EXTINGUISHMENT OF PRESCRIPTION.

8688. Voluntary Relinquishment. If a party who enjoys windows by prescription does or permits any act which necessarily interrupts or does away with the enjoyment, he may thereby destroy the prescription; for

8689. Cross Purposes.-The owner of a building which had ancient windows overlooking a neighbour's premises, pulled the building down, and erected another building with a blank wall in place of the original wall containing the windows. Fifteen years afterwards the said neighbour erected a building very near to such blank wall, and the owner thereof then constructed windows in his new wall, corresponding to those which had existed in the original wall, and brought an action against his neighbour for obstructing his light. It was decided that the neighbour was justified in the course he had taken, for that the building of the new blank wall was an abandonment of the right to windows.

8690. Bricked-up Windows.—If a window has been bricked up for twenty years, all right to a window there, or corresponding thereto, ceases as a matter of course; and

8691. Temporary Bricking-up. Should a window or windows be bricked up so as to leave no window in a given wall, and the adjoining occupier is permitted to build against such wall, and to incur expense under the reasonable impression that the windows are intentionally abandoned, the owner of the bricked-up windows cannot then recall his act.

8692. Compulsory Sacrifice.-He must submit to the building going on, though the time which has elapsed has been much less than twenty years; hence,

8693. Liability of Tenants.—If a tenant bricks up any of the windows of a house, without express permission of his landlord, he is liable to be cast in damages for any injury which the landlord may consequently sustain; but,

8694. Darkened Windows.-Should the owner or occupier of windows merely fill them in with wooden or other hoarding, which can readily be removed, and leave the frames and sashes in their places, so as to afford reasonable presumption that the stoppage is only temporary, the neighbouring occupier will acquire no impunity to build or otherwise obstruct the passage of light and air, until twenty years have elapsed.

8695. Complicated Alterations.—If an occupier alters ancient windows or constructs new ones in such a way as to vary his prescriptive right, to the prejudice of his neighbour, and such neigh

bour, from the position and circumstances, cannot obstruct or stop up such altered or new windows without indirectly infringing upon other prescriptive rights which have not been altered or varied, then such latter unaltered rights may become legally impaired or extinguished in the lawful effort to extinguish the altered ones; thus,

8696. Narrow Court.-A and B had houses on opposite sides of a narrow court. A, in rebuilding his house upon its old foundations, altered the dimensions of the windows in the lower stories, and raised his house a story higher, putting new windows therein. Immediately afterwards, B raised his house one story also, and thereby darkened the lower windows of A to a serious extent. It was held that as B was justified in obstructing the new windows which A had constructed in his new story, and as there was no other means of obstructing them than the plan he had adopted, A had forfeited by his own act the prescriptive right which he had formerly enjoyed to a certain amount of light for his lower windows; but,

LOW WINDOWS.

8697. Enlargement Illegal.—If a privileged window be in the lower part of a wall, which stands upon the extremity of the owner's land, and that window be enlarged beyond the privilege, the neighbour may obstruct the unprivileged part of the enlarged window; but,

8698. Stopping Illegal.-He must not build a wall or erect any other object which would have the effect of stopping or obstructing the whole window; notwithstanding,

ACQUIESCENCE.

8699. Seeming acquiescence in the obstruction or injury of lights may of itself destroy a prescription; thus,

8700. Non-Interference.—If a party see a building in process of erection, which, when completed, must necessarily darken his windows, and nevertheless allows the building to proceed without making any protest or complaint or taking any proceedings, that party may lose his prescription by his own neglect; and

SUBMISSION.

8701. Twelve Months.-Submission to any obstruction to light for twelve months absolutely destroys a prescription, however grievous the obstruction may be; so that,

3702. Indifference.-I. at any time a person thinks proper to stop up, cover, curtail, or destroy his neighbour's light, and the

neighbour makes no kind of remark or sign of objection, protest, or resistance for a whole year, such neighbour's prescription is gone, though it may have been established for generations previously; therefore,

8703. Necessary Interference.-It is of the greatest importance that occupiers who observe anything going on calculated to injure or diminish the amount of light enjoyed by their windows, should take some effectual step without much delay, lest the fatal twelve months should expire; and,

8704. Forcible Interference.-Should protest or remonstrance fail to induce a neighbour to remove an obstruction to a tenant's light, such tenant, if it can be done without much trouble or expense, should quietly remove or order the removal of the obstruction, which he is entitled to do, if there be no doubt about the prescription; on the other hand,

8705. Nineteen Years.-If a lawful obstruction to a window is intended to prevent the acquisition of a prescriptive right, such obstruction, to be effectual for its purpose, must be commenced before the end of nineteen years after the construction of the window; for,

8706. Power of Protest.--As soon as the twentieth year of a prescription is completed, and the prescription has thus become. established, the owner of the prescription has the immediate power to protest effectually against any obstruction which may have been originated or commenced within twelve months previously.

BY PERMISSION.

8707. Irrevocable.-Prescription as to lights may be destroyed or curtailed by a permission to do some act inconsistent with its maintenance, which permission, once given, cannot be recalled, though it may result more mischievously than the grantor anticipated; thus, 8708. Area Lights.-A had a right to the uninterrupted light across B's area. B proposed to erect a skylight over the area, and A gave his mere verbal consent to the erection. After the skylight was finished, A discovered that it impaired his light more than he had anticipated, and he sought to compel its removal, but it was decided that his consent committed him to submission to the consequences.

TENANTS FOR LIFE.

8709. It is important to note that, in all cases of tenancy for life (394), a permission to create a prescription, or the abandonment of a prescription, by the tenant for life, will not bind his suc

cessor, and cannot be pleaded against such successor, no matter how long a time may have elapsed, unless the acquiescence of such successor be duly obtained; therefore,

8710. Important Inquiry.-When a person undertakes expensive alterations upon the faith of a permission granted or implied by his neighbouring freeholder, it is vitally essential that such person should satisfy himself that the freeholder's interest is not limited to his life; and

8711. Successors.-The successor to a tenant for life, upon discovering that his predecessor has permitted the creation of a nominal prescription, or the abandonment of an actual one, should take immediate steps for a remedy, lest his neglect to do so should be interpreted into an implied acquiescence (8701).

MAINTENANCE OF PREMISES.

DEGREE OF OBLIGATION.

8712. The degree of obligation to maintain premises in good repair, which devolves upon a tenant, as between him and his landlord, depends upon the terms of his agreement or lease.

8713. Disadvantage of Tenants.-Reference to the law relating to leases in general (1170) will show that landlords and their agents sometimes contrive to draw leases so as to place tenants at a grea disadvantage with reference to repairs; for

8714. Imperative Obligation.—If a tenant specifically undertakes to keep premises in repair, and they fall down or are burnt, he must restore them, though it may utterly ruin him to do so; for,

LANDLORD EXONERATED.

8715. It is not an implied duty of a landlord to inform a proposing tenant that the house is unfit for habitation; and

8716. Delivery in Repair.—When a tenant undertakes, without qualification, to deliver up premises in good repair, he must repair before giving up possession, though they may have been n bad repair when he commenced possession; though,

8717. Interpretations.-A covenant to deliver up in good repair is open to various interpretations, according to the age and style of the house, upon which will depend the quality and character of the repairs which may be exacted.

8718. Restoration after Fire.-In case of a tenant covenanting

to repair, and an accidental fire destroying the premises, not only may an action lie against the tenant to continue paying rent (1320), he may also be compelled to restore, unless he is expressly absolved from doing so, in the event of that precise contingency.

8719. Landlord not Bound.-A landlord who is not bound by express covenant to that effect is under no obligation to repair in the least degree, nor to maintain in any sense; thus,

8720. Fallen Chimneys. If the chimney of a house falls through the roof of a house, and injures the furniture and family of the tenant, the latter has no remedy against his landlord (1317).

HABITABLE REPAIR.

8721. Tenant Liable.-If the lease or agreement defining a tenancy is silent as to repairs, the law still holds the tenant to some extent responsible for maintaining something like habitable repair; thus,

8722. Wind and Water Tight.-Where there is no covenant about external repairs, a tenant is bound to keep the house wind and water tight, but no more; for,

8723. Interior Repairs.-With regard to the interior of a house not under a repairing covenant, the tenant is not compellable to do anything; therefore,

8724. Unreasonable Injury.—The common law obligation of a tenant with regard to internal repairs is to abstain from doing anything which may unreasonably injure the house beyond fair wear and use; but,

PUBLIC OBLIGATIONS.

8725. Joint and Several Liability. The duty of maintaining premises in tolerable repair devolves, more or less, as the case may be, upon both landlord and tenant, as between them and the public.

8726. Landlord Liable.-If, at the time a house is let, any portion of it is insecure, and in such a state as to lead to any accident whereby injury happens to a stranger, the landlord is solely responsible to the stranger; and,

8727. Under Covenant.-If a landlord covenants for external repairs, and accident happens to a stranger from the insecurity of any portion, the landlord is solely responsible; but,

8728. Tenant Liable.-If a house is in good repair at the time it is let, and there be no covenant to repair, and decay or insecurity arises from the ordinary ravages of time, the landlord is absolved from consequences-the tenant alone is liable for injury to a stranger; and