Copyright, 1886, BY LITTLE, Brown, and COMPANY. Rec. Sekt, 15, 1886 UNIVERSITY PRESS : LABOR― Assumpsit for Work and Labor. Lien for Labor. See LIEN. L. LACHES-Affecting Right to Specific Perform ance. Covenants running with. See COVENANT. Decisions of State Courts respecting Titles to Grant In general. See GRANT. Public Lands of the Several States eral. See LANDS OF STATES. Public Lands of the United States eral. Assumpsit for Use and Occupation. - 1. Lease Construction.] A contract is a lease where it contains all the essential elements thereof. Thomas v. West Jersey Railroad Co., 101 U. S. 71. 2. Where the government hires buildings and surrounding grounds to be used for "all purposes," it may use the buildings for a small-pox hospital. United States v. Bostwick, 94 U. S. 53. 3. Where the government hired buildings, etc., for a certain term at a certain sum per month, with the privilege of an extension of the term, and the lessor after expiration of the term accepted a payment without objection at a less rate for part of the term and for time beyond, that rate was held to be the rate at which the extended term should be computed. Ib. 4. Where a lease stipulated that if the tenant underlet or attempted to remove any of his goods without consent, then, at the landlord's option, the term should cease, " and moreover, in either of said cases, .. one whole year's rent" over and above such rents thereinbefore reserved to be paid each month as should already have accrued should become due and might be "levied by distress and sale" of goods, it was held that the stipulation contemplated rent in advance, at the landlord's option, and not a penalty independent of rent. Dermott v. Wallach, 1 Wal. 61. In gen -In gen 5. Where a city on the Mississippi leased a wharf for a certain term, stipulating that if the right to collect wharfage should be "suspended for any period by the intervention of third parties" the time of such suspension should be added to the term, it was held that the time during which navigation was interrupted by the war. was not within the stipulation. Marshall v. Construc- Vicksburg, 15 Wal. 146. 6. And where it provided that if the right to collect wharfage should be interrupted or defeated permanently through the instrumentality or with the aid" of the city, the property which the lessee had conveyed to the city should revert, it was held that his right was not violated by an ordinance reducing wharfage charges which he himself caused to be passed, nor by a tax, as dis LANDLORD AND TENANT- - continued. LANDLORD AND TENANT — continued. tinguished from a wharfage charge, which the city thereafter to such authorities, it was held that the had reserved a right to lay, nor by a quarantine owner could not recover of the lessee the rent for embargo laid with the complainant's consent. Ib. the period during which he paid to such authori7. Under the act of May 20, 1870 (16 Sts. ties. Harrison v. Myer, 92 U. S. 111. 124), authorizing a market company in the Dis- 14. Where, on the occupancy of Memphis by trict of Columbia to let its stalls for a term of the federal forces, the commanding general or years to the highest bidders, subject to the pay-dered a lessee of premises to pay rent to a miliment of a fixed annual rent, one so hiring to 'be considered as having the good-will and the right to retain the possession thereof so long as he chooses to occupy the same for his own business and pay the rent therefor," the lessee's right of occupancy ceased with the term. [BRADLEY and HARLAN, JJ.. dissenting.] Washington Market Co. v. Hoffman, 101 U. S. 112. 66 8. Where one wrote to his kinswoman, a married woman, proposing to her to occupy a farm on which she and her husband then were living, and to pay a certain rent therefor, and she accepted, and there was nothing in the correspondence beyond the offer and the acceptance from which to infer an intent to lease to her to the exclusion of her husband, the husband was held to sustain the relation of tenant to the lessor. Lucas v. Brooks, 18 Wal. 436. 9. A covenant in a lease giving the lessee an option to purchase during the term is in the nature of a continuing offer to sell, and binds the lessor when duly accepted, the lease, being under seal, importing consideration, and the offer, therefore, an offer from which the lessor cannot recede. Willard v. Tayloe, 8 Wal. 557. 10. Rights and Liabilities of Tenant Right to attorn to Holder of Paramount Title, to remove Buildings, to demand Payment therefor, etc. Liability for Waste, for Accidental Damages.] Where one builds on land of another, agreeing to pay a certain ground rent, and to surrender after a certain time on payment of the value of the building, to be fixed by arbitrators and to be a lien on the property, and the appraisement is made and judgment rendered for the amount, the lessee remaining in possession must, in equity, be treated as a mortgagee in possession, and, while entitled to interest on the sum awarded, must account for rents and profits. Scruggs v. Memphis & Charleston Railroad Co., 108 U. S. 368. 11. Tenants in possession under one who is a constructive trustee by reason of a fraud, but who are not averred to have had notice of the fraud, cannot be ousted by a court of equity. Ringo v. Binns, 10 Pet. 269. tion. 12. Where a tenant is threatened with a suit by the holder of a paramount title, he may submit in good faith and attorn to the holder of such title; the threat of suit is equivalent to an evicMerryman v. Bourne, 9 Wal. 592. 13. Where premises in Louisiana, belonging to a citizen of that state, were seized by the federal military authorities in the owner's absence, as abandoned, and the lessee in possession was compelled to enter into a new lease, and to pay rent tary rental agent instead of to the agent of the lessor, to be sent to the lessor within the confederate lines, whither he had gone, and the lessee refused and was accordingly dispossessed, and his sub-lessees were ordered to pay, and did pay, to the military rental agent, it was held, in a suit by the lessor against the lessee, that the latter was not liable for rent for the period during which he was thus dispossessed. Gates v. Goodloe, 101 U. S. 612. 15. A building erected by a tenant with a view to carrying on his business as a dairyman, and as a residence for his family and servants engaged in that business, the residence of the family therein being merely to enable them to carry on the trade more beneficially, may be removed by the tenant during the term, whatever its size or materials. Van Ness v. Pacard, 2 Pet. 137. 16. In the absence of contract, the landlord is not bound to pay the tenant for buildings erected during the term, the innovation on the commonlaw rule having gone no further than to give the tenant a right to remove them while he is in possession. Kutter v. Smith, 2 Wal. 491. 17. Where a lease of a water-power provides plainly and with a specification of rates for an abatement of rent for failure of water, the tenant cannot, by bill to enjoin a writ of possession issued after recovery at law for forfeiture for nonpayment of rent, set up a claim for repairs rendered necessary by the lessor's gross negligence: his remedy is determined by the contract. Sheets v. Selden, 7 Wal. 416. 18. Nor will equity restrain execution of the writ on the ground of non-reduction for failure of water, as that might have been set up in the ejectment. Ib. 19. In the absence of express covenant, the tenant is impliedly bound to commit no waste; as, for instance, in case of the lease" for all purposes" of buildings and surrounding lawns, gardens, etc., he is bound not to permit ornamental trees and shrubbery to be destroyed, fences and walls to be torn down, stone and gravel to be taken from quarries and pits in the surrounding lands, etc. United States v. Bostwick, 94 U. S. 53. 20. In the absence of an express covenant to repair, a tenant is not answerable for accidental damages, nor bound to rebuild where the buildings are accidentally destroyed by fire. Ib. 21. Although a tenant is estopped, during the existence of the tenancy, from denying his landlord's title, yet if the tenant disclaim holding under that title, and give notice that he holds adversely, the relation of landlord and tenant is |