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tenant will be obliged to cultivate the land and keep it in a good agricultural state.46

A tenant will normally not be entitled to conduct mining operations on the land unless otherwise agreed, for example, if the contract contains provisions to that effect or if the rented area contains a quarry when the agreement is concluded.

B is not allowed to harvest standing crops after the term of the contract has expired.47 If notice is given before the termination, B will be allowed to harvest the crops until the end of the notice period.

It is a commonly accepted principle (and an operative rule) that a person who derives rights from a time-limited contract, namely a person sub-letting land or buildings, does not obtain better rights than his/ her contractual partner.48 The owner (A) is entitled to regain possession when his/her contract with B expires even though B has sub-let the premises to somebody else and this person has a contract for a longer period. The latter may in fact sue B for damages caused by entering into a contract that is impossible to fulfil.

England

With regard to plantations,49 the property in trees, or of that which is likely to become timber, is in the landlord, and the right as to bushes is in the tenant.50 Until a timber tree is felled, a tenant can enjoy all fruits and benefits from it.51 Felling a tree will amount to waste, but a tenant may remove dead trees52 and chop down trees in the interests of maintenance.53

Whether or not leases include the minerals underground or not is a question of construction of the grant. Mines are land, and can therefore properly be the subject matter of a grant.54 However, if a mine is not open at the date of the grant, then digging for minerals is actionable as waste without more. Once again, a tenant has the right to use certain

46This is not an operative rule but the most common clause in contracts. See Mortensen,

Landbrugsforpagtning, pp. 375, 388.

47This is not an operative rule but will most probably be the default rule.

48See Jespersen, Lejeret, vol. 1, p. 83.

49See generally Heathcote-Williams, FoaÕs Landlord and Tenant, pp. 286–7.

50Berriman v. Peacock (1832) 9 Bing. 384.

51HerlakendenÕs Case (1589) 4 Co. Rep. 62a 62 b.

52Doe d Wetherell v. Bird (1833) 6 C. & P. 195.

53See Lewison, WoodfallÕs Law of Landlord and Tenant, para. 13–180.

54HalsburyÕs Laws of England, vol. 31, para. 321.

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minerals – such as gravel – for reparations (as with trees). Again, the law is obscure, and ancient, and has not been the subject of recent litigation.

At common law, the tenant had the right to emblements, to ‘reap what he has sown’.55 The right is restricted to entering to reap crops which mature within a year. This means that if the crop was planted during the currency of the term, the right to reap arises if the crop matures within a year of that date. The right is restricted to entering within a year to reap crops which mature after termination of the lease.56

The general effect of termination of the principal tenancy is that any sub-tenancy under it also ends.57 The rule does not, however, apply to surrender or merger.58 In the case of surrender, this is explicable by virtue of the fact that the landlord takes the tenancy he has granted to B subject to any valid interests which B has created, including a subtenancy to C.59 Surrender may occur expressly by deed (Law of Property Act, s. 52)60 or alternatively by operation of law.61 Merger occurs where the tenant acquires the reversion from the landlord, or where a third party acquires both the lease and the reversion. In these circumstances, the lower estate merges with the higher. Again, the subtenancy survives. Statute preserves the covenants in this situation so that they continue to operate (Law of Property Act, s. 139). Rent is payable to the ‘new’ landlord.

France

If the tenant does not perform the stipulations under an agricultural lease and damage is caused, the Civil Code provides that the landlord can cancel the lease, re-enter the property and claim compensation for damages (Civil Code, arts. 1764 and 1766). The Rural Code, art. L 411–27 refers to this rule of the Civil Code, but provides in addition (Ordonnance no. 2006–870 of 13 July 2006) that the fact that the tenant engages, with respect to the leased land, in practices which have as their objective the preservation of water resources, biodiversity, landscaping,

55See also Schedule 8 to the Law on Agricultural Holdings 1986.

56Graves v. Weld (1833) 5 B. & Ad. 105. See generally HalsburyÕs Laws of England, vol. 1.2, para. 382.

57Barrett v. Morgan [2000] 2 AC 264.

58See Lewison, WoodfallÕs Law of Landlord and Tenant, para. 16–163.

59See Hargrave and Butler, Coke upon Littleton, p. 338a.

60This is so, irrespective of whether the lease was created orally or not.

61As to which, see Harpum, Bridges and Dixon, Megarry and WadeÕs Property, para. 14–174.

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consecutive months, or sub-leases of buildings meant for residential use. This authorisation must specify the portion of the rent which must be redirected to the landlord to cover the cost of the work which will ultimately have to be carried out on the property, and the manner in which the reimbursement due to the tenant at the end of the lease will be calculated. This provision of the Rural Code is mandatory.

Under a usufruct, the usufructuary is entitled to enjoy and use the property in the same way as an owner, on condition that the substance of the property is preserved (Civil Code, art. 578). With regard to plantations, the usufructuary is allowed to cut the trees in the plantation periodically, in accordance with usages of the locality and surrounding owners (Civil Code, art. 591). He/she is, however, under a duty to replace the trees. The same applies to underwood which the usufructuary is entitled under Civil Code, art. 590 to remove in accordance with the usage and customs of the locality and the surrounding owners regarding the time of cutting and the quota of underwood that he/she is allowed to appropriate. The usufructuary also seems entitled to cut thicket, staddles for supporting hay, props for supporting vineyards (Civil Code, art. 593) and forest trees, and to remove nursery trees as long as he/she replaces them in accordance with the customs of the locality (Civil Code, art. 509, para. 2). For the rest, the usufructuary is not allowed to interfere with wood or timber trees, except when using trees which were uprooted or broken by accident, to carry out repairs that he/she is bound to make on the property. For this purpose, the usufructuary may even cut down trees if the nude owner agrees that such action is necessary for the preservation of the property (Civil Code, art. 592).

The usufructuary may appropriate dead fruit trees and those which are uprooted or broken by accident, subject to the condition that they be replaced (Civil Code, art. 594). The usufructuary is entitled, in the same way as the owner, to operate mines and quarries which are being worked at the inception of the usufruct. Where the operation of the mines and quarries may not be carried on without a concession, such concession must be obtained from the President of the Republic before operation may commence (Civil Code, art. 598). The usufructuary is not entitled to open new mines or quarries or to extract peat from the land if it has not been done before. The usufructuary is not entitled to harvest standing crops after the termination of his/her right. Standing fruits and crops belong to the nude owner without compensation on either side for ploughing and seeds (Civil Code, art. 585).