Conflict of Laws-Choice of Law-Lease drawn up for use in foreign country-
Interpreted in light of the foreign law

Landlo.rd and; Tenant-Damage to premises-Fire-Whether landlord or tenant
liable-EfJYptian law

Certain premises in Khartoum, leased by defendant to plaintiff, were
damaged by a fire during the period of the lease. The lease, which had
been drawn up for use in Egypt, contained various provisions relating to
the liabilities of the two parties for damage to the premises. In this action
plaintiff sought an order to compel the defendant lessor to .make repairs, or.
if he failed to do so, to reduce the rent. Plaintiff relied principally on
certain articles of the lease, none of which, hdwever, expressly required
landlord to make repairs of damage due to fire.

Held: As to the question of which repairs the landlord is required to
make, the lease must be read in the light of the. Egyptian law. since it
was drawn up for use in Egypt. According to the Egyptian law, the land-

,;furd is not bound to maintain the premises except where there is expre.'lS
agreement to the contrary. Since none of the lease provisions relied on by .
,the plaintiff expressly placed responsibility on the landlord for ioss due to
fire, he cannot be held liable for the repair of this damage.

Egyptian Native Civil Code, s. 370.

Action

April 23, 1924. B. H. Bell, J.: The plaintiff leased premises from
the defendant by a contract dated April 1, 1923. In October 1923
a fire broke out and destroyed part of the premises.

~ Court: B. H. Bell, J.

.The plaintiff has brought this action claiming that. the dcfendaDt·
be required to restore the premises to their original condition, and ,that
if he omits to do so then there must be a reduction of the r~nt ~yable.
He relies on article 15 of the lease, and also on article 370 Of tho
Egyptian Civil Code.' .

The lease is difficult to interpret. The Arabic and French ver-
sions are not identical. The Arabic version is the one signed by the .
parties and must be accepted as the authoritative version: The Eng-
lish translation is inaccurate in certain particulars,

The plaintiff says that the meaning of article 15, on which he
relies, is that the lessor is bound to do all repairs which are indispensa-
ble. I am of opinion that this article must be read in conjunction
with those which 'precede it. Its meaning is not that the tenant can
compel the lessor to do all indispensable repairs whatever. Its pur-
pose is to provide machinery for compelling the landlord' to do repain
if for any reason he is liable to do these ;cpairs:

It remains to be considered what repairs the lessor is liable to do.

Article 9 states that, "repairs relating to :the lease" shall be at the cost
of the landlord. Article 1 0 states that "the. tenant is responsible in
the case of fire as the law necessjtates." (In passing it may be noud
that Article 14 is. wrongly translated. I agree with the plaintiff's advo-
cate that this article does not deal with the cost of repairs at all.) The

. plaintiff argues that article 9 includes all structural repairs.

This lease has been drawn up for use in Egypt and therefore a
consideration of Egyptian law will be of assistance in its interpretation.
According to Egyptian law the lessor is not bound in the absence of
express agreement to maintain the 'premises. Hence I take it that the
meaning 9f article 9 is to throw this liability on the lessor .. That is,
he will be responsible for repairs necessitated by structural defects or
deterioration, or in fact for repairs necessitated by some act or omis-

1 Section 370 of the Egyptian Native Civil Code ~ads:

"In the absence of agreement to the contrary, the lessor is nOt bound
to make any repairs. But -if the thiilg let perishes the lease is ipso facto dissolved.                   

If the thing has suffered deterioration the lessee may, according to cir-
cumstances, demand either the dissolution of, the lease or reduction of the
rent. Nevertheless, if in the last case the lessor undertakes to reStore the
thing to the state in which it was at the tiine when the lease wu made,
the reduction in the rent will cease from the day' on which the work Of
repair is _finished."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          .