“The form of a tack to be entered into between Thomas Graham, Esq. and the several persons signing agreements for leases of farms in the baronies of Luncarty, Pitmurthly,” &c. &c.
“Reserving liberty to the said Thomas Graham, at any time during the tack, to quarry and lead stones for building of fences, and to enclose and subdivide, with ditch and hedge, or stone fences, all or any part of the said fences on all or any part of the said lands; as likewise to plant hedge row trees in the yards and along the fences already made, or that may be made on these lands during this tack, all at the said Thomas Graham and his foresaids their own expenses.”
“And for the further encouragement of the said and for the improvement of his farm, by enclosing the same and clearing it of stones, the said Thomas Graham binds and obliges himself and his foresaids, to be at the expense of building into stone fences the whole stones that the said and his successors shall take out of the ground when dressing it, lead and lay down in a regular manner, and sufficient quantity, on the marches of the said farm, or on such lines of division as the proprietor, or whom he may appoint, may mark out as a proper subdivision of the farm into regular fields and enclosures, each containing about one-tenth part of the ploughable lands of the farm, and that without charging the tenant any interest
“Finds, that by the form of tack, now found by the Court to have been binding upon the defender (appellant) from the commencement of his tack, no obligation is imposed upon the master to enclose the farm into ten divisions or enclosures, but that it was left to the master or tenant to make these enclosures at any time during the currency of the lease, with the burden of the tenant's Paying interest at five per cent, for ditch and hedge, and ten per cent, for stone dykes, if made by the master; and with certain encouragements to the tenant, and repayment of the price or value by the master, at the end of the lease, if made by the tenant. And therefore finds, that the tenant cannot found upon the master's not having completed the enclosures, as a total liberation from the whole conditions and limitations of the tack. Finds, that at the commencement of the defender's (appellant's) tack, the whole farm was subdivided by the master, with the knowledge and assistance of the tenant, into the ten breaks specified in the form of tack, and that these breaks were properly meithed and marked, as the proper lines of division for making the enclosures, when the master or tenant should choose to complete all or any of those enclosures, and must be held and understood as the ten breaks or divisions, according to which the tillage of the farm and laying down with grass seeds, was to be regulated according to the form of tack. Finds, that the tenant cannot plead his being ignorant of the import of his tack, previous to the interlocutor of the Court, as an excuse for transgressing the conditions of the tack. Finds, by every calculation which the Lord Ordinary can make, the amount of the additional rent which he has incurred by mislabouring the farm, and the damage sustained by the master by the defender's having failed to have any five of the breaks, at the end of the first five years of the tack, sown down with grass seeds, and the other five breaks in tillage, according to the rotations therein prescribed, a very large sum must be due by the tenant to the master: but not being able to obtain evidence of the precise amount, without involving the parties in a delay and expense which must be hurtful to both, and ruinous to the tenant, and having considered the whole circumstances of the case from the commencement of the cause, modifies the whole sum due by the defender, upon account of additional rents for over-ploughing,
“ My Lords ,
“ My Lords ,
“This is an appeal from a judgment of the Court of Session in Scotland, and the cause of action, as it is stated by the pursuer, is this: That he being the landlord of a farm called Pitmurthly, among a great number of other estates, did, as mentioned in the case, by a form of tack, let this estate, and the tenant took the estate upon certain conditions there stated. Among others here represented, it was intended that all the parts of the farm which were either arable at the time, or consisted of muir land capable of being brought into tillage, and containing a certain number of acres, should be deemed and adjudged between the parties as a quantity of land that should be called
“It shall be competent for the landlord to enter for the purposes of taking mines, minerals, or any substance whatever any substance whatever off the farm.”
“After what has been stated by the noble and learned Lord, that there was a great question involved in this cause, which is now perfectly at rest; it is chiefly with a view to that that I now presume to detain your Lordships for a moment, because it certainly would have been a thing of infinite consequence to every landholder in Scotland, if there had been in the breast of any man of legal knowledge, but above all in the breast of the noble and learned lord who has just sat down, any doubt or hesitation with regard to that which was not much argued here, but had been argued below, namely, Whether stated damages, by way of additional rent, in the form of quit rent between the two parties, came under the nature of that penalty from which, by a Court of Equity, they would be relieved. * The noble and learned lord did take up that point, (and I heard it with great satisfaction, at a very early opportunity, the first time I attended this cause, his Lordship state there could be no doubt upon that point), he has now delivered in the most explicit manner, and entertained no doubt upon the subject, and so clear upon it as not to think it necessary for counsel for the respondent to enter into it at large. With respect to the other points, which are comparatively called, and properly
“The words are,” “By the end of the first five years of this tack, and thereafter during the currency of the same, and at the end thereof, or his removal, to have one half of the said arable land, or five of the said breaks, consisting of half of the old infield, and half of the old outfield, to be in grass sown out with grass seeds as after mentioned.” My Lord, if he had sown at that period of the year it might have been different.”
“The idea of the landlord and the tenant, at this time was, it should be sown in the spring, in the usual way of sowing grass in Scotland, when you sow it with oats. What my great difficulty is, is with respect to what is now before us. I certainly shall not directly object to your Lordship's motion, or to what comes from so great and so special an authority; but I had considerable difficulty in reversing the decree of the Court of Session, and I should wish that it had been
“I have no doubt your Lordships will do that which the regularity and order of your proceedings, and the attention that is due to all the forras of justice shall warrant; but I am afraid that even now, by the mode proposed, no good will follow. What I apprehend as the mischief to arise from this mode of proceeding, that there will be a very considerable additional expense incurred; and it was remarkable what was thrown out at the bar in defence of the appellant, that he being in such a situation that any additional expense should be matter of indifference to him, because, though expenses are completely denied to him, it cannot affect him.