surrender by operation of law
surrender by operation of law. An act that is an equivalent to an agreement by a tenant to abandon property and the landlord to resume possession, as when the parties perform an act so inconsistent with the landlord–tenant relationship that surrender is presumed, or when a tenant performs some act that would not be valid if the estate continued to exist. [Cases: Landlord and Tenant 109(1). C.J.S. Landlord and Tenant §§ 121, 127.]