Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/867

* IKISH LAND LAWS. 767 IRISH LAND LAWS. members of the tribal community. These were pcrson.ally dependent on the chief, who had a rif;ht to quarter liis retainers u])on tliem or rackrent them at pleasure. It is impossible to determine the nuinerieal jiroportion of the popu- lation represented by tliese servile tenants, but it is probable that at the time when the English system was superimposed upon Ireland the free element was predominant. I'nder the Irisb system, land was eoneeived to be held on a communal basis. On the death of the chief his land was distributed amon;:^ his descendants by the tribesmen, and on the death of a. tribesman the chief redistributed the . land of the sept. In contrast to this, under the Knulish feudal system, the King was conceived to be the ultimate owner of the land, and the lords and other tenants derived their ownership from him. The Enslish law in Ireland, however, prevailed only within the Pale, while the Irish law jirevailed in by far the greater part of tho country. The evils of the Irish land system are to be ascribed to (he dispossession of the native population and to the forced imposition of the English land law upon Ireland. The disposses- sion l>egan under Queen Mary, when the Irish were driven out of King's and Queen's counties and the English settlers established there. Under pretext of the treason of two Ulster chiefs, James I. in 1607 established the famous LTster plantation. Later in his reign other confisca- tions, though not such extensive ones, were made. All Ireland was divided into shires and declared subject to English laws. This policy was con- tinued during the succeeding reigns, but no second great confiscation was attempted until the time of the Commonwealth. After his Irisb victory Cromwell divided the best lands of Leinster and Munster and a part of the lands in Ulster among 40,000 of the English soldiery. A small portion of this land was restored under Charles II. and James II., but more was con- fiscated by Parliament under William III. The effect of these measure's was to dispossess almost the entire Irish nobility and gentry. The penal laws enacted by the Irish Parliament after the defeat of .Tames II. carried this prin- ciple still further by making it impossible for a Catholic to acquire land. The confiscation acted with equal severity upon the lower classes. The English law confounded all Irish tenantry with the Fuidhir class, reducing them thus to a servile status. The lands were increasingly held by absentee landlords, who endeavored to nhtaiu the highest possible rents. Tlie large number of middlemen who held land under the lords and acted as their agents made the condition of the peasantry still worse. The need of reformation was seen by all classes, luit was not fully realized by English statesmen until the report of Lord Devon's commission, which was appointed in 184."! and sat for two years. This re|Kirt, backed by the famine of 1S40, showed conclusively that the cause of the poverty and sufTcring in Ireland was not due. as was generally supposed in England, to the shiftlessness of tlie Irish people, nor yet to their religion, but to the disastrous relations that existed between landlord and tenant. It reionimended that the tenant receive from the landlord compensation for the improve- ment of bis holding, .ccordingly in 1847 Lord lussell proposed a measure providing for such compensation in cases of eviction, but it was rejected by Parliament. His second measure, the Encumbered Estates Act, however, was ac- cepted. This act compelled the sale of estates u]ion which the rents were mortgaged, the idea being that a new set of solvent landlords would not need to rackrent the tenants. This act, however, was a failure. Estates to the value of £1^5.000,000 were sold for £10.000,000, and the incoming landlords, regarding their possessions as purely financial investments, had less con- sideration for the customs which formerlj' safe- guarded the teiuinlry than their predecessors. In 1S50 the Tenant Kight IjCague, composed alike of Presbyterians and Catholics, was founded at Dublin. It contended for fair rents by actual valuation, exchiding the improvements made by the tenantry, for continued possession of the holding by the tenant as long as valuation rents were paid, and for relief from arrears of rent due from the time of the famine. The League entered actively into political affairs, and in 1852 sent fifty members to Parliament pledged (o adhere to no party that did not support the principles of the League. Three of its leaders were won over by the Liberal Cabinet, and its strength was broken by the opposition of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the Holy Sec. In consequence of renewed agrarian disturbances, the Palmerston ^Ministry brought forward the Land Acts of 1860. The first really efficient land legislation enacted for Ireland was a consequence of the attempted Fenian rebellion, and was the work of the Glad- stone Ministrv in 1S70. It established the Ulster custom throughout Ireland. This custom provided that tenants could not be evicted while their rents were paid, and that whenever a tenant gave up possession, either voluntarily or otherwise, he might sell his own improvements. Evictions for non-payment of rent could only be made in case of three years' arrears, and could not be made at all in cases where the rent was under £15 if the court deemed the rental exorbitant. When a holding was relinquished a tenant could legally claim compensation for his own improvements from the landlord. The Bright clause provided for the purchase of the holding by the tenant by enacting that the Board of Works should advance two-thirds of the purchase-money. The act of 1S70 failed, however, to remedy the existing evils. The Land Act of the second Gladstone Min- i'-try, passed in 1881. was a result of the dis- turbances fostered by the Land League (q.v. ). It was drawn up by Forster. the Irish Secretary. This act recognized that the tenant had a pos- sessory right in the holding, by the provision that he might sell it for whatever it would bring, subject only to the landlord's right of preemption. Except for the non-pa^^nent of rent, the tenant could not be evicted. In case of the increase of rent he could apply to the Land Commission, established by the act. and procure a rate which would hold for fifteen years. This conmiission also provided for the easy payment of arrears. The clause providing for the pur- chase of the holdings by the tenants was strengthened in 1885 by the Ashbourne Act. which advanced £5.000.000 for this purpose. In 1S87 an additional £5,000.000 was advanced. The Balfour Land Purchase Bill passed by the Con- servatives in 1801 continued the same policy. It provided for purchase based on voluntarj- agree-