Land Acts (Ireland) - Knowledge (XXG)

1525:. c. 82) which was defined as "An Act to facilitate the provision of land in Ireland for men who have served in the Naval, Military, or Air Forces of the Crown in the present War, and for other purposes incidental thereto", and, "so far as it relates to the provision of holdings under the Land Purchase Acts, shall be construed as one with those Acts, and, so far as it relates to the provision of cottages, plots, or gardens under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1919, shall be construed as one with the last-mentioned Acts." It was effected by the Irish Soldiers' and Sailors' Land Trust, which co-operated with the new 2095: 1938: 1846: 1739: 1448: 1376: 1245: 1156: 1075: 896: 787: 683: 590: 369: 346:

purchase element can be described as counterproductive because the conditions tenants now enjoyed under this Act gave them no incentive to buy, furthermore, some economic historians dispute the effectiveness of land purchase as a solution to the Irish land problem. Land purchase significantly reduced the amount of capital in Ireland that could have been invested to improve efficiency and competitiveness of Irish farms. Therefore, some headway is made towards lower rents but this is at the cost of lower rates of productivity growth in Irish farming.

1218: 248:, a contemporary observer, professed not to know "what the Tories could have against this Bill, which is so indulgent with the Irish landlords and finally places their interests in the tested hands of the Irish lawyers". He thought it "very amusing if the brave Gladstone thinks he has settled the Irish question by means of this new prospect of endless lawsuits". The legislation, however, "had a symbolic significance far beyond its immediate effects." The Land Act turned the tide of 567:, putting limited tenant land purchase in motion. The Act allowed a tenant to borrow the full amount of the purchase price, to be repaid at 4% over 49 years. Five million pounds sterling were made available, and about 25,400 tenants purchased their holdings during the period up to 1888, many in Ulster. In all 942,600 acres (3,815 km) were purchased, which made an average holding of 37 acres (150,000 m). The purchase price was equal to 17½ years rental. 214:

were excluded from the Act because their leases were longer than 31 years. Legal disputes over customary rights and "exorbitant" rents actually worsened landlord-tenant relations. Figures do not indicate any impact of the Act on the rate of eviction, which was anyway at a low level. In the late 1870s when depression struck, evictions for non-payment of rent mounted, tenants had no protection, and in reply 'outrages' and the campaign by the

760:' agitation. It provided £33,000,000 sterling for land purchase, but contained many complicated legal clauses, so that it was not put fully into effect until amended five years later. At this point only £13,500,000 had been employed. It substituted peasant proprietorship for dual ownership as the principle of land tenure. At the same time Balfour created the 277:

Report," was published in 1881 after lengthy hearings in 1880. It reported that the 1870 act gave the tenant no real protection because compensation for improvements could be claimed only on giving up the lease and because tenants saw themselves as forced to accept rent increases to avoid sacrificing

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An Act to make provision for the winding up of the system of land purchase in Northern Ireland established by the Land Purchase Acts and other enactments in that behalf, for the abolition of the Land Purchase Commission, Northern Ireland, and the transfer of functions exercisable under the said Acts

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A "ground rent" is a nominal annual rent paid where a property is held under a long lease. Legislation has reformed ground rents alongside the agricultural land laws (see above). While most tenancy reform legislation was enacted for agricultural land, urban and suburban occupiers / tenants have been

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was assigned under mortgage to tenant farmers and farm workers. The focus had been on the compulsory purchase of untenanted estates so that they could be divided into smaller units for local families, some of which proved to be "uneconomic"; this policy was applied unevenly across the country, with

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Having largely settled the Irish land question, William O'Brien, convinced by the success of combining the "doctrine of conciliation" with "conference plus business", turned his attention in a Second Phase to the Irish Land and Labour Association's demands for the need to settle Irish labourers in

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Despite a short-term reduction of rents (by about 20% by 1882) this act can generally be seen as economically ineffective. Instead of cutting costs or increasing productivity, Irish farmers increasingly turned to the Irish land courts to cut their rents and jack up their dwindling incomes. The land

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However well-intentioned, the Act was at best irrelevant, at worst counter-productive. Fewer than 1,000 tenants took up the Bright Clauses, since the terms were beyond most tenants and many landlords did not wish to sell. Many substantial leasehold farmers, who had led the campaign for land reform,

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violence, especially in England, as well as the growing awareness of the potency of strong nationalist feelings in pan-European politics, was a second reason to tackle the Irish question. Gladstone desired to bring peace with fairness to Ireland, and by extension, the rest of the UK, which was then

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in 2011, stated that a referendum would be required to put the practice to an end. Residents of Hayes' own constituency continue to be issued demands for payment, with many ignoring them, though given that outstanding liabilities of ground rent hinder residents' ability to sell their homes, about

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impossible. However, it was a complicated piece of legislation though it did provide for land purchase, three-quarters of the money to be advanced by the Land Commission, and to be repaid over 35 years at 5% interest. Under the Act, 731 tenants became proprietors. More important was the fact that

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To prevent eviction by rack-renting, and so avoiding paying compensation to tenants, the Bill said that rents must not be "excessive", leaving this for the courts to define. But the House of Lords in a wrecking amendment substituted "exorbitant" in its place. This enabled landlords to raise rents

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c. 49) gave tenants real security, though by this time the Irish were demanding proprietorship. The Act established the principle of dual ownership by landlord and tenant, gave legal status to the Custom of Ulster throughout the country, provided for compensation for improvements and created the

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of tenanted farmland by the Land Commission, but fell far short in its financial provisions. In all, under these pre-1921 Land Acts over 316,000 tenants purchased their holdings amounting to 11.5 million acres (47,000 km) out of a total of 20 million acres (81,000 km) in the

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that Gladstone relied on for support in Parliament. Partly for this reason, Gladstone's approach was cautious, even conservative, for he was dedicated to maintaining the landlord class whose "social and moral influence", he said in 1863, was "absolutely essential to the welfare of the country."

998:. They worked out a new scheme for tenant land purchase, in which sale was to be made not compulsory, but attractive to both parties, based on the government paying the difference between the price offered by tenants and that demanded by landlords. This was the basis of the "Wyndham Act" – the 1049:

A complete success. By the time the Irish Free State was created in 1922, the system of peasant proprietorship had become universal... A land problem more than a century old had been solved, though it had taken more than 30 years of educating Parliament and landlords to do it. The scheme was

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The act undermined the Land League by granting fair-rent control, fixity of tenure on leases, and freedom of sale: all to be overseen by the new government-sponsored Irish Land Commission. The 1881 act involved state participation in the redistribution of land-ownership. Because of attacks on

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had already taken their part in Irish history. A survey of the 4,000 largest landlords in 1872 revealed that already 43% were Roman Catholics, 48% were Church of Ireland, 7% were Presbyterians, and 2% unknown. The term "Protestant Ascendancy" was used from 1879–90 in the Land War and the

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The commission ceased acquiring land in 1983; this signified the start of the end of the commission's reform of Irish land ownership, though freehold transfers of farmland still had to be signed off by the commission into the 1990s. The commission was dissolved on 31 March 1999, by the

1529:, mostly building small new housing estates for veterans at the edge of towns. The object of the Act was to facilitate the reinstatement in civil-life of ex-servicemen and their dependents with the provision of £800,000 sterling for housing accommodation by the Local Government Board. 1577:

lamented that there were already: "250,000 occupiers of uneconomic holdings, the holdings of such a valuation as did not permit of a decent livelihood for the owners". Despite this, his government continued to subdivide larger landholdings, primarily to gain electoral support.

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as an emotional term in what was an economic dispute. Religious affiliation was used as a factor as 55% of the largest estates were held by Protestants or Presbyterians in a country overwhelmingly Catholic. However, the "war" applied to landlords of all religions and none.

1014:' control over tenants and made it easier for tenants to purchase land, facilitating the transfer of about 9 million acres (36,000 km) up to 1914. By then 75% of occupiers were buying out their landlords under the 1903 Act and the later Irish Land Act 1909 of 2112:

An Act to revise the law relating to the registration of the title to land; to extend the compulsory registration of the title to land; to repeal and re-enact with certain amendments the law relating to the registration of statutory charges; and for matters connected

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A symbolic significance of these land acts are how far Gladstone had come from his starting point. Judicial control of rent levels and the establishment of many land courts was a change from Gladstone's policy of 'retrenchment' and his commitment to free markets.

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3. The John Bright Clauses, which Gladstone accepted reluctantly, allowed tenants to borrow from the government two-thirds of the cost of buying their holding, at 5% interest repayable over 35 years, provided the landlord was willing to sell (no compulsory

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c. 47), increasing the amount available for purchase and removing the clauses which had made the Act unattractive. The Land Courts were empowered to sell 1,500 bankrupt estates to tenants. A total of 47,000 holdings were bought out between 1891 and 1896.

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It differed from earlier legislation which initially advanced to tenants the sum necessary to purchase their holdings, repayable over a period of years on terms determined by an independent commission, while the Wyndham Act finished off

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was passed, which added to the atmosphere of distrust of the authorities. An overview of the land war, the reforms and the effect of the Coercion Act was published in 1888 by the journalist WH Hurlbert, an Irish-American Catholic.

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legislation favouring capitalist landlordism, and in principle, if not in practice, was a defeat for the concept of the absolute right of property. For the first time in Ireland tenants now had a legal interest in their holdings.

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had foreseen, peasant proprietorship did not end hardship in the Irish countryside. Emigration and economic disadvantage continued while the greatest beneficiaries of land reform were the middle class of medium farmers.

35:) were a series of measures to deal with the question of tenancy contracts and peasant proprietorship of land in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Five such acts were introduced by the government of the 153:, and the resulting compromise measure was so weak that it had little difficulty in passing both Houses of Parliament, with one significant amendment. As well as the Land Act, the Liberal government also passed the 54:

is indicated by the fact that in 1870, only 3% of Irish farmers owned their own land while 97% were tenants. By 1929, this ratio had been reversed with 97.4% of farmers holding their farms in freehold. However, as

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Paying ground rents is still considered by some to be an unresolved part of Ireland's history as a part of the United Kingdom; the Irish Government itself pays ground rents for iconic public buildings, including

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made between Parnell and Gladstone by which the Land Commission was empowered to cancel arrears of less than thirty pounds due by tenants. Two million pounds in arrears were estimated to have been written off.

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From 1923, the amounts outstanding under earlier acts were paid to the British government as "land annuities", accruing in a Land Purchase Fund. This was fixed at £250,000 annually in 1925. In December 1925,

302:. For many tenant farmers in Ireland this meant lower net incomes with which to pay the rents they had agreed. This impacted most on the poorer, wetter western parts of the island that also suffered from the 1589:

between 1932 and 1938, and was mutually resolved by a one-off payment of £10 million to Britain in 1938. From 1932 the government argued strongly that Irish farmers should no longer be obliged for

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some large estates surviving if the owners could show that their land was being actively farmed. Provision was made for compulsory purchase of land owned by a non-Irish person until repealed in 1966.

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to pay Britain for Irish land, but when Britain had passed out of the payment system it illogically still required farmers to continue to pay their annuities to the Irish government as before.

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An Act to facilitate the provision of land in Ireland for men who have served in the Naval, Military, or Air Forces of the Crown in the present war, and for other purposes incidental thereto.

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after he and O'Brien established an Advisory Committee to mediate between landlords and tenants on purchase terms which produced a higher take-up of land purchase than in any other province.

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what they had put into their holdings. It declared, "Freedom of contract, in the case of the majority of Irish tenants, large and small, does not really exist". By a majority of four-to-one (

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The Acts housed, at low annual annuities, over a quarter of a million rural labourers and their families, previously living in hovels, which thereby transformed the Irish countryside.

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tenants had the right to take their rents to the Land Court for reduction under the fair rent clause, where in most cases a reduction of between 15% and 20% was awarded.

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a) compensation for improvements made to a farm if they surrendered their lease (these had previously been accredited to the landlord, hence no incentive to the tenant);

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An Act to amend the Law relating to the occupation and ownership of Land in Ireland and for other purposes relating thereto, and to amend the Labourers (Ireland) Acts.

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An Act to enable Local Authorities in Ireland to provide allotments and otherwise promote the cultivation of land, and for other purposes incidental thereto.

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An Act to amend the Law relating to Labourers in Ireland and to make provision with respect to the application of portion of the Ireland Development Grant.

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The Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 comprehensively reformed the law of conveyancing, mortgages, registration of and claims to title,

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dissenting) the commissioners declared in favour of the "Three Fs" as demanded by the Land League: fair rent, free sale, and fixity of tenure.

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Note 238, p. 295: Joseph Sheehan, 'Killing Landlords by Kindness', paper read to conference of Irish Historical Students' Association, 1993.

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An Act to amend the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881, and the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1885, and for other purposes connected therewith.

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An Act to amend the Law relating to the Occupation and Ownership of Land in Northern Ireland; and for other purposes relating thereto.

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An Act to further amend the Law relating to the Occupation and Ownership of Land in Ireland, and for other purposes relating thereto.

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Cosgrove, Patrick John (2012). "The Controversy and Consequences of John Redmond's Estate Sale under the Wyndham Land Act, 1903".

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and Gladstone. The Irish situation was favourable, with agriculture improving and pressure on the land decreasing since the

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Cosgrove, Patrick John (February 2004). "The social dynamics of nationalist politics in the west of Ireland 1898-1918".

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The Land Commission had bought up 13 million acres (53,000 km) of farmland between 1885 and 1920 where the

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The Acts provided Irish tenant farmers with more rights than tenant farmers in the rest of the United Kingdom.

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b) compensation for 'disturbance', i.e. damages, for tenants evicted for causes other than non-payment of rent.

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The flawed economics that lay behind these acts exposes a political aim on Gladstone's part, to destroy the

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To provide small parcels of land for people to grow their own vegetables and fruits, Parliament passed the

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allowed to "buy out" their ground rents from landlords, and so effectively can change a long lease into a

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An Act to amend the definition of Agricultural Labourer for the purposes of the Labourers (Ireland) Acts.

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gives most of the credit for the Wyndham Act to Conservative leader Arthur Balfour. He says the Act was:

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Post Famine Ireland- Social Structure Ireland as it Really Was. Chapter 2. The economy I: agriculture

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and other enactments, and for purposes incidental to the purposes aforesaid and consequential thereon.

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above what tenants could pay, and then to evict them for non-payment without giving any compensation.

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Campbell, Fergus (2002). "Irish popular politics and the making of the Wyndham Land Act, 1901–1903".

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c. 13), providing a further five million to the amount granted for purchase under the Ashbourne Act.

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Friedrich Engels to Karl Marc (17 February 1870) reprinted in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,

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the soil. His parliamentary engagement achieved the successful enactment of the unprecedented

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An Act to amend Section One of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1887, in regard to Leaseholders.

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2. Tenants not enjoying this protection (the vast majority) gained increased security by:

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or any similar custom prevailing elsewhere, was given the force of law where it existed.

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adopted many proposals for a final land settlement from decisions reached during the

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Ireland and the death of kindness: The experience of constructive unionism 1890–1905

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tenants availed of land purchase in exceptionally high numbers, encouraged by their

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The decline of the Big House in Ireland. A study of Irish landed families 1860–1960

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Furthermore, Gladstone met resistance from Whigs in his Cabinet itself, especially

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Conflict and conciliation in Ireland 1890–1910: Parnellities and radical agrarians

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interest, most recently under Acts of 1978 and 2005. Notably, ground rents in

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The "Report of her Majesty's Commissioners of Enquiry into the working of the

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between 1870 and 1909. Further acts were introduced by the governments of the

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