and—if someone enters a public bath, boards a ship, or gives his garment to a launderer or the like without formally stipulating a contract—the wage is whatever is customary for such services.

Third: the benefit must be lawful, have market value, be attainable, and be taken without consuming any part of the leased property itself. Therefore a lease is invalid when it involves something prohibited, such as fornication, the playing of wind instruments, singing, turning one’s house into a church, or the sale of wine. It is likewise invalid to hire a single apple merely for its scent, to lease an undivided share to someone who is not a co-owner, or to rent out soap for washing, wax for lighting, or an animal for milking.

It is, however, valid (1) to rent a wall so that beams may be placed upon it. A woman may not hire herself out without her husband’s permission.

Section

The lease of a specific property is subject to the following conditions:

• The property must be identified, either by direct inspection or—except in the case of land—by a detailed description.

• It must actually contain the expected benefit; hence it is not valid to lease a saline, barren tract for cultivation, or a crippled animal for carrying loads.

• The lessor must be able to deliver it; a lease is therefore invalid for a runaway slave or the like.

A lease arranged by the trustee of an endowment is valid, but it is cancelled by his death if the endowment’s proceeds were restricted to him alone.

The lessee (2) may sublet to someone who will use the property in the same manner, provided the subtenant is no more detrimental than he.

When the lease is for a fixed term, that term must be known, and it must be reasonably expected that the property will remain intact for that entire period, however long it may be.