Clifford v. Smith Meat Co.
Clifford v. Smith Meat Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This appeal is from the findings and judgment; the testimony not having been incorporated in the bill of
“It is the duty of a tenant for years, unless he obtains a renewal of the lease, to relinquish the possession of the premises at the end of the term, and his failure so to do is not excused by the fact that the landlord has not demanded the possession or manifested a readiness to receive it. In one state only, it appears, has a different view been asserted, it being there said that the tenant is under an obligation not to leave unoccupied a dwelling leased to him. The duty to relinquish possession applies to the whole premises, and if the tenant fails to relinquish any part, he is regarded as ‘holding over’ as to all. The tenant has no right to retain possession for the sake of cleaning the premises, nor, it seems, for the sake of removing improvements in accordance with a stipulation giving him such right of removal. But not infrequently he is allowed, by the express provisions of the lease, to retain possession until the landlord has paid him for improvements made by him. And occasionally a provision looking towards the possible purchase of the premises by the tenant may have the effect of enabling the latter to retain possession pending the settlement of the price to be paid. The fact that the instrument of lease provides that rent shall be paid by the lessee in case he holds over does not give him any right to hold over. Nor can the tenant justify his failure to relinquish possession by showing that he had permission to remain from "an intending léssee of the reversion, the negotiations between whom and the landlord,- however, did not result in the making of a lease. It has been decided that, when the day of the termination of the tenancy falls on Sunday, the tenant need not relinquish possession until the next day, applying the rule which is ordinarily adopted that, if one has a certain period in which to do a thing, and the last day of the- period is Sunday, he has until the next day for performance. In three states the statute provides that if, in the case of agricultural land, the tenant holds over sixty days without any demand for possession being made upon*8 Mm, lie may hold for another year, as by permission Of the landlord. In another state there is a somewhat similar provision that if proceedings to expel the tenant are not brought within a time named, he may hold over for another term of a period named in the statute.”
See also Jones on Landlord and Tenant, §§ 201, 205, and 206. The following authorities cover every phase of this subject: Morgan v. Harrison, 2 Ch. (1907) 137; Be Canada Coal Co., 27 Ont. 151; Isaacs v. Furgeson, 26 N. B. 1; Singer Mfg. Co. v. Sayre, 75 Ala. 270; Belding v. Texas Produce Co., 61 Ark. 377 (33 S. W. 421); Zippar v. Beppy, 15 Colo. 260 (25 Pac. 164); Ridgeway v. Hannum, 29 Ind. App. 124 (64 N. E. 44); Dimock v. Van Bergen, 94 Mass. (12 Allen) 551; Weston v. Weston, 102 Mass. 514; Gardner v. Board of Dakota County Commissioners, 21 Minn. 33; Coatsworth v. Ray, 52 N. Y. Supp. 498; Baylies v. Ingram, 84 App. Div. 360 (82 N. Y. Supp. 891, 181 N. Y. 518, 73 N. E. 1119); Moore v. Harter, 67 Ohio St. 250 (65 N. E. 883); Wilson v. Alexander, 115 Tenn. 125 (88 S. “W. 935); Amsden v. Atwood, 69 Vt. 527 (38 Atl. 263). “Where the holding over is pending negotiations for a new lease, it will not be deemed from year to year, but the other terms of the lease will apply so far as applicable to the situation, including rental at the rate provided in the original lease. To this effect see Morgan v. Harrison, supra; Re Canada Coal Company, supra; Singer Mfg. Co. v. Sayre, supra. This seems a fair and reasonable doctrine, but is not applicable here for the reason that there is no finding that any negotiations were pending during the period between the expiration of the lease and the abandonment of the premises by defendant. It should be remarked that the difference between the parties as indicated by the pleadings was not as to a monthly or yearly tenancy of the
Under these circumstances we- think the defendant became tenant from year to year, and that plaintiff was entitled to the conclusion of law requested and to judgment upon the findings for the sum of $1,100; and a judgment will be here entered accordingly.
Modified. Judgment Entered.
070rehearing
On Petition for Rehearing.
(163 Pae. 810.)
On petition for rehearing the former opinion rendered herein is modified to the extent that the canse is remanded to the Cirenit Court for a new trial.
Modified and Remanded.
Mr. John J. Fitzgerald and Messrs. Logan & Smith, for the petition.
Messrs. Huston & Huston and Mr. Claude McColloch, contra.
Department 2. Opinion
Upon a careful review of our former decision we are of the opinion that taking into consideration the indefiniteness of some of the findings made by the court below and its failure to find on the issue presented as to whether the negotiations for a new lease were pending between the parties during the time the premises were occupied by defendant after the expiration of the original lease, we have not data sufficient to render a judgment here, and that justice will be subserved by remanding the cause for a new trial in accordance with the law as enunciated in the original opinion.
In regard to the disposition of the case here the opinion is modified. In all other respects it will stand.
Former Opinion Modified and Remanded.
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