assertion of landlord right which is tenant wrong.

Among the exhibitions of this influence is an act passed in the
reign of George II., which extended the power of distraint for
rent, and the right to sell the goods seized--to all tenancies.
Previous legislation confined this privilege solely to cases in
which there were leases, wherein the tenant, by written contract,
gave the landlord power to seize in case of non-payment of rent,
but there was no legal authority to sell until it was given by an
act passed in the reign of William III. The act of George II.
presumed that there was such a contract in all cases of parole
letting or tenancy-at-will, and extended the landlord's powers to
such tenancies. It is an anomaly to find that in the freest country
in the world such an arbitrary power is confided to individuals, or
that the landlord-creditor has the precedence over all other
creditors, and can, by his own act, and without either trial or
evidence, issue a warrant that has all the force of the solemn
judgment of a court of law; and it certainly appears unjust to
seize a crop, the seed for which is due to one man, and the manure
to another, and apply it to pay the rent. But landlordism,
intrusted with legislative power, took effectual means to preserve
its own prerogative, and the form of law was used by parliaments,
in which landlord influence was paramount, to pass enactments which
were enforced by the whole power of the state, and sustained
individual or class rights.

The effect of this measure was most unfortunate; it encouraged the
letting of lands to tenants-at-will or tenants from year to year,
who could not, under existing laws, obtain the franchise or power
to vote--they were not FREEMEN, they were little better than serfs.