ments must be placed in the condition in which they were when the tenant began
his occupancy.
I f the landlord has lent the tenant cattle or implements to be employed on
the land, and if a certain value has been placed on what has been thus lent,
the tenant shall be obliged, during the period of his tenancy, to keep on the
farm, etc., animals or implements of a corresponding kind and value, and the
said animals or implements, whether they are the original ones or have been
procured during the period of the tenancy, shall be the property of the landlord.
In addition to the above paragraphs, the new law mentioned contains a number
of regulations respecting methods and formalities, which would hardly interest
the reader.
A proclamation dated June 4, 1908 contains new regulations concerning
Crown farm lands let on lease. As a rule, the length of the lease is twenty
years, the tenant having priority of choice in the event of a fresh lease being
granted at the close of this term. When a lease is granted, it shall stipulate
what new erections the tenant is to carry out. I f these prove to .b e greater
than will allow of the work being spread over the whole term of tenancy, the
tenant can obtain compensation for the superfluous amount, in the first place
by means of a reduction of the rent. If, with the consent of the Crown Lands
Board, the tenant carries out on a large scale the cultivation of new areas or
draining operations, which are to the great advantage of th^ land, but which,
during the period of tenancy, will hardly result in a return to the tenant commensurable
with his expenses, he may be compensated by a reasonable reduction
of the rent for one or more years. Compensation shall be made in the
same way for drain-tiles used in draining operations.
The year before he relinquishes the land, the tenant shall carry put the
regular autumn work, such as tilling the fallow, plowing,■ sowing winter corn
and seed for which he shall receive compensation from the incoming tenant. No
permission can be given to remove manure, but, on certain conditions, the Crown
Lands Board can permit hay and straw to be carried away. A part of this
fodder remaining at the close of the tenancy, shall. be given to the incoming
tenant without compensation. The remainder shall be dealt with in accordance
with the general law concerning landlord and tenant.
Respecting the inspections carried out when a tenant takes possession of a
farm and when he quits it, the ordinary regulations shall be in force, but, in
addition, the Intendant of the Crown Lands shall inspect the land at least once
every five years, for the purpose of seeing how the land is being farmed, and
whether the tenant is carrying out the various conditions on which the lease
was granted.
The Norrland Laws.
A special place in Swedish legislation is occupied by the so-called Norrland
Laws, passed in 1906 and 1909, and supplemented in 1912. The
law of 1906, which affects the Lans of Yasternorrland, Jamtland, Yaster-
botten, and Norrbotten, and parts of the Lans of Gavleborg and Kopparberg,
contain prohibitions for companies or economic associations to acquire landed
property within the various lans, this, with certain exceptions. The chief
o f these exceptions are: landed estate intended for building plots, storage
places, or the like, or which consists of quarries, gravel- or clay pits,
peat-bogs, waterfalls, fishery- or other similar site, or outfield land or
forest, which cannot be considered necessary to insure the economic independence
of a farm (Sw. stódskog). It is, however, the duty of the
Governor of the lan where the estate or estates in question are situated,
to decide in every special case, after application has been made in the
matter, whether such company or association may be permitted to acquire
the estate in question.
The laws of 1909 and 1912, on the other hand, contain regulations
concerning the supervision of certain farm-lands, (vanhavdslag; uppsikts-
lag) and regulations respecting the leasing of certain land (see below).
These laws affect the lans of Gavleborg, Yasternorrland, Jamtland, Vaster-
botten and Norrbotten, and certain parts of Dalarne, and refer only to
such landed estates as belong to companies or to economic associations,
or private persons who are clearly in the possession of such estates
principally for the purpose of utilizing the timber thereon, and who are
not entered in the schedules of population as dwelling on the estate, or on
an estate which is farmed or managed together with the one first mentioned.
A. The Inspection of Lumber Farms Law formerly termed The Neglected
Farms Law. The proper authorities shall see that the farming of the estate
is not abandoned, or the land and buildings otherwise so neglected that
there is a danger of the laying down of the farming. This control is exercised
by a Commission appointed by the Government for a period of three
years, and consisting of a president and two members. Whenever there is reason
to suppose that the land is being neglected, the Commission appoints an inspec-
tion-committee of three persons to investigate the state of things at the place,
and to report, thereon to the Commission and, at the same time, to propose
the measures the committee may consider necessary for remedying the neglect.
Should the Commission consider that the land has been neglected, it must
endeavour to make a written agreement with the owner concerning the measures
to be taken to bring about an improvement. Not more than four years may be
allowed for the carrying out of these measures. I f an agreement cannot be
made with the good-will of the owner, an action must be brought against him,
and the court shall decide what steps the owner must take within a period not
exceeding four years.
Should the owner of the land delay the measures that he has either voluntarily
undertaken to* carry out, or which have been enjoined him by the court,
he shall .be mulcted in accordance with a scale far in excess of the usual rates
of fines, but the fines in question shall not have the alternative of imprisonment
attached to them. Finally, it is to be observed that it is the landowner who is
responsible for remedying any existing neglect of the land, even if the land is
leased to a tenant, and also that a landowner who, voluntarily or by the judgment
of the court has had the task enjoined him of remedying the neglect, cannot
escape this obligation by selling the land, unless — with the consent of the
Commission —- the . new landowner has undertaken the responsibility in question,
B. The Farm-lease Law. The following special regulations are in force,
as distinct from these of the general law oñ tenants’ rights. The agreement
01 lease shall be a written one, and all additions or alterations in the
lease shall also be executed in writing, otherwise they lose their validity. If,
however, the tenant is found to be farming land and is in possession of no