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The Land Acts (officially Land Law (Ireland) Acts) 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 United Kingdom between 1870 and 1909. Further acts were introduced by the governments of the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the ...
after 1922 and more acts were passed for Northern Ireland. The success of the Land Acts in reducing the
concentration of land ownership Concentration of land ownership refers to the ownership of land in a particular area by a small number of people or organizations. It is sometimes defined as additional concentration beyond that which produces optimally efficient land use. Distri ...
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 Michael Davitt and other
Georgists Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...
had foreseen, peasant proprietorship did not cure everything that ailed the Irish countryside. Emigration and economic disadvantage continued apace, while the greatest beneficiaries of land reform were the middle class of medium farmers.


Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870


Background

The British Prime Minister,
William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
, had taken up the "
Irish question The Irish question was the issue debated primarily among the British government from the early 19th century until the 1920s of how to respond to Irish nationalism and the calls for Irish independence. The phrase came to prominence as a result ...
" in an effort to win the general election of 1868 by uniting the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...
behind this single issue. The shock of Fenian 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 at the zenith of worldwide Imperial power. The Landlord & Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870 was partly the work of Chichester Fortescue,
John Bright John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies. A Quaker, Bright is most famous for battling the Corn Law ...
and Gladstone. The Irish situation was favourable, with agriculture improving and pressure on the land decreasing since the Great Irish Famine. The
Encumbered Estates' Court The Encumbered Estates' Court was established by an Act of the British Parliament in 1849, to facilitate the sale of Irish estates whose owners, because of the Great Famine, were unable to meet their obligations. It was given authority to sell est ...
(1849) and agitation by the
Tenant Right League The Tenant Right League was a federation of local societies formed in Ireland in the wake of the Great Famine to check the power of landlords and advance the rights of tenant farmers. An initiative of northern unionists and southern nationalist ...
had led to the sale of estates by debt-ridden mainly
absentee landlord In economics, an absentee landlord is a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. The term "absentee ownership" was popularised by economist Thorstein Veblen's 1923 boo ...
s. Gladstone's Liberal government had no explicit mandate for the Act, unlike the
Irish Church Act 1869 The Irish Church Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 42) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which separated the Church of Ireland from the Church of England and disestablished the former, a body that commanded the adherence of a small min ...
, and so could expect some opposition from the English landlord class in the House of Lords, fearful for the implications of property rights in England, many of whom were Whigs 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." Furthermore, Gladstone met resistance from Whigs in his Cabinet itself, especially
Robert Lowe Robert Lowe, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke, GCB, PC (4 December 1811 – 27 July 1892), British statesman, was a pivotal conservative spokesman who helped shape British politics in the latter half of the 19th century. He held office under William E ...
, 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
Irish Church Act 1869 The Irish Church Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 42) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which separated the Church of Ireland from the Church of England and disestablished the former, a body that commanded the adherence of a small min ...
and put forward the
Irish University Bill The Irish University Bill (Bill 55 of session 36 Victoria; long title A Bill for the Extension of University Education in Ireland; proposed short title the University Act (Ireland), 1873) was a bill introduced in the Parliament of the United Kin ...
that failed to pass both Houses of Parliament. Policymakers made much use of the statistical data recently collated in Griffith's Valuation (1853–68).


Terms

:1. The
Ulster custom Tenant-right is a term in the common law system expressing the right to compensation which a tenant has, either by custom or by law, against his landlord for improvements at the termination of his tenancy. In England, it was governed for the mos ...
or any similar custom prevailing elsewhere, was given the force of law where it existed. :2. Tenants not enjoying this protection (the vast majority) gained increased security by: ::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); ::b) compensation for 'disturbance', i.e. damages, for tenants evicted for causes other than non-payment of rent. :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 powers). 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 above what tenants could pay, and then to evict them for non-payment without giving any compensation.


Consequences

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, 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
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 farme ...
, led by Michael Davitt, became known as the "
Land War The Land War ( ga, Cogadh na Talún) was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 18 ...
". The government had to pass a
Coercion Act A Coercion Act was an Act of Parliament that gave a legal basis for increased state powers to suppress popular discontent and disorder. The label was applied, especially in Ireland, to acts passed from the 18th to the early 20th century by the I ...
as early as 1881 because of the increase in violence in Ireland; it lost support to the
Home Rule Movement Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...
, which won nine out of 14 Irish by-elections (1870–4), mainly formerly Liberal-held seats. Though relatively conservative, the legislation "had a symbolic significance far beyond its immediate effects." The Land Act turned the tide of laissez-faire 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.


Bessborough Commission

The "Report of her Majesty's Commissioners of Enquiry into the working of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act of 1870 and the acts amending the same", under the chairmanship of the 6th Earl of Bessborough and hence commonly known as the "
Bessborough Commission The Land Acts (officially Land Law (Ireland) Acts) 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 ...
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 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 4 to 1 ( Arthur MacMorrough Kavanagh dissenting) the commissioners declared in favour of the "Three Fs" as demanded by the Land League: fair rent, free sale, and fixity of tenure.


Agricultural depression

From 1873 to 1896, farmers in Britain and Ireland suffered the "
Long Depression The Long Depression was a worldwide price and economic recession, beginning in 1873 and running either through March 1879, or 1896, depending on the metrics used. It was most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing st ...
" with its lower prices. Grain from America was cheaper and better, and was exported to Europe in ever-increasing amounts. Meat could be sent in refrigerated ships from as far as New Zealand and
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. 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 1879 famine. This provided the context and arguments for further legal reforms.


Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881

The
Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 The Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 49) was the second Irish land act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1881. Background The Liberal government of William Ewart Gladstone had previously passed the Landlord and Ten ...
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
Irish Land Commission The Irish Land Commission was created by the British crown in 1843 to 'inquire into the occupation of the land in Ireland. The office of the commission was in Dublin Castle, and the records were, on its conclusion, deposited in the records tower t ...
and a
Land Court Land court or land claims court is a type of court which is charged with dealings over cases involving land titles and for disputes between landlords and tenants relating to agricultural tenancies. The exact field of jurisdiction varies by countr ...
. In Gladstone's words, the intention of the Act was to make
landlordism Concentration of land ownership refers to the ownership of land in a particular area by a small number of people or organizations. It is sometimes defined as additional concentration beyond that which produces optimally efficient land use. Distri ...
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 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. 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 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. The 1882 Amending Act, the so-called ''Arrears Act'', was the result of the
No Rent Manifesto The No Rent Manifesto was a document issued in Ireland on 18 October 1881, by imprisoned leaders of the Irish National Land League calling for a campaign of passive resistance by the entire population of small tenant farmers, by withholding rents ...
and the subsequent Kilmainham Treaty 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. The Act was further amended by
Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the L ...
, with the 1887 Land Act extending the terms of the Act to leaseholders.


Overview

The flawed economics that lay behind these acts exposes a political aim on Gladstone's part, to destroy the '' raison d'être'' of the Land League (following the recent
Land War The Land War ( ga, Cogadh na Talún) was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 18 ...
). Although the second Land Act ushered in a period of tentative calm, it became clear further reforms were necessary. 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 landlords, the police and witnesses a new and controversial
Coercion Act A Coercion Act was an Act of Parliament that gave a legal basis for increased state powers to suppress popular discontent and disorder. The label was applied, especially in Ireland, to acts passed from the 18th to the early 20th century by the I ...
was passed in 1881, 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. 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. An added consequence of the land acts was the gradual displacement of the
Protestant Ascendancy The ''Protestant Ascendancy'', known simply as the ''Ascendancy'', was the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland between the 17th century and the early 20th century by a minority of landowners, Protestant clergy, and members of th ...
during the latter 19th and early 20th centuries accompanied by the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland by the
Irish Church Act 1869 The Irish Church Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 42) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which separated the Church of Ireland from the Church of England and disestablished the former, a body that commanded the adherence of a small min ...
. Some "Ascendancy" land-owning families like the
Marquess of Headfort Marquess of Headfort is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1800 for Thomas Taylour, 2nd Earl of Bective. The Marquess holds the subsidiary titles of Earl of Bective (1766), Viscount Headfort (1762), Baron Headfort, of Headfo ...
and the
Earl of Granard Earl of Granard is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1684 for Arthur Forbes, 1st Viscount Granard. He was a lieutenant-general in the army and served as Marshal of the Army in Ireland after the Restoration and was later Lord ...
had by then converted to Catholicism, and a considerable number of
Protestant Nationalist Protestant Irish Nationalists are adherents of Protestantism in Ireland who also support Irish nationalism. Protestants have played a large role in the development of Irish nationalism since the eighteenth century, despite most Irish nationa ...
s 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
Plan of Campaign The Plan of Campaign was a strategy, stratagem adopted in Ireland between 1886 and 1891, co-ordinated by Irish politicians for the benefit of tenant farmers, against mainly absentee landlord, absentee and rack-rent landlords. It was launched to c ...
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. The pace for land law reforms quickened after the Representation of the People Act 1884, which gave a much greater number of votes to the Irish rural electorate.


Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885 (Ashbourne Land Act)

Continued land agitations throughout the 1880s and 1890s culminated firstly with the passing of the
Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885 The Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885 ( 48 & 49 Vict. c.73), commonly known as the Ashbourne Act is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed by a Conservative Party government under Lord Salisbury. It extended the terms that had ...
, also known as the "Ashbourne Act", named after
Baron Ashbourne Baron Ashbourne, of Ashbourne in the County of Meath, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1886 for Edward Gibson, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. His grandson, the third Baron (who succeeded his uncle), was a vi ...
, 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 were purchased, which made an average holding of . The purchase price was equal to 17½ years rental. The Act was amended by the 1888 Land Purchase Act, providing a further five million to the amount granted for purchase under the Ashbourne Act.


Land Law (Ireland) Act 1887 (Balfour)

This was
Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the L ...
's major Land Act, which came at the end of the '
Plan of Campaign The Plan of Campaign was a strategy, stratagem adopted in Ireland between 1886 and 1891, co-ordinated by Irish politicians for the benefit of tenant farmers, against mainly absentee landlord, absentee and rack-rent landlords. It was launched to c ...
' 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 Congested Districts Board to deal with distress in the backward areas of the west of Ireland. The Act was amended by the 1896 Land Act, 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. Local Government was introduced two years later under the revolutionary Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, which in turn contributed to the success of the United Irish League (UIL) in the 1900 general election, laying the foundation for a lasting solution in the land question.


Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 (Wyndham Land Act)

Under pressure from both government, UIL and IPP, the
Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century un ...
George Wyndham George Wyndham, PC (29 August 1863 – 8 June 1913) was a British Conservative politician, statesman, man of letters, and one of The Souls. Background and education Wyndham was the elder son of the Honourable Percy Wyndham, third son of Ge ...
gave his backing to a
Land Conference The Land Conference was a successful conciliatory negotiation held in the Mansion House in Dublin, Ireland between 20 December 1902 and 4 January 1903. In a short period it produced a unanimously agreed report recommending an amiable solution to t ...
in December 1902, comprising four moderate landlord representatives led by Lord Dunraven and four tenant representatives led by William O'Brien, the others
John Redmond John Edward Redmond (1 September 1856 – 6 March 1918) was an Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovere ...
, T. W. Russell (who spoke for Ulster tenant-farmers) and T. C. Harrington. They worked out a new scheme for tenant land purchase, 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 Land Purchase (Ireland) Act (1903) – which O'Brien orchestrated through parliament. 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
absentee landlord In economics, an absentee landlord is a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. The term "absentee ownership" was popularised by economist Thorstein Veblen's 1923 boo ...
s' control over tenants and made it easier for tenants to purchase land, facilitating the transfer of about up to 1914. By then 75% of occupiers were buying out their landlords under the 1903 Act and the later Birrell Land Purchase (Ireland) Act (1909) which extended the 1903 Act by allowing for the compulsory purchase 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 out of a total of in the country. The Acts provided Irish tenant farmers with more rights than tenant farmers in the rest of the United Kingdom. Munster tenants availed of land purchase in exceptionally high numbers, encouraged by their
Irish Land and Labour Association The Irish Land and Labour Association (ILLA) was a progressive movement founded in the early 1890s in Munster, Ireland, to organise and pursue political agitation for small tenant farmers' and rural labourers' rights. Its branches also spread into ...
's leader
D. D. Sheehan Daniel Desmond Sheehan, usually known as D. D. Sheehan (28 May 1873 – 28 November 1948) was an Irish nationalist, politician, labour leader, journalist, barrister and author. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of t ...
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. Historian R. K. Webb gives most of the credit for the Wyndham Act to Conservative leader Arthur Balfour. He says the Act was: :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 intended as well to "kill Home Rule by kindness".


Labourers (Ireland) Act 1906

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 the soil. His parliamentary engagement achieved the successful enactment of the unprecedented James Bryce Labourers (Ireland) Act (1906), followed by the Birrell Labourers (Ireland) Act (1911), and finally the Labourers (Ireland) Act 1919, which all together made provisions for a programme of large scale state-funded rural social housing, in which over 40,000 labourer-owned cottages were erected on of land by local County Councils. 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. To provide small parcels of land for people to grow their own vegetables and fruits, Parliament passed the Local Government (Allotments and Land Cultivation) (Ireland) Act, 1917.


Irish Land (Provision for Sailors and Soldiers) Act 1919

Following the Great War, a further 5000 houses were built in both parts of Ireland for returning soldiers, under th
Irish Land (Provision for Sailors and Soldiers) Act 1919
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. (23rd December 1919)", 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
Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the ...
, 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.


Free State Land Acts

On the formation of the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the ...
in 1922, the Commission was reconstituted by the Land Law (Commission) Act, 1923, which also dissolved the Congested Districts Board. The Land Act 1923 adopted many proposals for a final land settlement from decisions reached during the Irish Convention in 1918 under the chairmanship of
Horace Plunkett Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural cooperatives, Unionist MP, supporter of Home Rule, Irish Senator and author. Plunkett, a younger brother of J ...
. The Convention's proposals formed the basis of the Act. The Land Commission had bought up of farmland between 1885 and 1920 where the
freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple * Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England * Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...
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 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. 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
W. T. Cosgrave William Thomas Cosgrave (5 June 1880 – 16 November 1965) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as the president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932, leader of the Opposition in both the Free State and Ire ...
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. The Land Act 1933, passed on a vote of 70–39, allowed the Minister for Finance to divert the annuities for local government projects. This was a factor that caused the "Economic war" between 1932 and 1938, and was mutually resolved by a one-off payment of £10m to Britain in 1938. From 1932 the government argued strongly that Irish farmers should no longer be obliged for historic reasons 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. The Land Act 1965 was designed to stop speculative purchases of land by non-Irish persons. The Succession Act of 1965 treated real estate owned by a deceased person as personalty for the first time. 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 Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Act, 1992, and most of the remaining liabilities and assets were transferred to the Minister for Agriculture and Food. Many relevant historical records are held by the
National Archives of Ireland The National Archives of Ireland ( ga, Cartlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the official repository for the state records of Ireland. Established by the National Archives Act 1986, taking over the functions of the State Paper Office (founded 17 ...
.


Ground rents

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 allowed to "buy out" their ground rents from landlords, and so effectively can change a long lease into a
freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple * Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England * Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...
interest, most recently under Acts of 1978 and 2005. Notably, ground rents in Castlebar,
County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the yew trees") is a county in Ireland. In the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Counci ...
have been withheld following the controversial disappearance of Lord Lucan in 1974. 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 Government Buildings, the
Four Courts The Four Courts ( ga, Na Ceithre Cúirteanna) is Ireland's most prominent courts building, located on Inns Quay in Dublin. The Four Courts is the principal seat of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit ...
, Dublin Castle and the
Botanic Gardens A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
. While the individual cost of each is relatively small, given inflation, an estimated 250,000 ground rents still exist in Ireland, with the state annually paying for example to the Duke of Leinster for some buildings. Brian Hayes, Minister of State for the Office of Public Works 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 1,600 applications per annum are made to buy out ground rents every year.


Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act, 2009

After years of debate, the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act, 2009 comprehensively reformed the law of conveyancing, mortgages, registration of and claims to title, rights of way and
easement An easement is a nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B". An easement is a property ...
s in the Republic of Ireland. Some little-used interests relating to feudal tenure, life interests, leases for lives and fee tails were formally abolished.


Northern Ireland

The UK Parliament at Westminster passed further Land Acts for Northern Ireland after the
Partition of Ireland The partition of Ireland ( ga, críochdheighilt na hÉireann) was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. ...
, such as the Northern Ireland Land Act 1925, the Northern Ireland Land Act 1929 and the Northern Ireland Land Purchase (Winding Up) Act 1935. The Parliament of Northern Ireland passed the Land Registration Act (Northern Ireland) 1970.


See also

*
Land reforms by country Agrarian reform and land reform have been a recurring theme of enormous consequence in world history. They are often highly political and have been achieved (or attempted) in many countries. Latin America Brazil Getúlio Vargas, who rose to presi ...
*
Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act 1860 The Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment Act, Ireland, 1860 (23 & 24 Vict c 154) or the Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act 1860, better known as Deasy's Act, was an Act of Parliament preceding the agrarian unrest in Ireland in the 1880s, ...
* Assignment and Sub-letting of Land (Ireland) Act 1826


Notes


Primary sources

* * * *


Further reading

* Bew, Paul. ''Land and the national question in Ireland 1858-82'' (Dublin 1978). * Bew, Paul. ''Conflict and conciliation in Ireland 1890-1910: Parnellities and radical agrarians '' (Oxford, 1987). * Campbell, Fergus. "Irish popular politics and the making of the Wyndham Land Act, 1901–1903." ''The Historical Journal'' 45.4 (2002): 755-773. * Campbell, Fergus. "Irish popular politics and the making of the Wyndham Land Act, 1901–1903." ''Historical Journal'' 45.4 (2002): 755-773. * Cosgrove, Patrick John. "The Wyndham Land Act, 1903: The Final Solution To The Irish Land Question?" (PhD Diss. National University of Ireland Maynooth, 2008.
online, With detailed bibliography
* Cosgrove, Patrick John. "The social dynamics of nationalist politics in the west of Ireland 1898-1918" ''Past and Present'' no 182 (Feb. 2004), pp 175–209. * Cosgrove, Patrick John. ''Land and revolution: Nationalist politics in the west of Ireland 1891-1921'' (Oxford, 2005) * Cosgrove, Patrick. "The Controversy and Consequences of John Redmond'S Estate Sale under the Wyndham Land Act, 1903." ''Historical Journal'' 55.1 (2012): 75-96. * Donnelly Jr., James S. ''The decline of the Big House in Ireland. A study of Irish landed families 1860-1960'' (Dublin, 2001). * Dooley, Terence. "Land and politics in independent Ireland, 1923–48: The case for reappraisal." ''Irish Historical Studies'' 34.134 (2004): 175-197
online
* Gailey, Andrew. ''Ireland and the death of kindness: The experience of constructive unionism 1890-1905'' (Cork, 1987). * Guinnane, Timothy W., and Ronald I. Miller. "The limits to land reform: the Land Acts in Ireland, 1870–1909." ''Economic Development and Cultural Change'' 45.3 (1997): 591-612
online


External links

*Michael F. J. McDonnell
"Ireland and the Home Rule Movement", 1908
*Des Keenan

*William Macafee. ttp://mamaynooth.freeservers.com/archives.htm Local historical studies of rural areas: methods and sources {{UK legislation History of Ireland (1801–1923) Land reform in Ireland 1870 in law British constitutional laws concerning Ireland Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Ireland Landlord–tenant law