The practice had grown up of granting new agricultural tenancies to limited partnerships constituted under the Limited Partnerships Act 1907 in which the landlord or his nominee was the limited partner and the tenants of the farm were the general partners. Dissolution of a limited partnership by one of the partners giving notice to the others determines the partnership at the date when the notice takes effect. The remaining partners cannot carry on the business of the firm, as it has been dissolved: J Bennett Miller, The Law of Partnership in Scotland (2nd ed), p 460. So when the partnership was dissolved there ceased to be anyone who could claim to be the tenant under the tenancy: see Inland Revenue v Graham’s Trustees 1971 SC (HL) 1, 20, per Lord Reid; Gill, The Law of Agricultural Holdings in Scotland (3rdth ed), para 1.13. As the legislation gave tenants what in practice amounted to indefinite security of tenure, landlords were reluctant to let agricultural land on any other basis. The practice of letting to limited partnerships became widespread.
Held: Lord President Rodger said 34 that it was not for the court to second guess those who were charged with policy on that matter and to strike down schemes simply on the basis of its uninstructed view of what might be contrary to the public interest in good husbandry.
Judges:
Lord President Rodger
Citations:
1998 SC 14
Cited by:
Cited – Salvesen v Riddell and Another; The Lord Advocate intervening (Scotland) SC 24-Apr-2013
The appellant owned farmland tenanted by a limited partnership. One partner gave notice and the remaining partners indicated a claim for a new tenancy. He was prevented from recovering possession by section 72 of the 2003 Act. Though his claim had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Scotland, Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 04 May 2022; Ref: scu.535109