Land Acts

Land Acts passed over a period of more than half a century transformed landholding from a system of territorial landlordism to one of owner occupancy.

The Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870 (Gladstone's first land act) gave the force of law to customary tenant right where it existed and created similar rights elsewhere in the country, provided for compensation for disturbance of tenants evicted other than for non‐payment of rent, and made provision for compensation for improvements in the case of a departing tenant. Its so‐called ‘Bright clauses’ allowed tenants to purchase their holdings.

The Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 (Gladstone's second land act) granted the three Fs and instituted the Land Commission, with authority to adjudicate on fair rents and to make loans of up to 75 per cent of the purchase price to tenants purchasing their holdings.

The Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885 (the Ashbourne Act) increased the loan limit to 100 per cent.

The Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1891 (the Balfour Act) introduced land bonds as an alternative form of payment of landlords selling land to tenants, thereby extending the scope of sales without an equivalent increase in the burden on the exchequer. It also set up the Congested Districts Board with wide powers to divide and amalgamate holdings with a view to relieving congestion in impoverished areas.

The Irish Land Act 1903 (Wyndham's Act), unique in that its contents were the product of agreement between representatives of landlords and tenants, laid down financial parameters within which an agreement between a landlord and tenant would be automatically approved by the Land Commission. The act appealed to the farmers because it guaranteed annual repayments lower than existing rents, and to the landlords because it gave a 12 per cent government bonus on the sale price of an entire estate, ensured payment in cash, and allowed them to retain demesne farms now mortgaged to the Land Commission on favourable terms.

The Irish Land Act 1909 (the Birrell Act) was designed to limit the cost to the exchequer of the success of the Wyndham Act. The terms were disimproved and payment by land bonds was reintroduced. The pace of transactions subsequently slackened.

In the Irish Free State, the Land Act of 1923 (the Hogan Act) converted rents into payments to the Land Commission, pending compulsory transfer of ownership of remaining tenanted land, abolished the Congested Districts Board, and gave the Land Commission responsibility for redistribution. The Northern Ireland Land Act (1925) provided for compulsory completion of tenant purchase of land in that jurisdiction.

Richard Vincent Comerford