APPORTIONMENT
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APPORTIONMENTAPPORTIONMENT, contracts. Lord Coke defines it to be a division or partition
of a rent, common, or the like, or the making it into parts. Co. Litt. 147.This definition seems incomplete. Apportionment frequently denotes, not,division, but distribution ; and
in its ordinary technical sense, thedistribution of one subject in proportion to another previously distributed.1 Swanst. C. 87, n. 2. Apportionment will here be considered only
in relation to contracts,by talking a view, 1, of such as are purely personal and, 2, of such asrelate to the realty. 3.-1. When a Purely personal contract is entire and not
divisible inits nature, it is manifest it cannot be apportioned; as when the subject ofthe contract is but one thing, and there is but one creditor and one debtor,neither can
apportion the obligation without the consent of the other. Insuch case the creditor cannot force his debtor to pay him a part of his debtonly, and leave the other part unpaid, nor
can the debtor compel hiscreditor to receive a part only of what is due to him on account of hisclaim. Nor can the assignee of a part sustain an action for such part. 5 N.S.
192. 4. When there is a special contract between the parties, in general nocompensation can be received unless the whole contract has been actuallyfulfilled. 4 Greenl.
454; 2 Pick. R. 267; 10 Pick. R. 209; 4 Pick. R. 103; 4M'Cord, R. 26, 246; 6 Verm. R. 35. The subject of the contract being acomplex event, constituted by the performance of
various acts, the imperfectcompletion of the event, by the performance of only some of those acts,cannot, by virtue of that contract, of which it is not the subject, afford atitle to
the whole, or any part of the stipulated benefit. See 1 Swanst. C.338, n. and the cases there cited; Story, Bailm. Sec. 441; Chit. Contr. 168;3 Watts, 331; 2 Mass. 147, 436; 3
Hen. & Munf. 407; 2 John. Cas. 17; 13John. R. 365; 11 Wend. 257; 7 Cowen, 184; 8 Cowen, 84; 2 Pick. 332. Seegenerally on the subject of the apportionment, of personal
obligations, 16Vin. Ab. 138; 22 Vin. Ab. 13; Stark. Ev. part 4, p. 1622; Com. Dig.Chancery, 2 E and 4 N 5; 3 Chit. Com. Law 129; Newl. Contr. 159; Long onSales, 108. And
for the doctrine of the civil law, see Dumoulin, de dividuoet individuo, part 2, n. 6, 7; Toull. Dr. Civ. Fr. liv. 3, tit 3, c. 4, n.750, et seq. 5.-2. With regard to rents, the law is
different. Rents may ingeneral be apportioned, and this may take place in several ways; first, bythe act of the landlord or reversioner alone, and secondly, by virtue of
thestatute of 11 Geo. II., c. 19, s. 15, or by statutes in the several statesin which its principles have been embodied. 6.-1. When there is a subsisting obligation on the part
of the tenantto pay a certain rent, the reversioner may sell his estate in differentparts, to as many persons as he may deem proper, and the lessee or tenantwill be bound to
pay to each a proportion of the rent. 3 Watts, 404; 3 KentCom. 470, 3d. ed.; Co. Litt. 158 a; Gilb. on Rents, 173; 7 Car. 23; 13 Co.57 Cro. Eliz. 637, 651; Archb. L. &. T. 172 5
B. & A. 876; 6 Halst. 262. Itis usual for the owners of the reversion to agree among themselves as to theamount which each is to receive; but when there is no agreement, the
rentwill be apportioned by the jury. 3 Kent, Com. 470; 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 697. 7.-2. Rent may be apportioned as to time by virtue of the stat. 11Geo. H., C. 19, s. 15, by which
it is provided that the rent due by a tenantfor life, who dies during the currency of a quarter, of a year, or otherdivision of time at which the rent was made payable, shall be
apportioned tothe day of his death. In Delaware, Missouri, New Jersey, and New York, it isprovided by statutes, that if the tenant for life, lessor, die on the rentday, his
executors may recover the whole rent; if before, a proportionalpart. In Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, and New York, when one is entitled torents, depending on the life of
another, he may recover them notwithstandingthe death of the latter. In Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia, itis specially provided, that the husband, after the death of
his wife, mayrecover the rents of her lands. 1 Hill. Ab. c. 16, Sec. 50. In Kentucky, therent is to be apportioned when the lease is determined upon any contingency. 8.
When the tenant is deprived of the land, as by eviction, by titleparamount, or by quitting the premises with the landlord's consent, in theabsence of any agreement to the
contrary, his obligation to pay rent ceases,as regards the current quarter or half year, or other day of payment, as thecase may be. But rent which is due may be recovered.
Gilb. on Rents, 145; 3Kent, Comm. 376; 4 Wend. 423; 8 Cowen, 727 1 Har. & Gill, 308; 11 Mass. 493.See 4 Cruise's Dig. 206; 3 Call's R. 268; 4 M'Cord 447; 1 Bailey's R.
469; 2Bouv. Inst. n. 1675, et seq.
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