The Compensation for Disturbance Bill (Ireland - 1880), under pressure from

John O'Connor Power John O'Connor Power (13 February 1846 – 21 February 1919) was an Irish Fenian and a Home Rule League and Irish Parliamentary Party politician and as MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland represented Ma ...

, member for

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

, was introduced by Ireland's Chief Secretary, W.E. Forster, on 18 June 1880 as a temporary measure to deal with a deteriorating situation in Ireland brought about by the

Irish famine The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a h ...

and

Land League The Irish National Land League (Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmer ...

agitation. Sir Charles Russell made a reference to the Irish land question and the Bill in his speech at the Special Commission on Parnellism and Crime in early April 1889: :"''That being the scheme which yesterday, in connection with the Compensation for Disturbance Bill, I pointed out to your Lordships was formally introduced in the House of Commons at the instance of the Land League by Mr O'Connor Power, then one of the members for Mayo, and the principle of which was afterwards adopted by the Government of the day and passed, by the second reading of the Compensation for Disturbance Bill through that House.''" It empowered courts in certain cases to compensate a tenant upon eviction even if the eviction was for non-payment of rent, provided that the tenant could prove that inability to pay was a direct result of agricultural and economic depression. The Bill was to apply to designated areas in the west and south of Ireland for a period of eighteen months only. The Bill passed through the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 me ...

but met with a devastating defeat (282 votes to 5) in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. Contemporary reports estimated that the House had rarely been so crowded as during the debate on this Bill which so deeply affected the landlord class.

Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the Cons ...

remarked "''The Bill is rejected; the civil war has begun''".''A Dictionary of Irish History'', D.J.Hickey & J.E.Doherty, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1980. Pp. page 86. Rejection of the Bill resulted in an escalation of activities by the

References

Legal history of Ireland 1880 in Ireland {{Ireland-law-stub