LEASE, CONTRACT OF. — Three types of lease are distinguished: lease of things, lease of services, and lease of work. Departing from the old Civil Code of 1865 (which was very outdated in this matter) and taking into account the enormous development of leases in recent years, the Italian Civil Code of 1942 has very appropriately treated them in separate parts.
Reserved for the lease of work, i.e., the contract of work in the modern sense (supply of personal labor in the employ of others or in common with them for remuneration in wages or with participation in the fruits: articles 2060-2574), the Italian Code in Book IV, on obligations, discusses the various contracts of lease of services, such as the contract of supply (articles 1559-70), of contract work (articles 1655-77), of transport (articles 1678-1702), of mandate (articles 1703-41), of agency (articles 1742-53), of mediation (articles 1754-65), of deposit (articles 2028-32); and the contract of lease of things proper (of urban and rural land), which is simply called lease (articles 1571-1654). Other legal institutions that have some affinity with lease are treated in Book III, on property, insofar as, while differing greatly from lease, they approach property, such as superficies (articles 952-56), emphyteusis (articles 957-77), usufruct (articles 978-1026), and even predial servitudes (articles 1027-99).
This preliminary note is indispensable for understanding the complex matter of lease and the very different contracts that compose II. Given that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish whether a lease belongs rather to one type than another, especially if it is a lease of services or of work, the following exposition is limited exclusively to the matter concerning the lease of things: the Italian Civil Code itself, as noted, reserves the term lease (articles 1571-1654) for this contract. It should also be noted that both moralists, until recent years, and civilists (almost all Italian ones until 1942) have often treated leases promiscuously in the various senses represented. It will not be out of place to note that, contrary to what many civilists would wish, not even in the new Italian Code are there two distinct treatments for the lease of urban land and that of rural land, but both are discussed under a single chapter 6, albeit in distinct sections and with distinct names (lease for urban land, articles 1607-1614; farm lease for rural land, articles 1615-54).
The Italian Civil Code, after defining lease as “the contract by which one party undertakes to allow another to enjoy a movable or immovable thing for a given time, in return for a specified consideration” (article 1571); after stipulating that leases for more than nine years and advance payments of rent for a duration exceeding one year are acts beyond ordinary administration (article 1572), and that lease (unless otherwise provided by law, as, for example, in the case of leases of land for reforestation or leases of houses for habitation, which, pursuant to articles 1629 and 1607, may be made respectively for a maximum of 99 years in the first case and until the expiration of the second year after the death of the sole heir in the second) cannot be stipulated for a period exceeding 30 years (article 1573); describes the principal duties of the lessor and the lessee.
Article 1575 states in this regard that the lessor must deliver the thing in good condition, maintain it so that it may serve the agreed use, and guarantee peaceful enjoyment for the stipulated time; while the lessee must use the thing as a good householder, pay the rent at the agreed time (article 1587), return it in due time in the same condition in which it was received (article 1590), and, in case of delay, pay, in addition to the rent for the extended time, any greater damages arising from the lapse of the term (article 1591). Generally, minor expenses relating to the leased thing are borne by the lessee, while the others are borne by the lessor (article 1576); the lessee, however, is liable for the loss or deterioration of the leased thing even if resulting from fire (unless this occurred through no fault of his) or from third parties whom he has admitted, even temporarily, to the use of the leased thing (article 1588). Sublease (meaning of urban land) by the lessee is permitted (article 1594), but not sub-farm lease (meaning of rural land) (article 1624); in any case, sublease of movable goods without the consent of the lessor is always prohibited, except for contrary usages (article 1594). Tacit renewal of the lease is also permitted (under the same conditions as the previous one that has expired) if the lessor, upon the expiration of the term, raises no objection to the lessee, and in any case if, in the case of a lease for an indefinite time, no prior notice of termination has been given (article 1597). Few articles (1607-14) then directly concern the lease of urban land; while those concerning farm lease, i.e., the lease of rural land and its appurtenances, are much more numerous. In this particular case, special emphasis is given to unforeseen events. Articles 1635-1637 in fact lay down fairly detailed rules governing the economic relations between lessee and lessor in the event of fortuitous loss of crops, both in multi-year and annual leases, except for the risk of loss of livestock belonging to the leased farm, which always remains with the lessee unless otherwise expressly stipulated (article 1643).
With regard to the moral sphere, the general norms of contracts apply also in the case of lease. Moralists ordinarily reaffirm that one must adhere to the norms of the civil code of each nation, especially with regard to the respective obligations and rights between lessor and lessee. With regard to the Italian Civil Code, it must be acknowledged that it very adequately respects the principles of natural law and equity.
The foregoing provisions also apply to the lease of ecclesiastical goods (can. 1529). An exception is made for the lease of immovable property belonging to churches, which may not be leased to their administrators or to the blood relatives and in-laws of these up to and including the second degree (civil degree) without the permission of the local Ordinary (can. 1540). The lease of any other ecclesiastical land may be freely granted, provided it is done by public auction and awarded to the highest bidder (can. 1531 § 2) with the consent of the ecclesiastical authority referred to in can. 1541 § 2, nn. 1-3. Moreover, advance payments for more than six months are prohibited without the permission of the local Ordinary when the goods belong to ecclesiastical benefices (can. 1479); the ordinary norm of the civil code is observed instead when dealing with other goods.
For the CIC and moral theology: P. Vito, *L.*, in *Monitore ecclesiastico*, 40 (1928), pp. 285-86; id., *Alienazioni e l. di beni ecclesiastici*, in *Perfice munus*, 4 (1920), pp. 276-80; G. Vromant, *De applicatione can. 1529*, in *Ius Pontificium*, 10 (1930), pp. 120-25; G. Stocchiero, *Enti e beni ecclesiastici in Italia*, Vicenza 1935, nos. 288-90; A. Piscetta - A. Gennaro, *Elementa theologiae moralis*, III, Turin 1942, nos. 760-65; appendix, ibid. 1942, pp. 45-48; T. L. Bouscaren - A. C. Ellis, *Canon law*, Milwaukee 1948, pp. 376-77.