17 Vict. c. 74; this tax is now generally redeemed. See Encyc. Brit. Taxation. him to remain, and receives rent from him, or by any other act acknowledges him still as tenant, a new tenancy springs up, usually from and stipulations entered into between the paryear to year, regulated by the same covenants ties at the creation of the original term in so far as they are applicable to the altered nature of the tenancy; 15 Johns. 505; 4 M'Cord, 59; 2C. & P. 348; 42 Ind. 212; 43 Md. 446; 42 Cal. 316. The payment of money, however, is only a prima facie acknowledgment of the existence of a tenancy; for if it does not appear to have been paid as rent, but has been paid by mistake or stands upon some other consideration, it will not be evidence of a subsisting tenancy; 10 East, 261; 4 Bingh. 91; 3 B. & C. 413; 4 M. & G. 143. Neither does a mere participation in the profits of land, where the owner is not excluded from possession, nor the letting of land upon shares, unless the occupant expressly agrees to pay a certain part of the crop as rent, in either case amount to Rawle, 11; 42 Vt. 94; 60 N. Y. 221; 21 a tenancy; 1 Gill & J. 266; 3 Zabr. 390; 2 Ill. 200. But the relation of landlord and tenant will not be inferred from the mere occupation of land, if the relative position of the parties to each other can, under the circum LANDLORD AND TENANT stances of the case, be referred to any other distinct cause: as, for instance, between a vendor and vendee of land,, where the purchaser remains in possession after the agree. ment to purchase falls through. For the possession in that case was evidently taken with the understanding of both parties that the occupant should be owner, and not tenant; and the other party cannot without his consent convert him into a tenant, so as to charge him with rent; 6 Johns. 46; 21 Me. 525; 8 M. & W. 118; 10 Cush. 259; 16 Vt. 257; 11 N. H. 148; 60 Barb. 463; 46 Me. 456; 12 B. Monr. 504; 16 Pet. 25; 17 Ind. 509. The same principle applies to a mort gagor and mortgagee, as well as to that of a mortgagor and an assignee of the mortgagee; for no privity of the estate exists in either case; and, as a general rule, a tenancy by implication can never arise under a party who has not the legal estate of the premises in question; 2 M. & R. 303; 6 Ad. & E. 265; Taylor, Landl. & T. § 25; 16 Vt. 371. 43 Generally, the rights and obligations of the parties will be considered as having commenced from the date of the lease, if there be one, and no other time for its commencement has been agreed upon; or, if there be no date, then from the delivery of the papers. If, however, there be no writings, it will take effect from the day the tenant entered into possession, and not with reference to any particular quarter-day; 4 Johns. 230; 15 Wend. 656; 3 Camp. 510; Taylor, Landl. & T. 135 (11 ed.). And these rights and duties attach to each of the parties, not only in respect to each other, but also with reference to other persons who are strangers to the contract. The landlord retains certain rights over the property, although he has parted with its possession, while the tenant assumes obligations with respect to it which continue so long as he is invested with that character. After the making of a lease, the right of possession, in legal contemplation, remains in the landlord until the contract is consummated by the entry of the lessee. When the tenant enters, this right of possession changes, and he draws to himself all the rights incident to possession. The landlord's rights in the premises during the term of the lease are confined to those expressly or impliedly derived from the contract of lease and to the protection of his reversionary interest. He may maintain actions for such injuries as would, in the ordinary course of things, continue to affect his interest after the determination of the lease. But such injuries must be of a character permanently to affect the inheritance; such are breaking the windows of a house, cutting timber, or damming up a rivulet, whereby the timber on the estate becomes rotten; 11 Mass. 519; 1 Maule & S. 234; 3 Me. 6; 5 Duer, 494; 26 How. Pr. 105. The landlord usually reserves the right to go upon the premises peaceably, for the purpose of ascertaining whether any waste or injury has been committed by the tenant or other persons, first giving notice of his inten LANDLORD AND TENANT tion. But he has no such right unless he reserves it in the lease. He may also use all ways appurtenant thereto, and peaceably enter the premises to demand rent, to make such repairs as are necessary to prevent waste, or to remove an obstruction; 1 B. & C. 8; 7 Pick. 76; 5 Harr. 378. But if the rent is payable in hay or other produce, to be delivered to him from the farm, he is not entitled to go upon the land and take it, until it is delivered to him by the tenant, or until after it has been severed and set apart for his use; 9 Me. 137; 5 Blackf. 317. The landlord's responsibilities in respect to possession, also, are suspended as soon as the tenant commences his occupation; 4 Term, 318; 2 Sandf. 301; 2 St. Louis (Mo.) App. 66. But if a stranger receive injuries from the ruinous state of the premises at the time of the demise, or from any fault in their construction, or from any nuisance thereon, even though it be created by a tenant's ordinary use of the premises, the landlord remains liable; 43 Barb. 482; L. R. 2 C. P. 311; 116 Mass. 67; 4 Hun, 24; 20 Penn. 387; and if the landlord has undertaken to keep the premises in repair, and the injury be occasioned by his neglect to keep up the repairs, or if he renew the lease with a nuisance upon it, he will be likewise liable; 2 H. Blackst. 350; 4 Taunt. 649; 1 Ad. & E. 822; 67 Ill. 47. The principal obligation on the part of the landlord, which is, in fact, always to be implied from the operative words of the lease, but is also usually inserted as a distinct covenant, is that the tenant shall enjoy the quiet possession of the premises,-which means, substantially, that he shall not be turned out of possession of the whole or any material part of the premises by one having a title paramount to that of landlord, or that the landlord shall not himself disturb or render his occupation uncomfortable by the erection of a nuisance on or near the premises, which the law holds tantamount to an eviction; 8 Co. 80 b; 4 Wend. 502; 8 Paige, 597; 8 Cow. 727; 13 N. Y. 151; 5 Day, 282; 6 Term, 458; 29 Md. 35; 10 Gray, 258; 3 Duer, 464; 3 East, 491; 6 Dowl. & R. 349; 7 Wend. 281; 6 Mass. 246. But express covenants for quiet enjoyment are framed usually only against eviction by a paramount title and against the lessor, his heirs, and those claiming under them; implied covenants have a similar effect. So that if the tenant be ousted by a stranger, that is, by one having no title, or if the molestation proceeds from the acts of a third person, the landlord is in neither case responsible for it; 1 Term, 671; 3 Johns. 471; 7 Wend. 281; 5 Hill, N. Y. 599; 13 East, 72; 12 Wend. 529; 25 Barb. 594; Taylor, Landl. & T. § 304, etc. Another obligation which the law imposes upon the landlord, in the absence of any express stipulation in the lease, is the payment of all arrears of ground-rent, or interest upon mortgages to which the property leased may be subject. The same rule applies as regards LANDLORD AND TENANT all taxes chargeable on the premises, though, as regards these, statutes, both in England and in almost all the United States, have been passed expressly imposing the duty of paying them on the landlord. Sometimes covenants to that effect are inserted in the lease. In general, every landlord is bound to protect his immediate tenant against all paramount claims; and if a tenant is compelled, in order to protect himself in the enjoyment of the land in respect of which his rent is payable, to make payment which ought, as between himself and his landlord, to have been made by the latter, he may call upon the landlord to reimburse him, or he may set off such payment against the rent due or to become due; 6 Taunt. 524; 5 Bingh. 409; 3 B. & Ald. 647; 7 id. 285; 5 id. 521; 3 Ad. & E. 331; 3 M. & W. 312; 19 Mo. 501. party-wall. He is liable for all injuries produced by the mismanagement of his servants, or by a nuisance kept upon the premises, or by an obstruction of the highway adjacent to them, or the like; for, as a general rule, where a man is in possession of property, he must so manage it that other persons shall not be injured thereby; 3 Term, 766; 3 Q. B. 449; 2 Ld. Raym. 792; 22 N. Y. 355; 65 Ill. 160; 1 M. & W. 435; 51 Penn. 429; 3 Hun, 708. Another obligation which the law imposes upon every tenant, independent of any agreement, is to treat the premises in such a manner that no substantial injury shall be done to them, and so that they may revert to the landlord at the end of the term, unimpaired by any wilful or negligent conduct on his part. In the language of the books, he must keep the buildings wind-and-water-tight, and is bound to make fair and tenantable repairs, such as the keeping of fences in order, or replacing doors and windows that are broken during his occupation. If it is a furnished house, he must preserve the furniture, and leave it, with the linen, etc., clean and in good order; 5 C. & P. 239; 7 id. 327; 4 Term, 318; 18 Ves. Ch. 331; 2 Esp. 590; 4 M. & G. 95; 12 M. & W. 827; 94 U. S. 53; 55 Md. 71; 28 Penn. 305. There is no warranty in a lease on the part of the landlord that the premises are fit for the purpose for which they are intended (but see 3 Rob. La. 52); 25 Wend. 669; 71 Penn. 383; 3 Gray, 323; 48 Me. 316. The landlord is, in the absence of any express covenant or agreement, under no obligation to make any repairs, or to rebuild in case the premises should be burned. And it is not in the power of a tenant to make repairs at the expense of his landlord, unless there be a But he is not bound to rebuild premises special agreement between them authorizing which have accidentally become runious durhim to do so; for the tenant takes the pre-ing his occupation; nor is he answerable for mises for better or for worse, and cannot in- ordinary wear and tear, nor for an accidental volve the landlord in expense for repairs fire, nor to put a new roof on the building, without his consent; 6 Cow. 475; 3 Du. N. nor to make what are usually called general Y. 464; 7 East, 116; 1 Ry. & M. 357; 7 or substantial repairs. Neither is he bound Mann. & G. 576; 52 N. Y. 512; 51 Ill. to do painting, white-washing, or papering, 492; 33 Cal. 341; 1 Sandf. 321; 22 Ind. except so far as they may be necessary to pre114; 36 Vt. 40. Even if the premises have serve exposed timber from decay. In genebecome uninhabitable by fire, and the land-ral he need do nothing which will make the lord having insured them has recovered the insurance-money, the tenant cannot compel him to expend the money so recovered in rebuilding, unless he has expressly engaged to do so; nor can he, in such an event, protect himself from the payment of rent during the unexpired balance of the term; 8 Paige, Ch. 437; 1 Sim. Ch. 146; 1 Term, 312; 4 N. Y. 126; 1 E. & E. 474; 52 N. Y. 512; 81 Ill. 607. inheritance better than he found it; 6 Term, 650; 6 C. & P. 8; 12 Ad. & E. 476; 1 Marsh. 567; 10 B. & C. 299; 2 Daly, 140; 10 Q. B. 135. With respect to farming leases, a tenant is under a similar obligation to repair; but it differs from the general obligation in this, that it is confined to the dwelling-house which he occupies, the burden of repairing and maintaining the out-buildings and other erecOn the part of the tenant, we may observe tions on the farm being sustained either by that on taking possession he is at once in- the landlord, or the tenant, in the absence of vested with all the rights incident to posses- any express provision in the lease, by the sion, is entitled to the use of all the privileges particular custom of the country in which the and easements appurtenant to the premises, farm is situated. He is always bound, howand is at liberty to take such reasonable es-ever, to cultivate the farm in a good and tovers and emblements as are attached to the husband-like manner, to keep the fences in estate. He may maintain an action against any person who disturbs his possession or trespasses upon the premises, though it be the landlord himself; Cro. Car. 325; 3 Wils. 461; 2 W. Bla. 924; 2 B. & Ad. 97; 1 Denio, 91; 3 Lev. 209; 17 C. B. N. s. 678; 8 Cush. 119; 1 Ohio, 251. And even after the expiration of his term may recover for injuries done during the period of his tenancy; 2 Rolle, Abr. 551; Holt, N. P. C. 553. As occupant, he is also answerable for any neglect to repair highways, fences, or repair, and to preserve the timber and orna- LANDLORD AND TENANT 45 LANDLORD AND TENANT also renders him responsible for any injury tioned; for, as rent is incident to the revera stranger may sustain by his neglect to keep sion, it will become payable to the assignees the premises in a safe condition: as, by not of the respective portions thereof whenever keeping the covers of his vaults sufficiently that reversion is severed by an act of the parclosed, so that a person walking in the street ties or of the law. But the tenant's consent falls through, or is injured thereby. If he is necessary for an apportionment when made repairs or improves the building, he must by the landlord, unless the proportion of rent guard against accident to the passers-by in chargeable upon each portion of the land has the street, by erecting a suitable barricade, been settled by the intervention of a jury; 22 or stationing a person there to give notice of Wend. 121; 2 Barb. 643; 3 Denio, 454; the danger; 2 Term, 318; 109 Mass. 398; 5 B. & Ald. 876; 1 M. & G. 577; 6 Halst. 22 N. Y. 366; 65 Barb. 214; L. R. 2 C. P. 262; 22 Pick. 569. A tenant, however, can311; L. R. 5 Q. B. 501. For any unreason- not get rid of or apportion his rent by transable obstruction which he places in the high-ferring the whole or a part of his lease; for if way adjoining his premises, he may be in- he assigns it, or underlets a portion of it, he dicted for causing a public nuisance, as well still remains liable to his landlord for the as rendered liable to an action for damages, whole; Cro. Eliz. 633; 24 Barb. 333; Dyer, at the suit of any individual injured. Nor 4 B. Instances of an apportionment by act may the tenant keep dangerous animals on of law occur where there is a descent of the the premises; 4 Denio, 500; 15 Vt. 404. At reversion among a number of heirs, or upon common law, if a fire began in a dwellinghouse and spread to neighboring buildings, the tenant of the house where the fire begun was liable on damages to all whose property was injured. But by a statute of Queen Anne, amended by stat. 14 Geo. III. c. 78, this right of action has been taken away. The statute is generally re-enacted in the United States; vide Taylor, Landl. & T. § 196. a judicial sale of a portion of the premises; for in such cases the tenant will be bound to pay rent to each of the parties for the portion of the premises belonging to them respectively. So, if a man dies, leaving a widow, she will have a right to receive one-third of the rent, while the remaining two-thirds will be payable to his heirs; so, if a part of the demised premises be taken for public purposes, the tenant is entitled to an apportionment ; Cro. Eliz. 742; Co. Litt. 148 a; 25 Wend. 456; 13 Ill. 625; 20 Mo. 24; 57 Penn. 271; 3 Whart. 357. At common law rent could not be apportioned as to time; 2 Ves. Sr. 672; 3 Watts, 394. But various statutes, such as 11 Geo. II. c. 19, both in England and the United States, have mitigated the hardships resulting from an enforcement of this rule. See Taylor, Landl. & T. § 389. This The tenant's chief duty, however, is the payment of rent, the amount of which is either fixed by the terms of the lease, or, in the absence of an express agreement, is such a reasonable compensation for the occupation of the premises as they are fairly worth. If there has been no particular agreement between the parties, the tenant pays rent only for the time he has had the beneficial enjoy. ment of the premises; but if he has entered into an express agreement to pay rent during These rights and liabilities are not confined the term, no casualty or injury to the premises to the immediate parties to the contract, but by fire or otherwise, nothing, in fact, short of will be found to attach to all persons to an eviction, will excuse him from such pay- whom the estate may be transferred, or who ment; Al. 26; 4 Paige, Ch. 355; 18 Ves. may succeed to the possession of the prem415; 1 H. & J. 42; 16 Mass. 240; 7 ises, either as landlords or tenants. Gray, 560; 1 Term, 310; 10 M. & W. 321; principle follows as a necessary consequence 6 Phila. 457; 72 Penn. 685; 61 N. Y. 356; of that privity of estate which is incident to 80 Ill. 532; 4 Harr. & J. 564. But this is the relation of landlord and tenant. A landnot the law in South Carolina; 1 Bay, 499; lord may not violate his tenant's rights by a 4 McCord, 447. But, if he has been de- sale of the property; neither can a tenant prived of the possession of the premises by avoid his responsibilities by substituting anthe landlord, or by a third person, under a other tenant in his stead without the landtitle paramount to that of the landlord, or if lord's consent. The purchaser of the prothe latter annoys his tenant, or erects or causes perty becomes in one case the landlord, and the erection of such a nuisance upon or near is entitled to all the rights and remedies the premises as renders the tenant's occupa- against the tenant or his assignee which the tion so uncomfortable as to justify his re-seller had; while in the other case the asmoval, he is in either case discharged from the payment of rent; 8 Cowen, 727; 4 N. Y. 217; 4 Rawle, 339; Co. Litt. 148 b; 75 Ill. 536; 117 Mass. 262; 106 Mass. 201; 18 N.Y. 509; 63 Ill. 430; 2 Ired. Eq. 350; 17 C. B. 30. If, however, part only of the premises be recovered by paramount title, the rent is apportioned, and the tenant remains liable in proportion to the part from which he has not been evicted; 2 East, 575; 39 Barb. 59; 1 Allen, 489; see RENT. The obligation to pay rent may be appor signee of the lessee assumes all the liabilities of the latter, and is entitled to the same protection which he might claim from the assignee of the reversion; in the case of express covenants the original lessee is not by the transfer discharged from his obligations; 17 Johns. 239; 24 Barb. 365; 13 Wend. 530; 19 N. Y. 68; 8 Ves. Ch. 95; 1 Ves. & B. Ch. 11; 4 Term, 94; 17 Vt. 626; 2 W. & S. 556; 12 Miss. 43; 1 Dall. 305. In case of implied covenants he is discharged if the landlord specially accept the assignee as his LANDLORD AND TENANT tenant; 9 Vt. 191; 3 Rep. 22; 1 Sm. L. Cas. *176; and the liability of the assignee may be at any time terminated by him, by a transfer of the estate assigned, even if the transfer be made to a pauper with express intent to evade liability; 3 Y. & C. 96; 9 Cow. 88; 9 Vt. 181. The relation of landlord and tenant may be terminated in several ways. If it is a tenancy for life, it will of course terminate upon the decease of him upon whose life the lease depends; but if it be for life, or for a certain number of years, and depend upon some particular event, the happening of that event will determine the tenancy. So if it be for a certain number of years, independent of any contingency, it will expire at the last moment of the last day of the tenancy. And in all these cases depending upon the express conditions of the lease, no notice to quit will be necessary in order to dissolve the relation of the parties to each other; Co. Litt. 216; Shepp. Touchst. 187; 9 Ad. & E. 879; 5 Johns. 128; 1 Pick. 43; 2 S. & R. 49; 18 Me. 264; 7 Halst. 99; Taylor, Landl. & T. § 465. But a tenancy from year to year, or at will, can only be terminated on the part of the landlord by a notice to quit. This notice might at common law be by parol, but by statute in England and in most of the United States must now be in writing; 3 Burr. 1603; 2 Brewst. 528; 5 Esp. 196; it must be explicit, and require the tenant to remove from the premises; 2 Clark, Pa. 219; 2 Gray, 335; 11 Cush. 191; Dougl. 175; 5 Ad. & E. 350; it must be served upon the tenant, and not upon an under-tenant; it must run in the name of the landlord, and not of his agent; 10 Johns. 270; 6 B. & G. 41. But personal service of the notice on the tenant is not absolutely essential, and it is sufficient if the notice be left at the tenant's usual residence with his wife or servant; 4 Tenn. 464; 7 East, 551; L. R. 5 H. L. 134; 103 Mass. 154; 44 Mo. 581. Whether a tenant from year to year is in any event bound to give notice to determine the tenancy seems doubtful. See the authorities collected in Bright. Pa. 463. At common law this notice was required to be one of half a year, ending with the period of the year at which the tenancy commenced; 1 W. Bla. 596; 3 Term, 13; 7 Q. B. 638; 4 Bing. 362; 1 Esp. 94; and this rule prevails in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Vermont, Illinois, and New Jersey as to tenancies from year to year; 1 Johns. 322; 22 Vt. 88; 4 Ired. 291; 3 Green, N. J. 181; 4 Kent, 113; 6 Yerg. 431; 8 Cow. 13; 18 Ill. 75; 39 Ill. 378. In Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Michigan, three months' notice is required; 4 Fost. 219; 8 S. & R. 458; 2 Rich. S. C. 346; 11 Penn. 472; 34 id. 96; 113 Mass. 214; while the New York statutes provide for its termination by giving one month's notice wherever there is a tenancy at will or by sufferance, created by the tenant holding over after the term or otherwise; 1 R. S. 745, § 7. The subject is in general governed by statutory rules too numerous and complicated to set forth. The relation of landlord and tenant will also be dissolved when the tenant incurs a forfeiture of his lease by the breach of some covenant or condition therein contained. At common law a forfeiture was incurred if the tenant did any act which was inconsistent with his relation to his landlord: as if he impugned the title of his lessor by affirming by matter of record the fee to be in a stranger, claimed a greater estate than he was entitled to, or undertook to alienate the estate in fee; Co. Litt. 251 b, 252 a; Cro. Eliz. 321; 12 East, 444. But these causes of forfeiture, founded upon strict feudal principles, have been generally abolished in the United States; and a forfeiture of a term of years now only occurs in consequence of a breach of some express stipulation contained in the lease, as for the commission of waste, nonpayment of rent, or the like; 2 Hill, 554; 7 Paige, Ch. 350; 5 B. & C. 855; 22 Md. 122; 20 Ill. 125; 32 Mich. 315. A forfeiture may be waived by an acceptance of, or distraining for, rent which became due after a breach committed by the tenant, or by giving a notice to quit, or by any other act which acknowledges the continuance of the tenancy; 8 Watts, 51; 2 N. H. 163; 18 Johns. 174; 3 H. & M. 436; 1 Binn. 333; 1 M. & W. 408; 6 Wisc. 323; 4 H. & N. 512; L. R. 7 Q.B. 344; 21 Wend. 537; 40 Mo. 449; and will be relieved against by the courts in all cases where it happened accidentally, or where the injury is capable of compensation, the damages on equitable principles being a mere matter of computation; 12 Ves. Ch. 475; 16 id. 405; 2 Price, 206; 1 Dall. 210; 9 Mod. 22; Story, Eq. § 1314; 62 N. Y. 486; 44 Vt. 285; and it is always at the election of the lessor to avail himself of his right of re-entry for conditions broken or not as he pleases; 6 B. & C. 519; and vide 7 W. & S. 41; 38 Penn. 346; 12 Barb. 440; 5 Cush. 281; 29 Conn. 331; 1 Wall. 64. Another means of dissolving a tenancy is by an operation of law, termed a merger,which happens where a tenant purchases the fee of the reversion, or the fee descends to him as heir at law, the lease becoming thereby merged in the inheritance, the lesser estate being absorbed in the greater. To produce this result, however, it is necessary that the two estates should meet in the same person and in the same right; for if he who has the reversion in fee marries the tenant for years, or if a tenant makes the landlord his executor, the term of years is in neither case merged, because in either case he holds the fee for his own benefit, while the term of years is taken in one case for his wife's use, and in the other for the benefit of the estate he represents as executor; 10 Johns. 481; 12 N. Y. 526; Co. Litt. 288 b; 1 Washb. R. P. 354; 1 Clark, Pa. 362; 13 Penn. 16; 35 N. Y. 279; 3 Johns. Ch. 53. But the universal current of opinion now sets |