Fixtures.

Fixtures. THE LAW OF, is very much the same in England and Scotland. The general idea of a fixture is that a movable has been fastened to the soil or to a house, and has thus become the property of the owner of the soil or house. Such questions arise frequently between vendor and purchaser, heritable and ordinary creditors, heir and executor, landlord and tenant. The last case is that most favourable for the right to remove a fixture. The first question is, however, whether the movable has become a fixture. There are constructive fixtures—e.g. the keys of doors, certain loose pieces of machinery, the bell of a factory, &c. In general, however, there must be physical annexation. Apart from this the main tests are: (1) can the thing be taken away without material injury to itself or to the premises? (2) is it essential, or material, or specially adapted to the enjoyment of the premises? In a famous case saltpans were held to be fixtures, because, though they could be removed without much injury, they were necessary to the use of the premises. But, further, especially between landlord and tenant, it is important to know what was the purpose of annexation, the intention of parties; were the things intended for perpetual or for temporary use? In non-agricultural subjects there are two main classes of fixtures—viz. those put up for ornament, convenience, or domestic use, and those put up for purposes of trade. The removability of the first class is a good deal settled by custom. The character of the article may show it to be purely temporary, otherwise the test must be whether the injury of detachment would be substantial. In dwelling-houses, for instance, pier-glasses, ornamental chimney-pieces, grates, book-cases screwed to the wall, are all regarded as movables, and therefore removable by the tenant. Of course, injury caused to the premises by removal must be repaired by the tenant. In trade, on the other hand, nearly all fixtures are removable by the tenant, if there is no custom or stipulation to the contrary. Bakers' ovens, colliery-engines, spinning-mules, trees and glass frames in a nursery, are not put up by the tenant with any view of benefiting the landlord. Such questions are frequently settled by a remit to a practical man acquainted with the practice of the particular trade. As regards agricultural subjects, the law in both England and Scotland is now largely statutory. The English and Scottish Agricultural Holdings Acts of 1883 place the agricultural tenant (which includes pastoral, market-garden, and mixed holdings) in almost as good a position as the commercial tenant. To some extent this had been accomplished for England by a previous act in 1851. Prior to these statutes everything physically annexed by the tenant became the property of the landlord without compensation. The general statutory rule now is that, as regards any engines, machinery, fencing, and other fixtures and buildings for which the tenant is not entitled to compensation under the statutes, he is entitled to remove them without damage, if he has given a month's notice, and has paid his rent. The landlord, however, by counter notice, may purchase at a valuation. The Irish land legislation of recent years resolves everything into compensation, but formerly the tenant's right was the same as in England and Scotland.