Thomas Hinds Lodge No. 58 v. Presbyterian Church

Citations

• 103 Miss. 130
• 60 So. 66

Syllabus

<p>1. Landlord and Tenant. Contracts. Rights acquired. Dedication, Lease. Construction. Holding over. Repairs by tenant. Consent of landlord.</p> <p>Under the contract as set out in the opinion of the court in this case-the church is not the owner of a one-third interest in the building- and is not entitled to a sale thereof for partition, nor has the church the right to the perpetual use of the lower story conditioned only upon the payment by it of one-third of all necessary repairs made-on the building.</p> <p>2. Dedication. Acts constituting.</p> <p>While no particular form of words is necessary in order to dedicate property to a particular use, it is necessary that the words used should clearly and unquestionably manifest an intention to-dedicate the property to the particular use.</p> <p>3. Landlord and Tenant. Lease. Construction.</p> <p>A lease between a lodge and a church which provided that “It is-further agreed by said lodge that if said church faithfully complies-with the terms and conditions of this lease, that then, at its-expiration, it may be renewed at the will and pleasure of said lodge for such period of time as the lodge then in existence shall determine, ” confers no substantial right upon either party, and really amounts to an absurdity.</p> <p>4. Lease. Construction.</p> <p>A lease prepared by the landlord should be construed most strongly against him.</p> <p>5. Landlord and Tenant. Holding over. — Acts constituting.</p> <p>Where during all the time the tenant was holding over after the expiration of its lease, prior to bringing suit, negotiations looking-to a renewal of the lease were in progress and nothing occurred during these negotiations from which it could be inferred that the-landlord recognized the tenant as such for a new term, and was estopped thereby from disputing the formation of a new tenancy and the tenant’s holding over was with the express consent of the-landlord, in such case the tenant did not acquire the right to a new term