Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 10.djvu/115

A BRIEF SURVEY OF EQUITY JURISDICTION. 89 reserved upon grants of land in fee for building purposes, or upon building leases, so that the interference of equity will not be neces- sary? In England, as has been seen,^ the remedy by distress always exists for the non-payment of rent of any kind, and is the remedy generally resorted to ; and where a sufficient distress can be found, it seems to be clearly adequate; but where no sufficient distress can be found, it seems to be equally clear that the mere existence of a right to distrain ought not to prevent the interfer- ence of equity. Does the law of England afford any other adequate remedy in the cases now under consideration? It seems not. The only other remedies which can be claimed to be adequate are the sixth and seventh of those already enumerated : but as each of these is slow, and as each of them is likely to be followed by a suit in equity by the rent-payer, the rent-owner ought to be permitted to resort to equity in the first instance. In this country also it seems equally clear that there is no adequate legal remedy, unless the remedy by distress exists, and there be a sufficient distress, or unless the rent-owner have a summary remedy for the recovery of the land itself. Moreover, this latter remedy does not exist where there is no relation of landlord and tenant, and therefore it does not exist (unless in Pennsylvania) where a rent is reserved upon a grant of land in fee ; and it ought not to exist in any case of a building lease, as it will have the effect of depriving the tenant definitively of all his interest in the land by way of penalty and for- feiture, and will thus not only work a great injustice to such tenant, but also an injury to the public by discouraging the acceptance of such leases. Life annuities are likely to be a favorite form of investment wherever money is plenty and the rate of interest low; but where money is scarce, and the rate of interest is high, they are likely to be in little vogue. Accordingly, they have always been in extensive use in England, while in this country, until within a very recent date, they have been almost unknown. In the future, however, they are likely to be as much in favor here as in England. When such annuities are granted in the form of rents, the ques- tion of equity's assuming jurisdiction over them is substantially the same in England as in the class of cases last considered. In mod- ern times, however, when annuities are granted in England, special provisions are generally made in each case for their security; ^ and 1 Supra, p. 84, n. i. 2 See Lumley on Annuities, p. 214.