the highest form of the agreement, all verbal stipulations to
the contrary must give way.

A tenant can make no permanent alteration without his landlord's
consent; and should he do so and injure the premises the landlord may
recover damages, or, if such an alteration is feared or threatened, he
may prevent it by obtaining an injunction from a court ordering the
tenant not to make it and penalizing him should the order be
disobeyed.

When a lease is renewed, the new lease may be regarded in two
different ways. It may be considered as the continuation of the lease,
and thereby protecting all the interests created under it. And this
will be the case whenever the old lease clearly shows that if a
renewal should be made this was the intention of the parties. When
nothing is said, a renewed lease is a surrender of the old one and
different conditions may arise. It is important therefore when
providing for the renewal of a lease to specify what the parties
intend, whether a renewal or continuation on the old terms, or a
renewal on other terms to be fixed at another time.

Usually a lease specifies not only the amount of rent to be paid, but
the time of payment. If silent, yearly rent is not due until the end
of the year, quarterly rent at the end of the quarter, monthly rent at
the end of the month. When a lessee is evicted or turned out of
possession by his landlord, he is excused from paying rent. What,
therefore, is an eviction? Any act by the landlord, or by his agent,
impairing the worth of the premises to the tenant, for example, the
destruction of a summer house, turning rooting pigs into the premises,
the erection of a new building rendering the leased premises unfit for
occupation. One of the curious cases is the lease of a distillery
which could not be run because the landlord prevented the lessee from
getting a license. In like manner if the landlord is to furnish heat
and fails to do so, the tenant is justified in leaving. More
generally, any act by the landlord whereby the leased premises are
rendered unfit or impossible for the purpose intended, and affecting
the health and comfort of the tenant, is an eviction.

The eviction must be done by the lessor. An act done by a wrongdoer,
not under the lessor's order, will not justify the lessee in quitting.
Thus the darkening by an adjacent owner of the lessee's premises by
erecting a structure, however injurious it might be, would not justify
the lessee in quitti