and if he hires the animal to carry one hundred ratls but loads one hundred and ten, he must pay the going wage for the extra ten. Should the animal perish on account of that excess, he is liable for its full value provided the owner was not present; if the owner was with the animal, the lessee is liable only for a share proportionate to the excess—and, according to one opinion, for half its value. If the lessee hands the hundred and ten ratls over to the owner and the owner loads them unaware of the excess, the lessee is still liable, according to the relied-upon view. However, if the owner himself weighs the goods and loads the animal, no additional rent is due for the excess, nor is there liability should the animal die.

If a man gives a piece of cloth to a tailor to sew, and the tailor makes it into a long coat while saying, “You told me to cut it as a coat,” whereas the owner says, “No, rather as a shirt,” the stronger position is that the owner is believed upon taking an oath. The tailor is entitled to no wage and must pay compensation for the diminution in value.

Section
A lease is not annulled by excuses such as the unavailability of fuel for a bathhouse, the traveller’s departure, or the illness of someone who hired an animal for a journey. If land is rented for cultivation, crops are planted, and the harvest is destroyed by blight, the tenant has no right to cancel the lease or to reduce the rent.

The contract is dissolved by the death of a specified animal or a designated employee with respect to future—not past—benefits, according to the sounder view; the portion of the named rent corresponding to what has elapsed remains due. It is not terminated by the death of either contracting party or of the trustee of an endowment.

If the first generation of waqf beneficiaries leases the property for a fixed term and dies before the term ends, or if a guardian leases a minor’s property for a period during which the child would not reach majority by age yet attains it through puberty, the more correct opinion is that the lease is voided in the case of the waqf but not in the case of the minor.

The lease is voided if the house collapses, but not if the water supply of farmland leased for cultivation dries up; in that situation, the lessee merely gains the option to rescind. Likewise, if the hired animal is usurped or a hired slave absconds, an option to rescind arises.

If a camel-driver leases out his camels and then absconds, leaving them with the lessee, the lessee should petition the judge to provide for their maintenance from the camel-driver’s assets; if no assets are found, the judge borrows on the driver’s behalf. Should the judge trust the lessee, he may leave the camels in his care; otherwise he places them with a reliable third party. The lessee may sell as many of the camels as are needed to cover their upkeep. If the judge authorises the lessee to spend on the animals from his own funds with the right of reimbursement, that is permissible on the stronger view.

Once the lessee takes possession of the animal or the house and keeps it until the rental period expires, the rent becomes fixed even if he derives no benefit. The same ruling applies when he hires an animal for a journey to a certain place, takes possession of it, and enough time for the trip passes without his making use of it.