PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

116 Contrads ~f Lending, f:i c.
ride upon, and you go a hunting with him, or leap
him over hedges, or put him in your cart, or C:;t'·
riage, and he be strained, or staked, or galled, or accidentally
hurt, or drop down dead, whilst you are
thus using him; you· must make satisfaction to the
owner.
1 The two rases are distinguished by this circum-
}
stance, that in one case, the owner foresees the damage
or risk, and therefore consents to undertake it ;
in the other case he does not.
. It is possible that an estate or a house, may, during
the term of a lease, be so increased or diminished in
its value, as to become worth much Illore, or much
less, than the rent agreed to be paid for it.
In some
of which cases, it may be doubted, to whom~ of nat ..
ural right, the advantage or disadvantage belongs.
The rule of justice seems to be this: if the alteration
might be expected by the parties, the hirer myt
take the consequence; if it could not, the own".
An orchard, or 2. vineyard, or a mine, or a fishery,
or a decoy, may this year yield nothing, or next to
nothing, yet the tenant shall pay his rent; and if the
next year produce tenfold the usual profit, no more
shall. be demanded; because the produce is in its nature
precarious, and this variation might be expected.
1£ an estate in the fens of Lincolnshire, or the
isle of Ely, be overflowed with water, so as to be incapable
of occupation, the tenant, notwithstanding,
is bound by his lease; because he entered into it with
a~knowledge and foresight of this danger. On the
other hand, if by the eruption of the sea into a coun ..
try where it was never known to have come before,
,: '..1>1 the change of the course of a river, the fall of a
iock, the breaking out of a volcano, the bursting of
a moss, the incursions of an enemy, or by a mortal
contagion amongst the cattle; if by means like these,
an estate change, or lose its value, the loss shall fall
upon the owner; that is, the tenant shall either be
discharged from his agreement, or be entitled to an
aBatement of rent. ..~ house in London, by the build.