THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 23RD AUGUST, 1873.
at any Time before the Completion of the Purchase, of which the Purchaser had not notice before the Completion of the Purchase; but this Provision is not to take away any Remedy which the Lessor or his Legal Representatives may have against the Lessee or his Legal Representatives for Breach of Covenant.
IX. Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to affect the Ordinance Provisions of Ordinance No. 12 of 1870.
No. 12 of 1870.
Statement of Objects and Reasons.
The tenure of land in this Colony being exclusively Leasehold, it is very desirable to keep pace as much as possible with recent Imperial Legislation relating to Leases and to extend to this Co- lony such Amendments in the Law on that subject applicable to local circumstances as are from time to time introduced in England.
The Provisions of the proposed Ordinance are taken from the Imperial Act 22 and 23 Vic., c. 35, and are of so technical a nature that it would be scarcely practicable in the space allowed by this Report, to enter into any detailed explanation of them. The fol- lowing sketch however of the origin and history of the Act of Parliament will suffice to show its practical importance as affecting the law of Leasehold Property.
The doctrine of the Common Law is that a condition is indi- visible and cannot be apportioned. Therefore it was held so far back as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that if there be in a Lease a con- dition not to assign without the licence of the Lessor and such Licence be once granted in favor of a particular person the con- dition is released and extingiushed and such person and all sub- sequent Assigness of the Lease may dispose of their interest therein without any further licence from the Lessor (Dumpor's case 4, Coke 119.)
*
The Profession have always wondered at Dumpor's case" says Lord Mansfield (in Doe v. Bliss, 4 Taunton 730) but it has been Law so many centuries that we cannot now reverse it." Lord Eldon also remarks (in Brummel v. Macpherson, 14 Vescy 173) "Though Dumpor's case always struck me as extraordinary it is the Law of the land.”
Much discussion appears to have arisen as to whether the Rule applicable to a condition governs a covenant to the like effect by the Lessee "his Executors, Administrators and Assigns. Ne- vertheless the Real Property Commissioners in 1832 declared the rule to be the same with respect to a covenant as it is with respect to a condition and they recoinmended an Amendment of the Law by the Imperial Legislature (3rd Real Property Report 19). Ac- cordingly in 1836 a Bill for "An Act to simplify the transfer of Property" was presented to Parliament by Lord Lyndhurst con- taining a clause intended to carry into effect the recommendation of the Real Property Commissioners, but the Bill did not pass into Law. A similar clause was afterwards contained in another Bill presented by Lord Lyndhurst in 1841 for "An Act to simplify the Transfer of Property," but the clause was expunged and the Act was passed without it.
The Law was shortly afterwards amended in Ireland, but it was not until the year 1859 that the Imperial Act was passed from which the clauses of the proposed Ordinance are taken.
The Bill comprises other Provisions taken from the same Act of Parliament conferring Power upon the Supreme Court to grant relief from Forfeiture of Leases for breach of conditions relating to Fire Insurance.
JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE,
Attorney General.
12th August, 1873.
349
No. 129.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
It is hereby notified that the Government is prepared to grant Leases for Garden purposes at Kowloong for Fourteen Years, determinable at the option of the Lessee at the expiration of the first Seven Years.
The Crown Rent has been fixed at the rate of Twenty Dollars an acre, and all Particulars as to Covenants and Conditions may be obtained, and the Form of the Lease inspected, on application at the Surveyor General's Office.
By Command,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 19th August, 1873.
CECIL C. SMITH, Acting Colonial Secretary,