Rights and Duties of Parties

It was the duty of the landlord (locator) to deliver the property to the tenant (conductor) and to permit him to keep it for the time agreed upon. If the tenant was deprived of the property before the termination of his lease in consequence of the landlord's fault, the latter had to pay him full compensation (id quod interest). But if the landlord was not in fault, the tenant was entitled only to a remission of the rent. Thus, if a farm let to a tenant was confiscated, or a house burned, the tenant was entitled simply to remission of the rent. So in case of a chattel, if it was carried off by robbers, the hirer was released from payment for the unexpired term of the contract. If the lessor of a house determined to pull it down and rebuild it during the term, he had to pay the lessee compensation if the rebuilding was unnecessary, but if necessary, he was required simply to allow a remission of the rent.

The landlord was also required to keep the property in good order and in condition for the agreed use. He had to make material repairs or the tenant might claim a reduction from the rent or a release from the contract. But the hirer was required to inake trifling repairs. Thus the tenant of a house might throw up the contract if the doors and windows decayed and were not repaired, or if his light was shut out by the erection of a building by an adjoining proprietor. If for the purpose of making repairs the landlord required the tenant to leave during the repairs, the tenant paid no rent for the time he was kept out, and if kept out for more than six months he could throw up the lease.

Again, since the parties were required to do whatever good faith demanded, the lessor of a farm was required to allow a reduction or remission of rent in bad years when the crop was lost or seriously damaged by storms, floods, locusts, etc.

There was also an implied warranty on the part of the owner, that the thing hired was fit for the use intended. Thus where a landlord leased a farm with vats used in wine making, and the tenant's wine was lost because the vats were rotten, it was held that the lessor must pay for the wine. So the lessor of pasture-land that produced poisonous or injurious herbs was bound to remit the rent, if he did not know of the fault, and to pay all resulting damages, if he did know.

The tenant had a right to remove moveables he brought upon the land or into the house, and even to remove fixtures, provided he gave security not to injure the house, but to leave it as he found it. And he was also entitled to compensation for improvements made by him unless they were a part of his contract.

The tenant was required to keep the property for the agreed term, and if without reasonable excuse he left the land or house, he had to continue, nevertheless, to pay rent. He was also bound to take all reasonable care of the property, but he was not liable for loss or injury without his fault. The hirer was bound to return the property at the time agreed, and he must surrender possession even if he claimed the property as his own. For a tenant to contest his landlord's title was made a finable offense. Special agreements, as that the tenant should not have fire in the house, were binding, and the tenant was liable for damages caused by non-observance. The tenant had to pay interest if in arrears in payment of rent, and cottld be evicted if in arrears for two years (Hunter, 508-511).

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Curators

By the Roman law a male became of age for all purposes upon reaching the age of puberty. Females, at least under the older law, never attained full legal capacity. Plainly, however, a law which gave to a boy of fourteen full power to manage his own affairs was unsafe for him, and modifications were introduced from time to time for his protection. By an early law of uncertain date passed for the relief of minors (le.r Plcetoria), they were permitted to apply to the prsetor for the appointment of a form of guardian known as a curator, who would be appointed on proof of the minor's incapacity to manage his own affairs. And in time it became the rule for magistrates to appoint a curator upon the minor's application. But a minor above the age of puberty could not be compelled to have a curator, except when, on being sued, he neglected or refused to apply for a curator, in which case a curator would be appointed on petition of the plaintiff to defend the suit. The du
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The Several Kinds of Tutors

(1) Testamentary Tutors. These were appointed by the will of the deceased paterfamilias of the pupil. This mode of appointment was authorized by the Twelve Tables. ( 2) Statutory Tutors. These succeeded to the tutela by virtue of the provisions of the Twelve Tables or of some other Statute, but only if there were no testamentary tutors. They were called legitimi tutor es. They were the agnates (by Justinian's legislation, the nearest of kin, whether agnates or cognates) who in case of the death of the pupil would succeed to his inheritance. They were appointed upon the principle that those who had the advantage of the inheritance ought to bear the burden of the tutela (ubi entolumentum successionis ibi et onus tutelcs). In this connection may be mentioned also the guardianship of the patron over his freedman, and of the father over his emancipated child. (3) In the absence of a testamentary or statutory tutor, power was ' given to certain magistrates to appoint
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Nexum

This was an ancient contract made by the ceremony of mancipation per aes et libram . Very little is known about it. Its application seems to have been very narrow, perhaps limited to the contract of loan. It was obsolete from a very early date.
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