FIXITY OF TENURE; 
 
 HEADS OF A SUGGESTED LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENT; 
 
 WITH AN 
 
 INTRODUCTION AND NOTES. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED 
 
 QUERIES, 
 
 PROPOSED FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF ALL WHO 
 DESIRE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF 
 IRELAND’S SOCIAL CONDITION. 
 
 BY 
 
 ISAAC BUTT, 
 
 AUTHOR or “ LAND TENURE IN IRELAND ; A PLEA FOR THE CELTIC RACE.” 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 
 JOHN FALCONER, 53, UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET. 
 SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 1866. 
 
 Price Sixpence—hy Post, Sevenpence. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the following pages the reader will find, thrown into the 
 form of an Act of Parliament, the provisions by which I 
 suggest that the proposal I have made for the settlement of 
 ' the Irish Land Question might be safely carried out. That 
 proposal is to convert the tenure of every occupier of an agri- 
 cultural tenement into a lease for sixty-three years, fixing the 
 rent to be paid by a valuation. I have already endeavoured 
 - to show that such a measure is justified by the circumstances 
 of Ireland, and that those circumstances are such as to make 
 ^' it indispensable to the peace and prosperity of the country. 
 This is not the occasion for entering into this argument. It 
 is at least enough for me to repeat my conviction that 
 nothing short of this will meet the requirements of the 
 country. Such a proposal does not involve a greater inter¬ 
 ference with the absolute dominion of the landlord than exists 
 in those districts of the island where tenant right prevails—the 
 only districts of Ireland in which the relations of landlord and 
 tenant are in a condition satisfactory to either. 
 
 In the Bill which I have draughted I have endeavoured to 
 show how easily the security of tenure which is enjoyed under 
 the Ulster tenant right might be extended to the occupiers of 
 the soil in other parts of Ireland without touching on any just 
 proprietary right. I know that in thus definitely stating the 
 details I am exposing the plan to criticism, which cannot afifect 
 the general principle; but which may supply objectors with 
 
 ^53491 
 
4 
 
 plausible arguments against the principle itself. I have, how¬ 
 ever, such perfect confidence in the feasibility, as well as justice 
 and expediency, of my proposal, that I do not hesitate to submit 
 it to a test in which, in my hands, it is exposed to many disad¬ 
 vantages. To prepare a measure of this nature, so as to provide 
 for every contingency that may arise, is a task which requires 
 facilities that I have not at my command. It requires the 
 opportunity of submitting it to persons representing different 
 interests, and who are practically acquainted with the difficulties 
 that are to be met. The plan sketched in these pages is entirely 
 my own. I ask of the candour of the reader to remember 
 this, and to consider it rather as the outlines of a proposal 
 intended to be varied and improved by the suggestions of 
 others, than as placed before him in a shape which its author 
 supposes to be complete. 
 
 Assuming as a basis that it is expedient to convert the 
 tenure of every occupier into the interest I have mentioned, 
 the machinery by which I propose to accomplish this is effec. 
 tive, simple, and unexpensive. The Civil Bill Court of each 
 county presents a tribunal perfectly adequate for the purpose. 
 The fact of occupation is a patent one. The general valuatioi; 
 supplies, in almost every instance, the measure of the rent 
 ~ The appeal to the tribunal would, in the immense majority 
 of instances, be the recording of an indisputable right 
 There would not, in one case out of a hundred, exist eithe^ 
 difficulty as to law or a dispute as to the facts, and at th^ 
 expense of a few shillings the tenant would obtain hjg 
 statutory lease. He would do so at a cost far less than tl^ 
 expenses of preparation and stamp duty which would atterq 
 the execution of an ordinary lease. 
 
 The first step which I propose the tenant should take is t ^ 
 give to his landlord a notice that he intends to apply at tb^ 
 next sessions for a statutory tenancy in the terms of the Aq 
 
5 
 
 The only ground upon which, in the case of an agricultural 
 tenement, this could be resisted is, that the applicant is not the 
 occupier. This is a question that can scarcely admit of 
 litigation or dispute. If both parties are satisfied with the 
 valuation put upon the holding by the General Valuation, the 
 matter is at an end—and the tenant acquires, by the simplest 
 and most inexpensive process possible, an indefeasible title to 
 hold his land for 63 years, so long as he pays the rent agreed 
 on, and performs the very simple although very important 
 covenants which are imposed upon him. 
 
 The interest in the soil thus conferred upon him he should 
 retain only so long as he proves himself a punctual and 
 improving tenant. Non-payment of the rent should be fol¬ 
 lowed by forfeiture of his interest. I propose to make the 
 ejectment for non-payment of rent an absolute one. At 
 present the eviction is subject to redemption by the tenant at 
 any time within six months. This privilege I propose to 
 abolish, and to make the eviction absolute at once. 
 
 I propose to bind the tenant to proper cultivation of the 
 farm, and to the maintenance of all improvements; and, in 
 the event of his failing in either of these conditions he incurs, 
 in like manner, the forfeiture of the interest which the statute 
 confers upon him. 
 
 And lastly, I bind him not to subdivide his holding without 
 his landlord’s consent. 
 
 I venture to ask any reasonable man whether, if every tenant 
 in Ireland held his land upon such a tenure, the condition 
 of the landed interest would not be infinitely better than it is. 
 Surely if such a tenure were universally established by law 
 the landlord would still retain all of feudal or territorial 
 dominion which either his own interests or those of the country 
 permit. In deference to territorial prejudices much more 
 than in accordance with my own feelings, I preserve to him 
 
6 
 
 even those manorial rights of sporting which I would myself 
 be disposed to class among the objectionable memories of the 
 feudal age. 
 
 Let me once more pray of' any reasonable man to reflect 
 whether a measure that thus preserves the landlord’s rights— 
 which thus secures him his rent under the penalty of forfei¬ 
 ture—which compels the tenant, if he desires to retain his 
 interest, to be an improving cultivator—and which gives to 
 the landlord the power of absolutely prohibiting subdivision— 
 whether such a measure can justly be stigmatized as revolu¬ 
 tionary, merely because it prohibits that exaction of an 
 unreasonable rent which is in itself a crime; and because it 
 enforces for the occupier that security of tenure without 
 which it is idle to expect that the land he tills will ever yield 
 to the country the increase which God intended it should 
 give. 
 
 The effect of such a measure would be, that the tenant 
 farmer, secure in a long enjoyment of his holding, would 
 expend upon his farm the savings which he now lodges or 
 deposits in some bank. It has been stated, I believe, correctly, 
 that these deposits by the tenant farmers of Ireland amount to 
 the enormous sum of seventeen millions. Seventeen millions 
 positively withdrawn by the operation of our present land 
 laws from the improvement of the soil—an improvement 
 which would secure the landlord’s rent. But even this sum, 
 large as it is, does not adequately represent the total loss. In 
 every country where insecurity prevails, hoarding becomes the 
 passion of an enslaved people. The Irish tenants are no 
 exception to the rule; and to an extent which no one can 
 calculate, the insecurity and uncertainty of his tenure have 
 forced upon the Irish farmer the evil habit of hoarding and 
 hiding his coins against the evil day. 
 
 The plain and simple provisions to which I have above 
 
7 
 
 adverted are those which would really constitute the statute 
 in relation to the immense majority of the Irish tenantry. 
 The instances would be rare in which there would be anything 
 beyond the mere registration at the Civil Bill Court of an 
 undisputed title. 
 
 The other, provisions I propose are intended and designed 
 to guard the interests of landlords. 
 
 When a lease for sixty-three years is absolutely granted, the 
 lessee is entitled to the sole benefit of any accidental increase 
 in the value of the land. If accidental circumstances—such 
 as the opening of a railway, the establishment of a dock-yard, 
 the rise of a great town, or any other occurrence which may 
 be termed an extrinsic circumstance—should increase the 
 letting value of the leased tenement, the landlord can still 
 claim nothing but the rent originally reserved. It appears to 
 me that it would be desirable, so far as it is capable of being 
 effected, to leave to the landlord at least a share in the 
 advantage of any such increase. 
 
 I have endeavoured to accomplish this by enabling the 
 landlord, at his option, to reserve the power of varying the 
 rent according to the prices of selected articles of farm pro¬ 
 duce in the market that is nearest to the farm. 
 
 Let us suppose the case of a farm situate in a place which 
 may now be called remote. In twenty years, the exertions, 
 it may be, of the landlord, have converted what is now a sea¬ 
 side hamlet into a fashionable watering-place. The real value 
 of the farm is doubled—not by any act of the tenant, not by 
 his industry or his expenditure, but by circumstances with 
 which he has nothing to do. The increased value of the 
 farm must, however, proceed from one of two causes. Either 
 it has become valuable for sites of building, or its value is 
 increased by the rise in the price of its produce in the market 
 close at hand. 
 
8 
 
 In either case the landlord, under the Bill I propose, would 
 receive a very fair share of the increased value. If the tenant 
 could let his land for building, he would be met by the 
 covenant against alienation; and he could only obtain the land¬ 
 lord’s licence on terms which would be agreed upon between 
 them. If the higher price obtained for produce were the cause 
 of the increased value, the landlord would receive the benefit 
 of this if he had exercised the option of reserving the power 
 of varying the rent. This is one of the details which may be 
 open to criticism that assumes the form of cavil. It may be 
 omitted without injury to the plan; I inserted it from an 
 anxiety to retain all of the absolute dominion of the landlord 
 that can possibly be reconciled with the general good. 
 
 There are two incidents of that absolute dominion which no 
 human ingenuity can so reconcile. 
 
 They are:—1st. The power of keeping the occupiers liable 
 to arbitrary evictions. 
 
 2nd. The power of exacting an extortionate rent. 
 
 I venture to think that these two powers, in any country 
 the circumstances of which permit them to be brought into 
 full play, are powers so odious as to constitute an intolerable 
 tyranny, utterly destructive of all peace or prosperity in that 
 country. In Ireland both these powers exist without any 
 practical control. In the tract on land tenure I have endea¬ 
 voured to show this. The circumstances of the country are 
 such as to prevent, as a general rule, the operation of anything 
 like competition in fixing the amount of rent. The landlord 
 practically fixes the rent at his own discretion, and the tenant 
 has no choice but to agree. I ask of any man who doubts 
 this to call to his mind any considerable Irish estate, and to 
 think whether if the landlord determined, ever so unreasonably, 
 to raise his rent, nine out of ten of the tenants would have 
 any power to resist. If they remonstrated, I venture to say 
 
9 
 
 their remonstrance would not be the objection of men bargain¬ 
 ing on equal terms with a person with whom they were free 
 to deal or not. It would be an appeal to the justice or the 
 generosity of a master who had it in his power to treat them 
 as he chose. I have shown that the tenantry, as a general rule, 
 are kept under a liability to arbitrary eviction—they are not 
 permitted any security of tenure in theory; and in practice 
 they have none. The two odious powers I have mentioned 
 are in the hands of the landlord, without any other check than 
 that which may be supplied by the prudence or the conscience 
 of the landlord himself. The Irish people live in their own 
 land by the sufferance of the proprietors of the soil; and some 
 of those proprietors have not hesitated to tell them that the 
 sooner they are got rid of the better. These two powers 
 are inconsistent with the well-being, nay with the very exist¬ 
 ence of the Irish nation. They must be swept away. The 
 safety of the nation demands this; the first and highest instincts 
 of humanity command it. But, in doing this, I, for one, would 
 desire to leave to the owner of landed property every right 
 which he now has, and which does not involve the exercise of 
 those powers, which no human legislature has a right to 
 entrust to any man under the pretence of maintaining his 
 property in the soil. Short of permitting him to exercise 
 those powers I wish to maintain to the landlord every dominion 
 which present law attaches to his property in that soil; and 
 the measure indicated in the following pages has been framed 
 with the most anxious desire to effect this. 
 
 I . am, perhaps, digressing into the discussion of principles, 
 when I ought to confine these sentences to the exposition of 
 details. 
 
 I have been obliged to provide a machinery for an appeal 
 from the decision of the chairman at the Civil Bill Court. 
 The cases in which an appeal would be necessary, or would be 
 
TO 
 
 adopted, would be very few. Its necessity would arise from 
 this—that it would not be right in every instance to bind the 
 landlord by the general valuation, and that there are cases 
 of occupation to which it would be unjust to apply the prin¬ 
 ciples of such an Act. 
 
 The General Valuation supplies in most cases a fair test of 
 the real letting value of the land. That valuation was made 
 upon the principle of estimating the extreme rack rent value 
 of the holding, deducting the rates and taxes payable by the 
 tenant. In the earlier valuations the deduction has been 
 excessive, because it was held that the words of the statute 
 obliged the valuators to deduct the then existing rates. 
 These valuations were made at a time when the rates, espe¬ 
 cially the poor rates, were exceptionally high. In the interest 
 of the landlord it becomes necessary that in such cases he 
 should not be bound by that valuation. • 
 
 I propose to entrust to the judges of assize the duty of 
 appointing, in each county, valuators to whom the appeal 
 may be made in any case in which either landlord or tenant is 
 dissatisfied with the value fixed by the general valuation. 
 Persons, no doubt, would be appointed, of high station and 
 character, whose opinion would command respect. I do not 
 purpose to make even their opinion final. I leave it to the 
 tribunal which is to grant the lease to determine upon 
 evidence—in cases of sufficient magnitude entitling either 
 party to appeal to the verdict of a jury. 
 
 Again, in the interest of the landlord, I propose to exempt 
 from the operation of the Act all but those purely agricul¬ 
 tural holdings to which the public interest imperatively 
 demands that the measure should be applied. The exceptions 
 will be found enumerated in the 4th clause. 
 
 It may be that I have not been perfectly successful in the 
 enumerations. This is just one of the details which admit of 
 
11 
 
 modification at the suggestions of persons who have prac¬ 
 tical acquaintance with the subject. I am disposed to think 
 I have erred rather on the side of excluding cases to which 
 the Act ought to apply than on that of extending its opera¬ 
 tion too far. 
 
 With these few observations I submit this draft of a 
 measure to the calm and impartial consideration of my 
 countrymen of all classes. Most assuredly I have framed it in 
 no spirit of hostility to the landlord class. My struggle has 
 been to take from them nothing of their absolute dominion 
 which is not positively inconsistent with the public safety. If 
 popular feeling be thoroughly aroused on the subject it may be 
 that they will never again see a measure proposed for popular 
 acceptance with such a jealous respect for their rights. 
 
 I believe that if such a measure as I propose were once 
 fairly and honestly adopted, by those who represent the 
 landlord interest, it would be gladly accepted by the whole 
 tenantry of Ireland as the final settlement of a question 
 which has for generations torn and distracted Ireland—a 
 question which, while it remains unsettled, makes the life 
 of every Irishman less happy than it ought to be. 
 
 But I do not hesitate also to avow my perfect and 
 unfaltering belief that a measure such as this is within the 
 reach of the Irish people themselves. I am not one of 
 those who have much faith in the achievement of any great 
 good for Ireland by that which is termed Parliamentary 
 action. I have great faith in the power of truth and justice; 
 and, when it has truth and justice on its side, in the ultimate 
 triumph of the popular will. I cannot help entertaining a 
 clear conviction, that if, throwing over all subterfuge and 
 compromise, the Irish people were deliberately, clearly, 
 and energetically to declare their resolute determination in 
 favour of fixity of tenure for the occupiers of the soil, three 
 
12 
 
 years would not pass until, in the Imperial Parliament, a 
 measure embodying the principles of that which I suggest 
 would become law. 
 
 If it could be carried by a mutual agreement among all 
 classes interested in the land of Ireland, it would most 
 assuredly be the great charter of Ireland’s prosperity and 
 peace. 
 
 I have added a few notes explanatory of the details of the 
 bill, in which I hope anything that is omitted in these intro¬ 
 ductory observations may be supplied. 
 
 I venture to adopt a mode which has the illustrious autho¬ 
 rity of Berkeley, in dealing with Irish economic questions, and 
 to propose, in an Appendix, a few queries for the study of all 
 who desire to solve the problem of Ireland’s social condition. 
 
 Chambers, Henbietta-street, 
 November, 1866 . 
 
 1. B. 
 
Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 A 
 
 BILL 
 
 TO 
 
 Make better provision to secure 
 Fixity of Tenure to the Occu¬ 
 piers of Land in Ireland. 
 
 W HEREAS lands let for agricultural pur¬ 
 poses in Ireland are very generally held 
 by the occupiers on a tenancy from year to year, 
 or other uncertain periods, and it has been found 
 5 by experience that in the circumstances of 
 Ireland such tenure is not sufficient either to 
 insure to the industrious occupier the benefits of 
 his industry, or to encourage occupiers to apply 
 their industry to the proper cultivation and due 
 10 improvement of their farms; to the great dis¬ 
 couragement of industry, the hindrance of 
 agriculture, and detriment to the peace and 
 prosperity of the country—and whereas it is 
 expedient to make provision for enabling the 
 15 occupiers of land to convert such short and 
 
14 
 
 Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 Short Title. 
 
 Limit of 
 operation of 
 Act. 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 tenements 
 
 defined. 
 
 uncertain tenures into tenancies for a term of 
 years sufficiently long to induce them to make 
 improvements, which will make the land more 
 productive for the general good, and better 
 secure the rents payable, and thereby promote 5 
 the well-being of the community at large. 
 
 Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s Most 
 Excellent Majesty, by and with the consent of 
 the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons 
 in this present parliament assembled, and by the 10 
 authority of the same, as follows, that is to say : 
 
 1 , This act may be cited on all occasions, and 
 for all purposes, as the Fixity of Tenure Act, 
 
 2 . No proceeding to obtain the benefit of 15 
 
 this act shall be commenced by the occupier of 
 any agricultural tenement after the last day of 
 the session of parliament which shall be holden 
 next after the 1st day of August, 1877.— 
 {Note 1.) 20 
 
 3. The following, and none other, shall be 
 deemed to be agricultural tenements within the 
 meaning of this act, that is to say. 
 
 All tenements in Ireland separately rated to 
 the relief of the poor, whether a part of same 25 
 consists of houses, gardens, plantations, or 
 
Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 15 
 
 buildings, or not, which shall be let for purposes 
 of farming, and which shall be used for such 
 purposes by tilling, grazing, or pasturing, or 
 meadowing the same, or any part thereof, or by 
 5 occupying the same or any part thereof in any 
 other usual course of husbandry. 
 
 4 . Provided always that nothing in this act Tenements 
 
 ^ excluded. 
 
 contained shall apply to any of the following from opera- 
 . , tion of Act. 
 
 tenements : 
 
 10 1. Tenements situated within the boundaries 
 
 of any municipal city, town, or borough, 
 or within the boundaries of any par¬ 
 liamentary borough. 
 
 2. Tenements consisting in part of houses or 
 
 15 buildings of any description, where the 
 
 value of such houses or buildings shall 
 be equal to one half the value of the 
 entire tenement. 
 
 3. Tenements consisting in part of any 
 
 20 dwelling house with out-offices, gardens, 
 
 plantations, or ornamental pleasure 
 grounds, where the value of all or any 
 of the same together, shall be equal to 
 one half the value of the entire tene- 
 
 25 ments. 
 
 4. Tenements which shall within ten years 
 
 previously have been been bona fide held 
 
Occupiers 
 of agricultu¬ 
 ral tenements 
 entitled to 
 claim benefit 
 of act. 
 
 16 Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 and occupied by the owner of any estate, 
 or anyone for him, residing in the accus¬ 
 tomed manor house or family mansion 
 belonging to such estate, as part of 
 the demesne lands appertaining to such 5 
 manor or mansion house, and in relation 
 to which a claim to the benefit of this 
 act shall be asserted against the will of 
 the persons representing the estate of 
 the owner of such mansion house. 10 
 
 And no occupier of such tenement included 
 in any of the above four classes shall be en¬ 
 titled to claim the benefit of this act .—{Note 2.) 
 
 5 . Except as above excepted, the occupier 
 of every agricultural tenement in Ireland, who 15 
 shall at the time of commencing his proceedings 
 have been, by himself or any one through whom 
 he claims, in occupation of such tenement for a 
 period of three years, shall be entitled to claim 
 the benefit of this act within the period herein- 20 
 before limited, whether he shall hold as tenant 
 from year to year, or for lives or years, or 
 shall occupy the same as overholding tenant, 
 or by any other tenure whatsoever, and no 
 contract or agreement of any nature or kind 25, 
 whatsoever, heretofore made or hereafter to be 
 made, shall be valid or effectual to prevent the 
 occupier of any such tenement claiming the 
 
Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 17 
 
 % 
 
 benefit of this act, but every such contract 
 or agreement, so far as interferes with, or is 
 inconsistent with, the provisions of this act, 
 shall be null and void .—(Note 3.) 
 
 5 6, The person who shall be the occupier Occupier may 
 
 of an agricultural tenement in Ireland within pr™edings 
 the period hereinbefore limited, and who shall 
 desire to obtain the benefit of this act, shall 
 cornmence his proceedings by serving a notice 
 10 in the form or to the purport and effect in the 
 schedule to this act, annexed set forth, and it 
 shall be sufficient to serve such notice upon the 
 person from whom the occupier shall hold such 
 tenement as tenant, or upon the known agent 
 15 or receiver of such person, and service of such 
 notice shall be made in the same way as is by 
 law directed in the case of service of civil bill 
 ejectment. 
 
 7 . The service of any such notice shall Service of 
 
 notice to stop 
 
 20 operate and be effectual as a bar to and stay of proceedings 
 all proceedings, brought by any person what¬ 
 ever, to evict the interest in the tenement of 
 the person serving same, and in the case of any 
 ejectment, whether brought in the superior 
 25 courts, or in any inferior court, it shall be lawful 
 for any judge of the superior courts, or the 
 judge of such inferior court, upon proof by 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 affidavit of the service of such notice, to order 
 either that such ejectment shall be stayed, or 
 that same shall proceed without prejudice to 
 the rights of the occupier to be established in 
 any proceeding under the notice so served, and 5 
 after the service of such notice, and until same 
 shall be finally determined, no process or execu¬ 
 tion shall issue to disturb such occupier in 
 possession of such tenement, and all proceedings 
 in ejectment shall be subject to any right which 10 • 
 the occupier may establish to a term of years 
 in the said tenement under this act. 
 
 Service of 8 . Every such notice shall be served at 
 least one calendar month before the sessions at 
 which the application mentioned in same is to 15 
 be heard, and such notice shall be given of any 
 civil bill court for the division of the county in 
 which the tenements mentioned in same are 
 situated. 
 
 Occupiers to 9 * Every person who shall be at the time of 20 
 hoid^for the service of such notice, the occupier of an 
 years. agricultural tenement entitled to claim the 
 benefit of this act, shall be entitled upon service 
 of the said notice to hold the said tenement for 
 a term of sixty-three years at the rent and 25 
 subject to the conditions hereinafter mentioned. 
 
Fixity of Tenure, 
 
 19 
 
 10 . Every such notice served for any sessions Notice to be 
 for any division of a county, shall be in all to CM Bill 
 respects treated as a civil bill process to be heard 
 
 at such sessions, and shall, except as herein 
 5 otherwise provided, be subject to the rules and 
 regulations provided for the hearing of civil bill 
 processes, except that the Clerk of the Peace 
 shall make out a separate list of all such notices, 
 and same shall be first called on and disposed of, 
 
 10 unless the chairman shall in any case otherwise 
 direct. 
 
 11 . The chairman shall have power upon Chairman’s 
 the hearing of any such notice, and whether any 
 person shall appear to oppose same or not, to 
 
 15 adjourn the hearing, of the same, from day to 
 day, or from sessions to sessions, and to direct any 
 notices to be served upon any person, and to call 
 for any evidence as in his discretion he shall see 
 fit, and he shall hear all persons interested who 
 20 shall appear before him, whether they have been 
 served with notice or not .—{Note 4.) 
 
 12 . The rent to be paid by the occupier Calcuktion 
 serving the notice should be calculated as fol¬ 
 lows : that is to say, an estimate shall be made 
 
 25 of the full and rackrent value at which such 
 tenement would let on lease for seven years 
 free of all taxes whatsoever, and there shall be 
 
20 
 
 Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 deducted from such estimated value one-third 
 thereof, and the remaining two-thirds shall be 
 the rent to be paid by the occupier for same.— 
 {Note 5.) 
 
 General 13 . If the occupier shall be willing to accept 
 
 be^adopted^ the value fixed upon the tenement by the 
 ed^t^ general valuation, he shall so state in his notice, 
 and unless the landlord or some other party in¬ 
 terested shall object thereto, the rent shall be 
 fixed at such valuation. 
 
 Proceeding 14 . If the landlord or any other person in- 
 oppSion. terested shall appear before the chairman, and 
 object that the person claiming as occupier is 
 not entitled to the benefit of this act, the chair¬ 
 man shall hear evidence on such objection, and 
 shall make such order then as to him shall appear 
 to be just, and any order he shall make, shall, 
 unless appealed from as hereinafter mentioned, 
 be conclusive as to such right. 
 
 Power to 15, Before deciding upon such right, or 
 
 ness^s^and * upon the amouut of rent to be fixed, the chair- 
 him^partler^ man may examine the applicant and all other 
 interested, persons who may appear before him, to ascertain 
 the persons interested in such land, and in any 
 case in which it shall appear to him that the 
 immediate lessor is not the owner in fee of such 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 25 
 
Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 21 
 
 lands, he shall, if in his discretion he shall so 
 think fit, adjourn the determination of any such 
 question, either as to right or value, to give any 
 other parties interested an opportunity of ap- 
 5 pearing before him. 
 
 16 . If the chairman either upon the appear- 
 ance of the landlord, or in case of no appear¬ 
 ance, is satisfied of the right of the occupier to 
 the benefit of this act, he shall proceed to fix 
 
 10 the rent at which he shall hold, and shall fix 
 the rent either at the value fixed by the poor 
 law valuation, or at such other rent as may 
 be fixecl by mutual agreement, or in case of 
 no agreement, or in any case whatever in which 
 15 the chairman shall think it expedient, at such 
 rent as may be fixed in the manner hereinafter 
 mentioned. 
 
 17 . The judges of assizes at the first assizes 
 
 „ - . _ . Assize to 
 
 alter this act for each county in Ireland, appoint 
 20 and at every subsequent assizes, shall by an 
 entry in the crown book appoint for each barony 
 in the county, at least one fit and proper person 
 to act as valuator of such barony under this 
 act—they may appoint one person to act for one 
 25 or more baronies as they shall see fit; every 
 valuator so appointed, shall hold his office until 
 some new appointment is made ; he shall be an 
 
22 
 
 Fixity of Tenure, 
 
 officer of tlie civil bill court, and of the court of 
 assize, and shall be in all respects subject to the 
 summary jurisdiction of such courts, and either 
 of them; he shall attend, either personally or 
 by deputy, upon each of said courts, and do all 5 
 such acts in the execution of this act as he shall 
 be ordered, either by the chairman or by the 
 judge of assize .—{Note 6.) 
 
 Valuators to 
 inspect and 
 value. 
 
 18 . In every case in which it will be neces¬ 
 sary to value the tenement, the valuator shall, 10 
 by himself, or some sufficient deputy, visit, in¬ 
 spect, and value the same. He shall make an 
 estimate of the full rackrent value of such 
 tenement, according to the rule hereinbefore 
 laid down, and shall certify same under his 15 
 hand to the chairman; he may make such valua¬ 
 tion either before the hearing of the notice 
 upon the requisition of either party, or after 
 same shall be first heard, upon the order of the 
 chairman, and he shall if required attend himself, 20 
 and also cause any person employed by him to 
 attend either before the chairman or judge of 
 assize to be examined on oath on all matters 
 touching such valuation. 
 
 Valuations to Every such valuation so made by the 25 
 
 be binding. ^ ... 
 
 valuator shall be 'prima facie binding upon all 
 parties, but any party entitled to be heard, shall 
 
Fixity oj Tenure. 
 
 23 
 
 be at liberty to impeach same by evidence before 
 the chairman, and the chairman, if satisfied that 
 same is erroneous, shall fix the rent to be paid 
 for the tenement according to his own judgment 
 5 of its value from the evidence adduced before him. 
 
 20 . When the chairman shall have finally Declaration 
 
 TT 1 1 *1 PI T tenancy to 
 
 adjudicated upon the right of the applicant to be made, 
 obtain the benefit of this act, and also upon the 
 amount of rent to be paid, he shall, unless an 
 10 appeal is taken as hereinafter mentioned, make 
 and sign a declaration of tenancy in the form in 
 the schedule to this act annexed, and he shall 
 sign same in triplicate, one part to be delivered 
 to the tenant, one other to be delivered to the 
 15 landlord, and one other to be kept by the clerk 
 of the peace, among the records of the county. 
 
 21 . Every such declaration of tenancy shall 
 be subject to the four following conditions on 
 the part of the tenant:— 
 
 20 First—To pay the rent reserved by such declara¬ 
 tion in two even half-yearly payments, on 
 every 1st day of May and 1st day of Novem¬ 
 ber. 
 
 Second—To commit no waste, and not to use 
 25 the lands in an improper or unhusbandlike 
 
 manner. 
 
24 
 
 Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 Assignments 
 contrary to 
 conditions to 
 be void. 
 
 Resisting or 
 breach of 
 conditions. 
 
 Third—To maintain and keep all buildings, 
 fences, and improvements upon such lands in 
 good and tenantlike repair. 
 
 Fourth—Not to let, assign, or dispose of such 
 tenement, or any part thereof, so as to sub- 5 
 divide the same, without the consent in writing 
 of the landlord .—{Note 7.) 
 
 22 . Every assignment, letting, or disposition 
 made in violation of the fourth condition shall be 
 absolutely void for all purposes except that of 10 
 creating a forfeiture under this act. To create 
 such forfeiture it shall be sufficient to show that 
 the tenement has been in fact subdivided by 
 being in fact occupied by different persons, con¬ 
 trary to the true intent and meaning of this act. 15 
 
 23 . In the case of a breach by the tenant of 
 
 any of these four conditions, the person entitled 
 to the lessor’s interest shall be entitled to enter 
 as for condition broken, and shall be entitled to 
 all remedies to which the reversioner was entitled 20 
 for recovery of lands for condition broken at 
 common law, but to no other; and every entry 
 made, or ejectment brought, to recover possession 
 for the breach of any of the said conditions, shall 
 be subject to the following rules:— 25 
 
 First—No entry shall be made, or ejectment 
 
Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 25 
 
 brought as for a forfeiture for non-payment of 
 rent, until one whole year s rent shall be in 
 arrear and unpaid for the space of three 
 months. 
 
 5 In ejectment for non-payment of rent, no re¬ 
 demption shall be allowed. Before possession 
 is actually taken, all proceedings shall be 
 stayed upon payment or tender of the rent 
 and all costs incurred ; this may be enforced 
 10 by a court of equity, or by order made on 
 motion in a summary way to the court in 
 which the ejectment shall be pending. 
 
 In the case of an ejectment for breach of any of 
 the other three conditions, the jury or judge 
 15 before whom the case is tried shall assess such 
 damages for breach of the conditions as to 
 them shall seem just, and the judge before 
 whom the case is tried shall, if he think fit, 
 stay execution for three months, and in that 
 20 case it shall be lawful for any judge of the 
 court in which such ejectment shall be brought, 
 or for any court of equity, on the application 
 of the tenant, and on payment of such damages 
 and all costs, and on proof that the breach of 
 25 condition complained of no longer exists, to 
 order that no further proceedings be taken on 
 said ejectment, and no forfeiture of the interest 
 shall arise by reason of any such breach of 
 condition. 
 
26 
 
 Fixity of Tenure, 
 
 No breach of the fourth condition shall be deemed 
 to be committed by any letting in con-acre, 
 pasturage, or meadowing, nor by any letting 
 of a labourer’s cottage to any labourer or 
 workman actually employed upon the premises, 5 
 nor by any letting of a furnished house. 
 
 Declaration 24 . Except where otherwise herein provided, 
 equivalent to declaration of tenancy shall have the same 
 leases. effect to all intents and purposes as if the lessor 
 
 and lessee therein named had signed a lease 10 
 containing the demise and the covenants and 
 conditions therein mentioned. 
 
 25 . Unless it shall be specially agreed to the 
 contrary, any such declaration of tenancy shall 
 be deemed to contain a reservation to the lessor 15 
 of all timber growing on the demised premises, 
 and also of all royalties, mines, minerals, and 
 quarries, with liberty to the lessor to enter on 
 the premises for the purposes of digging and 
 searching for mines and minerals, making full 20 
 compensation to the tenant for any injury done 
 in such digging and searching; it shall be also 
 deemed to include a reservation to the lessor of 
 a right of entering on the premises by himself, 
 his servants, or licence for the purposes of sport- 25 
 ing or in pursuit of game, making in like manner 
 full compensation for any actual injury done to 
 the tenant by such entry. 
 
Fixity of Tenure, 
 
 27 
 
 26 . The declaration of tenancy shall he con- Declaration 
 elusive as against all persons whatsoever, of rights^of all 
 the right of the tenant to hold the tenement for 
 the term and at the rent therein mentioned, and 
 5 the term thereby created shall bind all interests 
 in said lands. But all parties claiming any 
 interest in such lands shall and may assert their 
 title subject to such term in the same manner 
 as they might have done if no such declaration 
 10 of tenancy had been made, and the term thereby 
 created shall not beabar to any ejectment brought 
 to recover such lands by any person claiming the 
 lessor’s interest, subject to such term, nor shall 
 it invalidate or affect, or be invalidated or affected, 
 
 15 by any surrender of any lease or interest in said 
 lands, but the rents reserved in such declaration 
 shall be payable to, and the conditions contained 
 therein shall enure to the benefit of the person 
 entitled to the immediate ownership of such lands 
 20 for the time being, subject to such term. 
 
 27 . Nothing herein contained shall take ?^^^sdiction 
 
 . . ‘r. . ^ cases of 
 
 away the jurisdiction of a court of equity to set fraud. 
 
 aside any such declaration of tenancy, where 
 
 same shall be obtained by fraud, or to declare 
 
 25 any person who shall obtain such declaration of 
 
 title, to be a trustee for any person who may be 
 
 really entitled to the lessee’s interest in such 
 
 lands. 
 
28 
 
 Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 Provision for 28 . If in any case the lessor shall desire 
 
 rent. that provision shall be made for the variation of 
 
 the rent reserved in the declaration of tenancy, 
 the chairman shall insert in such declaration a 
 list of articles of farm produce, generally the 5 
 produce of the neighbourhood, and shall affix to 
 each such price as with the aid of the valuator 
 he shall ascertain to have been the average price 
 of same in the markets in the vicinity of the 
 lands, such list to contain not less than three, and 10 
 not more than six, of the articles, the price of 
 which shall in the opinion of the chairman most 
 influence the value of such lands. 
 
 Orders may 29 . Every order made by any chairman 
 
 Idg d''oi30d/l0d • 
 
 from. shall be subject to an appeal, if the party com- 15 
 plaining of same shall, in open court, at any time 
 ' before the signing of the declaration of tenancy, 
 give notice of appeal, and thereupon the clerk 
 shall enter in his book such notice, and shall, on 
 the first day of the subsequent assizes, give a list 20 
 of all such appeals to the registrar of the judge, 
 who shall, without any further or other notice, 
 hear all such appeals in the same manner as 
 appeals upon civil ejectments are now heard; 
 and upon the hearing of such appeal the judge 25 
 of assize shall have and exercise all the juris¬ 
 diction hereinbefore given to the chairman, and 
 shall either finally dispose of the case, or remit 
 
Fixity of Tenure. 29 
 
 the same to the chairman with such directions as 
 he shall see fit; and in case he shall adjudge the 
 occupier entitled to the benefit of this act, he shall 
 either sign the declaration of tenancy himself, 
 
 5 or remit same to be signed by the chairman. 
 
 30. Both the chairman and the judge on Costs may 
 
 1*11 ini 11 given. 
 
 appeal in the last resort shall have full power to 
 order and direct the costs of all or any of the 
 proceedings to be paid by such persons appearing 
 10 before them, or either of them, as he may think 
 fit. 
 
 31 . In estimating the full rack-rent value 
 of any tenement, neither the valuator nor the 
 chairman, or judge, if his valuation be impeached, valuation!^ 
 15 shall include in same any increase in the value 
 thereof arising from any drainage, reclamation, 
 or embankment from the sea or any river, or any 
 erection of farm, outhouse, or office buildings, or 
 any permanent agricultural improvements, as 
 20 specified under the provisions of an act passed 
 in the session of parliament held in the tenth 
 and eleventh years of the reign of her present 
 Majesty, chapter 82, section 4, so far as same 
 shall have been made or executed by the 
 25 occupier, or any person through whom he 
 claims, during his or their tenancy of such 
 tenement .—{Note 8.) 
 
80 
 
 Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 Fees to Clerk 32 . Before any declaration of tenancy shall 
 of the Peace. the clerk of the peace shall he paid 
 
 by and receive from the tenant entitled to 
 same, the following fees :— 
 
 For the clerk of the peace for signing 
 same, ... 
 
 For the valuator, in every case in which 
 he has valued a tenement, upon each 
 pound or portion of a pound to which 
 the tenement was valued in the poor 
 law valuation,... 
 
 In every case in which the tenant requires 
 the valuator to make any allowance in 
 the value of improvements under 
 section 30, an additional sum on each 
 one pound or portion of a pound of ... 
 
 And upon delivering each declaration of 
 tenancy, either to the lessor or lessee, 
 he shall further charge an ad valorem 
 duty, to be affixed by way of stamp, of 
 one shilling upon every pound of the 
 annual rent reserved in such decla¬ 
 ration. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 5 
 
 2 6 
 
 10 
 
 0 6 
 
 15 
 
 0 6 
 
 20 
 
 Printed 
 forms to be 
 provided. 
 
 33 . The clerk of the peace shall provide 
 so many printed forms of notice as may 25 
 be necessary, and shall leave same for sale 
 with the clerks of petty sessions and at other 
 
Fixity of Tenure, 
 
 31 
 
 convenient places ; lie shall supply for the use of 
 the court so many printed forms of declarations 
 of title as may be necessary at each sessions ; he 
 shall defray all expenses of printing, and all 
 5 other expenses incidental to this act, out of the 
 funds received for sale of notices and stamp 
 duties on declaration of tenancy, and shall hand 
 over the residue to the valuator of each barony 
 as a remuneration for his general services. In 
 10 all such matters the clerk of the peace shall act 
 under the control and directions of the chairman, 
 and be subject to his summary jurisdiction. 
 
 34 . No proceeding under this act shall No proce^d- 
 be defeated, delayed, or held invalid for any bjfrSIon of 
 15 formal or technical defect, and the signing of^efeS!^^^ 
 the declaration of tenancy by the chairman or 
 .judge shall be in all courts and for all purposes, 
 conclusive proof that all preliminaries necessary 
 to give the chairman or judge jurisdiction were 
 20 complied with. 
 
 35 . Whenever there shall be inserted in Provision for 
 any declaration of tenancy under this act a rent, 
 list of articles of agricultural produce, with the ■ 
 prices annexed, the rent reserved may be varied 
 25 as follows: 
 
 At any time after the expiration of seven years. 
 
32 
 
 Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 either the person paying or the person receiving 
 the rent, may, if he shall so think fit, proceed 
 by civil bill process to be served in all respects 
 in the same manner as the original notice under 
 this act to obtain a variation of rent, and all 
 the proceedings shall be subject to the same 
 rules as to hearing and appeal and otherwise as 
 the original proceedings under this act, and 
 thereupon the chairman shall enquire into the 
 average prices of the articles so mentioned in 
 the market nearest to the lands for three years 
 preceding, and if the aggregate of such prices 
 shall exceed or fall short of the aggregate of 
 prices mentioned in the declaration, he shall 
 make an order increasing or reducing the rent 
 in the same proportion, and the rent so fixed by 
 the chairman, or by the judge of appeal, shall 
 be the rent payable for such tenement for seven 
 years from the date of such order, and thence¬ 
 forth until upon another application to be made 
 and heard in the same way, such rent shall be 
 further varied. 
 
 Provided always, that the chairman shall not 
 include in the three years of which the average 
 is to be taken, any year in which an unusually 
 high price of agricultural produce should be 
 caused by blight, blast, or an unusually deficient 
 crop .—{Note 9.) 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 25 
 
Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 33 
 
 SCHEDULE. 
 
 {FORM OF NOTICE.) 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I hereby give you notice that I will, at the next ensuing 
 Civil Bill Court to be held at 
 
 for the Division of in this County, 
 
 on 
 
 apply to the Chairman presiding at said Court, for a Declaration of 
 Tenancy, under the Fixity of Tenure Act, Ireland, 1867, for the 
 following premises, that is to say :— 
 
 {Describe Premises.) 
 
 {Add the following when suitable.) 
 
 I further apprise you that I am willing to accept the sum fixed by 
 the General Valuation of Ireland as the proper rent to be paid by 
 me for said premises. 
 
 A. B., 
 
 Occupier of said premises. 
 
 To C. D., the Landlord of said 
 premises, and all others whom 
 it may concern. 
 
 C 
 
84 
 
 Fixity of Tenure. 
 
 DECLARATION OF TENANCY. 
 
 I, (Chairman or Judge), 
 
 pursuant to the provisions of the Fixity of Tenure Act, 
 Ireland, 1867, do hereby declare and adjudge that A. B., 
 of . 
 
 is entitled to hold the following premises as tenant to C. D., or 
 such other person as may be lawfully entitled in that behalf, for a 
 term of 63 years, at a rent of £ by the year, 
 
 subject to the conditions, reservations, and provisions in the said 
 act mentioned and contained, that is to say:— 
 
 {Describe the Premises.) 
 
 {Add the following if required.) 
 
 And at the desire of the Owner (Lessor) I hereby declare that 
 the prices of the following articles of agricultural produce in the 
 market of are for the purpose 
 
 of fixing said rent, to be deemed and taken to be as follows, that is 
 to say:— 
 
 Hay, 
 
 Wheat, 
 
 Butter, 
 
 Oats, 
 
 Flax, 
 
 J. B., Clerk of the Peace. 
 
 A. B., Chairman 4 
 
^Tote 1 {Clause 2)_The effect of this clause would be that after ten 
 
 years, or, indeed, after seven or eight years, the letting of land in Ireland 
 would be left entirely free from any restrictions either as to tenure or to 
 ’rent. In the intervening period it is to be presumed that all existing 
 occupiers would have acquired the interest conferred upon them by the Act. 
 These interests would, of course, continue in force for the term for which 
 they were originally granted, and all future dealings in land would be 
 left free. Within these ten years the circumstances which make such 
 legislation necessary would probably have passed away. 
 
 Note 2 (Clause 4 )_I have already observed, in the Introduction, that 
 
 this clause is intended to protect the interest of the proprietor by limiting 
 the application of this Act to any but strictly agricultural tenements. 
 The object is to exclude villa residences, holdings the chief value of which 
 consists of buildings, mill works, trade stores, or the like. I believe the 
 clause, as drawn, would fairly fix the line; but this is just one of the points 
 on which I cannot pretend to have attained to perfect accuracy in details. 
 The exception of demesne lands is obviously fair and just. No person 
 taking such lands ever expected his holding of them to be more than 
 temporary. The exception ought to be extended to glebe lands, and 
 possibly to some other cases of which I have not thought. I inserted the 
 clause to indicate that I only propose to confer fixity of tenure upon a 
 tenant in these cases in which, were Ireland a really settled country, he 
 might have a reasonable expectation that he never would be disturbed. 
 
 Note 3 (Clause 5 )_The effect of this would be that for the next seven 
 
 or eight years no one could let any agricultural tenement in Ireland without 
 giving his tenant a title to acquire the term conferred by the Act. In fact, 
 it would turn all lettings heretofore made, and all to be made for the next 
 
36 
 
 seven or eight years, into leases for 63 years, at a rent equivalent to that 
 generally fixed by the General Valuation of Ireland. 
 
 Note 4 {Clause 11) —In considering these clauses it must be remem¬ 
 bered that nothing can be more simple than the questions which would 
 arise. 
 
 If the tenement be an agricultural tenement, and the rent reserved be 
 the rent intended by this Act, it is not possible for any injustice to be 
 done to any person interested in the lessor’s title to the lands. The only 
 way in which the interest of an absent proprietor could be prejudiced 
 would be if the rent were fixed too low, or the Act applied to holdings 
 for which it was not intended. I believe that the provisions contained in 
 the bill would be perfectly sufficient to guard against either injustice 
 being done. It would be necessary to determine nothing whatever as to 
 the lessor’s title, and no person claiming the land could be prejudiced. 
 The chairman would merely decide that the tenant was entitled to hold 
 the land for sixty-three years, at a certain rent. That rent would be 
 payable to the rightful owner of the land, whoever he might be. 
 
 There would not, therefore, be any determination of title, as is the case 
 of the Landed Estates’ Court, requiring the proceedings to be guarded 
 by notices to the public. All that the tribunal would have to look to 
 would be to see that no absent proprietor was defrauded, by fixing too 
 low a rent, or by applying the Act to a holding not an agricultural one. 
 It is scarcely within the limits of possibility that either fraud could be 
 successfully practised in the proceeding adopted in the bill. If, contrary 
 to all probability, such a fraud were successful, by collusion between the 
 occupier and any other person, power is reserved by Clause 26 to set 
 aside the proceedings. 
 
 Neither is it necessary to inquire into the title of the occupier If he is 
 not the person really entitled, under the same clause he acquires the term 
 for the person who really is. All that is to be done under the Act is to 
 declare that as between the landlord and the tenant a lease of sixty-three 
 years exists, at a certain rent. Nothing is concluded which bars the 
 right of any one who claims either the landlord’s or the tenant’s interest 
 in that lease. For such a proceeding the guards provided are amply 
 sufficient. 
 
 In the great majority of instances there would be no question whatever 
 for the chairman to decide. The general valuation would not often be 
 
37 
 
 disputed. When it is not so, the whole proceeding would be almost one 
 of course. 
 
 Note 5 (^Clause 12).—This is the principle upon which the general 
 valuation of Ireland has been made. 
 
 Note 6 (Clause 17)—I have preferred proposing to vest the appoint¬ 
 ment of the valuators In the judges at the assizes rather than in the Lord 
 Lieutenant or in any Government department. 
 
 Note 7 (Clause 21).—These and the following clauses contain provi¬ 
 sions of the utmost importance. They determine the conditions on which 
 the tenant is to have the benefits conferred upon him by the bill. 
 
 The first and most obvious condition is the punctual payment of the 
 rent. If he fails In this, the farm^ with all the improvements which the 
 tenant may have made upon it^ become the property of the landlord. Under 
 the present law the landlord is entitled to recover possession when a year’s 
 rent is in arrear. He is, however, encumbered by the provision which 
 enables the tenant within six months after possession is taken to redeem 
 his interest by payment of the rent and costs. I propose to abolish the 
 privilege of redemption. In lieu of it I propose to give a period of three 
 months after the year’s rent has accrued before the ejectment can be 
 brought. I am quite sure that this would be a great advantage to the 
 landlord. The abolition of this privilege, which really makes the land¬ 
 lord’s recovery useless to him for six months, would simplify the relations 
 of landlord and tenant, and expedite and enforce the landlord’s remedy 
 for the recovery of his rent. I venture to think the effect of the bill 
 would be that no tenant would ever permit a year’s rent to remain in 
 arrear. 
 
 I also propose that the tenant should also retain the benefits of this 
 act only on condition that he proves himself an industrious and improving 
 tenant. There might, however, be a great hardship in strictly enforcing 
 a forfeiture incurred by breaches of the three remaining conditions. I 
 therefore propose that, against a forfeiture so incurred the tenant may 
 relieve himself by payment of a pecuniary penalty, and by observing the 
 condition for the future. This would, I believe, be perfectly sufficient to 
 ensure the observance of the conditions by the tenant, or in the event of 
 his continued non-observance of them, to insure his eviction. 
 
38 
 
 The effect of all these conditions combined would be, that no tenant 
 could really retain an interest under the act unless he were moderately 
 punctual in payment of his rent, and were also an improving tenant. 
 Every tenant would be stimulated to punctuality and industry, because he 
 would know that upon the exhibition of these qualities depended his 
 retention of that which is now so dear to the Irish peasant—his tenure 
 of the land. The very feeling which now makes him disloyal and discon- 
 contented, would then be arrayed in favour of settled habits of order and 
 industry. 
 
 It wiU be seen that I propose to leave the landlord the absolute power 
 of prohibiting subdivision. On the whole, I think he ought to retain this 
 power. It is a portion of his “ absolute dominion” which may be exer¬ 
 cised without any grievous injury to the public—although in many cases 
 it may press very hardly upon individuals. I therefore do not propose to 
 take it from him. 
 
 Let me say, however, as to the conditions embodied in these clauses, 
 as I do as to many other of the details of the measures I propose—they 
 must be considered as little more than tentative. I propose them as the 
 provisions which occur to me, with limited means of information, as the 
 fairest and the best. It would be extreme presumption, indeed, in me 
 to say that they may not admit of alteration and improvement to a very 
 considerable extent. 
 
 If we could see the day—I for one do not despair of seeing it—^when 
 the landlords of Ireland would assent to the principle of a measure which 
 would secure to every occupier of the soil a substantial interest in his 
 holding at a rent equivalent to the real value of his farm—provided in all 
 other respects the proprietary rights of the landlord were protected and 
 enforced—I am confident that a joint committee of landlords and tenants 
 would have no difliculty in settling on this basis the details of a measure 
 which would give peace and prosperity to Ireland. 
 
 I have also to add, as I have already stated in the Introduction, that I 
 retain the manorial rights of the landlord only because he has them now. 
 
 I framed the bill, not with the object of changing the law of landlord 
 and tenant as it now exists, but with the view of giving to every tenant 
 fixity of tenure under the law as it now stands. 
 
 Any changes that may be expedient in that law are an object for separate 
 consideration, and are not fit for introduction into a measure which should 
 only aim at giving the tenant fixity of tenure. 
 
39 
 
 Note 8 (^Clause 31) —This clause is copied from the General Valua¬ 
 tion Act. 
 
 * Improvements of the nature specified in the clause are not valued for 
 the purpose of rating. Adhering to the principle of adopting the general 
 valuation as the basis of the rent, where the tenant has effected them, they 
 
 > ought not to be valued against him. 
 
 I am bound to say that the instances in which the tenant would derive 
 any benefit from this provision would be very rare. 
 
 Those who will read the “retrospective improvement clause” of the 
 bill introduced by Lord Derby’s Government in 1852, will see that an 
 advocate of the tenant would have high authority for claiming much more 
 for the occupier who has effected real and permanent improvements in his 
 farm. In strict justice, the tenant who has increased the letting value of 
 his farm by the expenditure of his industry or money, ought not to pay 
 an increased rent on account of the value he has so added. 
 
 The advantage, however, even to such a tenant of getting a lease for 63 
 years at the Ordnance Valuation would be so immense, that he might 
 safely waive, in consideration of obtaining it, all claim for his improve¬ 
 ments. I have thought it better not to encumber his plain and simple 
 claim to fixity of tenure by one for compensation for improvements, which 
 would always introduce an element of embarrassment and uncertainty in 
 the settlement of the terms of his lease. 
 
 I do not, however, recede from a single sentence I have written 
 as to the moral and equitable right of the tenant to assert the claim 
 for compensation for improvements, which I have shown that ministers 
 and parliaments have solemnly recognized. To deny him that claim 
 is simply to rob him by the operation of law. But, I believe, he 
 may well compromise that claim for the fixity of tenure which an act 
 such as I propose would give him. If the law permits the power of 
 arbitrary evictions, and still denies compensation for improvements, it 
 legalizes—it cannot justify—spoliation and wrong. 
 
 ** Note 9 (Clause 35) —In the introduction I have fully explained the 
 
 object of these clauses. 
 
 The custom of tenant right in Ulster, even when observed in its most 
 
 * stringent integrity, permits a revaluation of farms and a variation in the 
 rent, according to the altered circumstances of the times—a revaluation. 
 
40 
 
 however, from which the improvements effected by the tenants are rigidly 
 excluded. 
 
 A variation of the rent upon the principle suggested in these clauses 
 approaches as near to this equitable readjustment as it is possible for any 
 legal provision to do. 
 
QUERIES, 
 
 PROPOSED FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF ALL WHO 
 DESIRE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF 
 IRELAND’S SOCIAL CONDITION. 
 
 1. —“Whether it would be an intolerable grievance to the land¬ 
 lords of Ireland if a legislative enactment found them tenants who 
 would punctually pay, as rent, the full value of their holdings, and 
 who would be constantly improving their farms, even though it 
 were a condition that such tenants should hold by a lease for a 
 good term of years ? ” 
 
 2. —Whether a Tipperary landlord would be utterly ruined if 
 his estate could be all at once transformed into an estate of 
 equal rental in the County Down; an estate on which he would 
 have a thriving, industrious, and contented tenantry—punctually 
 paying their rents and living at peace with their landlord, even 
 though he were compelled to recognize the Ulster custom of tenant 
 right ? 
 
 3. —^Whether it would utterly destroy the comfort and happiness 
 of such a landlord and his famUy, if they felt perfectly sure that 
 not a tenant on the estate would ever dream of shooting his land¬ 
 lord from behind a hedge ? 
 
 4. —Whether it would amount to a confiscation of a landlord’s 
 property to increase the selling value of his estate from twenty 
 years to thirty years’ purchase ? 
 
 5. —Whether the people of every country have not a right to 
 live upon its soil, and whether, in stocking a country with in¬ 
 habitants, bullocks and sheep ought to have the preference over 
 men? 
 
42 
 
 6.—Whether it be a conclusive proof of the prosperity of a 
 country that every man, w^oman, and child who can run away 
 from it does so ? 
 
 7*—Whether a community that have nothing to live upon but 
 their agricultural produce are made richer by laws which take 
 away from the cultivators of the soil every inducement to increase 
 that produce ? 
 
 8. —Whether an Irish occupier who is kept by his landlord 
 under perpetual notice to quit is not really in the condition of a 
 serf, and whether England has not interfered to place the Indian 
 ryots in a better position than such a serf ? 
 
 9. —Whether there be any just reason why an Irish tenant 
 farmer should be less worthy of protection and consideration than 
 a Hindoo ryot ? 
 
 10. —Whether the King of Prussia would have won the battle 
 of Sadowa, if Stein and Hardenberg had not altered the Prussian 
 land laws ? 
 
 11. —Whether any good landlord ever desires capriciously to 
 evict a tenant, or to exact from him an extortionate rent, and 
 whether it is desirable that a bad landlord should have the power 
 of doing so ? 
 
 12. —Whether a man who has no security that he will enjoy the 
 fruits of his industry is as likely to be industrious as one who 
 knows that he is sure to reap the fruits of his toil ? 
 
 13. —Whether it be not high time that the Irish land question 
 should cease to be the disgrace of British legislation throughout 
 the whole civilized world? 
 
 14. —Whether England would be really diminished in her 
 strength and power among nations if every Irishman were an 
 attached and loyal subject of the British Crown? 
 
 15. —Whether a good thing may not be purchased at too dear 
 a rate ? whether this principle does not apply even to Irish land¬ 
 lords? and whether England may not be paying too high a price 
 for Irish landlords in the disaffection and hatred of the L'ish race ? 
 
 16. —Whether, when a whole people are disaffected to their 
 
43 
 
 Government, this ought justly to be called the treason of the 
 people to the Government, or the treason of the Government to the 
 
 * people ? 
 
 17. —^Whether England would be in the same condition as she 
 is now if Louis XIV. had conquered William III., and made 
 
 * England a province of France ? if the French King had further 
 confiscated the property of the kingdom, and parcelled it among 
 officers and soldiers of the French army, in satisfaction of arrears 
 of pay, and if the descendants of these new French proprietors 
 insisted at the present day on a power of turning out their English 
 tenantry whenever they pleased ? 
 
 18. —Whether the discontent which Englishmen might feel at 
 such a state of things would have been diminished or increased if 
 penal laws had been passed against all English Protestants ? if all 
 political power had been exclusively confined to French Poman 
 Catholics ? if the native Protestant population had been excluded 
 from every place and office, and from the acquisition of any freehold 
 interest in land ? and if a large force of French soldiers had been 
 always kept in the kingdom for the purpose of enforcing the rents 
 payable to the French proprietors ? 
 
 19. —Whether it can reasonably be concluded that an Irish 
 peasant was created for any other purpose than that of making the 
 rent for his landlord? and, if so, whether in any legislation affecting 
 him any other object of his existence ought to be taken into 
 account ? 
 
 20. —^Whether, if 50,000 English tenants had been evicted in 
 the year 1849 the English land laws would have continued, in the 
 year 1850, unchanged? 
 
 21. —Whether if tenant right be a good thing in Ulster it might 
 
 r not be worth while to try the experiment of extending it to the 
 
 rest of Ireland ? 
 
 22. —Whether Belfast would be as great a town as it is if the 
 
 ^ tenure of land by the occupier were as insecure in Antrim as it is 
 
 in Tipperary? 
 
 23. —Whether want of self-reliance be not imputed as a fault 
 
44 
 
 to the Irish people, and whether the true way to make people self- 
 reliant be not to give them the opportunity of doing something for 
 themselves ? 
 
 24. —^Whether there be any country calling itself civilized, on the 
 face of the globe, except Ireland, in which the occupiers of the 
 soil are not protected against arbitrary evictions, either by the 
 circumstances of the country, by custom, or by law ? 
 
 25. —Whether the practical condition of land tenure in Ireland 
 be not the very worst in Europe ? 
 
 26. —Whether large sums have not been expended from the 
 Exchequer of the United Kingdom in keeping down or suppressing 
 disturbances originating in the present system of land tenure in 
 Ireland, and whether these sums might not have been more 
 profitably employed in removing the causes of discontent ? 
 
 27. —^Whether England has not in such unprofitable expenditure 
 paid more than the value of the fee simple of all Irish estates ? 
 
 28. —Whether the enmity of the Irish race, both at home and 
 abroad, may not prove an embarrassment to England in any future 
 war? 
 
 29. —Whether it has been truly said of the Irish people that they 
 love impartial justice better than any nation under the sun ? and 
 whether justice has been done to them in regard to the occupation 
 of the soil ? 
 
 30. —Whether every system of laws is not to be judged of by its 
 practical effect ? 
 
 31. —Whether it follows of necessity that a law which works 
 well in a country where a landlord at his own expense supplies his 
 tenant with all farm buildings, and lets his land furnished with 
 all proper fences, and all matters of this nature, is therefore suited 
 to a country in which the landlord does none of these things, and 
 in which all improvements that are made are made solely by the 
 tenant ? 
 
 32. —Whether it be not a wise saying—“ Thou should not muzzle 
 the ox that treadeth out the corn ? ” and whether an Irish tenant 
 
45 
 
 farmer be not as well entitled to a share in the fruits of his industry 
 as a Jewish ox ? 
 
 33. —Whether any money can be more unprofitably spent by a 
 sovereign than that which he expends in shooting his own subjects. 
 
 34. —Whether it be possible that any nation should be really 
 
 interested in the misery of another ? and whether any class of the 
 English people derive any benefit from maintaining the impoverish¬ 
 ment and degradation of the Irish ? > 
 
 35. —Whether it would be possible for Irish landlords and Irish 
 tenants to come to an agreement as to their relations, under which 
 both of them would be much better off than they are now ? and 
 whether to accomplish this anything more be necessary than a fair 
 and unreserved application of the principle expressed in the maxim, 
 
 “ Live, and let live.” 
 
 36. —Whether the principle embodied in that maxim be not a 
 good old Conservative principle ? 
 
 37. —Whether it be not fully and fairly carried out in the 
 measure sketched in the preceding pages ? and whether that measure 
 be not one that all true Conservatives ought to support ? 
 
 38. —Whether the Sybil did not offer her books three times to 
 the Roman King ? and whether the King would not have done 
 better if he had taken them at her first offer ? 
 
 39. —Whether the rights of property be better understood and 
 upheld in Tipperary or in Down ? and whether a proprietor in 
 Tipperary does not practise an arbitrary power of eviction which 
 no landlord in Down would dare to exercise ? 
 
 40. —Whether moralists and writers on jurisprudence have not 
 alleged, as the foundation of all property, the right of every man to 
 enjoy that which his own industry has created ? and whether this 
 principle might not be considered in settling the position of the 
 occupiers of the soil ? 
 
 41. —Whether it be true that in 1852 a bill was introduced into 
 Parliament, by a Conservative Ministry, providing that no tenant 
 in Ireland should be evicted from his holding until his landlord 
 paid him the value of improvements effected on his farm ? that this 
 
46 
 
 bill passed the House of Commons, and received the assent and 
 approval of all statesmen and all parties ? 
 
 42. —Whether if this bill were founded on justice a great many 
 Irish tenants have not since been robbed ? 
 
 43. —^Whether the Irish Ministers of the Crown, who introduced 
 that bill can justly be called communists and spoliators of the 
 rights of property ? and whether the introduction of that bill was 
 not the wisest act of their administration ? 
 
 44. —Whether a principle which was wise and Conservative in 
 1852 be necessarily revolutionary and communistic in 1866 ? 
 
 45. —Whether the first duty and object of all governments be not 
 to provide security for every man’s industry and home ? and whether 
 it might not be worth inquiring what proportion of the Irish tenants 
 practically enjoy this ? 
 
 46. —Whether English legislation has not always recognized and 
 enforced the right of the people to live on the soil ? Whether, 
 from the days of Queen Elizabeth to those of William IV. any 
 English landlord could have evicted his tenants without being 
 obliged to find for them adequate support ? and whether, if such 
 obligation existed, it must not have exercised a very material 
 infiuence on all the relations of landlord and tenant ? 
 
 47. —Whether, from the days of Queen Elizabeth, any English 
 proprietor has ever had the power of turning the people off his 
 estate and ridding himself of all responsibility for them in future ? 
 and whether this power has not been largely exercised by many 
 Irish proprietors within the last twenty years ? 
 
 48. —Whether, if it were now discovered that Poyning’s law 
 had been re-enacted after the poor-law of Elizabeth, the whole 
 rental of some Irish proprietors would not be exhausted in support¬ 
 ing the victims of their clearances ? 
 
 49. —^Whether, if all the proprietors in the country were to enter 
 into a combination to exterminate the whole population, and take 
 their estates into their own hands, it would be a violation of the 
 rights of property if the State interfered to prevent it ? 
 
47 
 
 50.—^Whether if matters were tending to such a state as this, 
 legislative interference might not be necessary at some intermediate 
 stage ? and whether occurrences have not taken place in some 
 districts in Ireland which made out as strong a case for such 
 interference ? 
 
 Whether the Czar of all the Russias would have tolerated, on 
 the part of one of his nobles, an extermination of the inhabitants 
 of a whole district, such as appears from parliamentary papers to 
 have taken place a few years ago in the County of Donegal ? 
 
 52. —Whether his Imperial Majesty would have sent his troops 
 and ministers of the law to assist the noble in perpetrating the act ? 
 Whether he would not, more probably, have sent them to carry olf 
 the noble to Siberia ? and whether plausible reasons might not be 
 assigned for the opinion that the latter course would be the one 
 more consonant to natural justice, and more worthy of a humane 
 and enlightened prince ? 
 
 53. —Whether if such an eviction had taken place in England, 
 such another would ever take place again ? 
 
 54. —Whether the tenants on that Donegal estate might not have 
 been better olf under the despotism of Russia than they found 
 themselves under the free constitution happily established in 
 Ireland ? 
 
 55. —Whether all the conspiracies, either local or general, 
 political or agrarian, in which the people of Ireland have engaged, 
 from the days of Oliver Cromwell to the present, are not to be 
 traced to the discontent created by the present tenure of land ? 
 
 56. —Whether it be, on the whole, more desirable that Ireland 
 should be ruled by military force and arbitrary imprisonments, or 
 by the good will of the people ? 
 
 57. —Whether Louis Napoleon has not boasted that there is not 
 a political prisoner in a French prison ? Whether this would be 
 the case if the circumstances of land tenure which exist in Ireland 
 existed also in France ? 
 
 58. —Whether Silvio Pellico’s narrative of the imprisonment of 
 
48 
 
 3 0112 061591977 
 
 himself and his associates in Speilberg did not produce a great 
 sensation throughout Europe, and whether the impression produced 
 by it had not some influence in destroying Austrian power in 
 Italy ? 
 
 59. —^Whether the questions be not every day put, in foreign 
 countries, how many political prisoners are confined in English and 
 Irish gaols, and how these prisoners are treated ? 
 
 60. —Whether Silvio Pellico might not have found Pentonville 
 or Mount]oy prisons to be even less comfortable than Speilberg? 
 
 61. —Whether our system of land tenure be so admirable as to be 
 worth all the odium and trouble it is causing to the Government of 
 the Queen ? 
 
 62. —Whether the fancy of our English rulers for upholding 
 that system has not been proved by experience to be a very 
 expensive one ? Whether Benjamin Franklin did not pay too 
 dear for his whistle ? and whether nations and governments may 
 not be guilty of the same folly as little boys ? 
 
 Printed by John Falconeb, 63, Upper Sackville-street, Dublin.