The Irish Land Acts/The Fair Rent Acts
SECTION VIII.
The Fair Rent Act.
The Land Act of 1881.
Though the Act of 1870 failed to settle the Irish land question, it marked the beginning of a new era. It was an admission that the Whig policy of laissez faire had broken down—at any rate, that it was not applicable to the relations between landlord and tenants in Ireland. It failed because of the timidity with which it was administered, and because it allowed landlords full power over the rents. The years that followed the passing of the Act were agriculturally prosperous in Ireland. Industrial prosperity in England was reflected in Ireland in the rise in the price of meat and farm produce. Ireland was the main source of supply to England. Grazing lands and dairy lands became more valuable, and rents were raised in most parts of the country. But they were not always raised in relation to the economic returns from the land. They were often increased on farms that did not bear the rise. American competition suddenly sprang up in the later "seventies," and the rents that were raised in the preceding years became immediately excessive. Bad seasons came, and in 1880 the agrarian condition of Ireland grew desperate. The Land League was all powerful. Rents were not, and in many cases could not be, paid, and Mr. Gladstone had again to face the question. In 1870 he had strongly declared against giving fixity of tenure and the power to reduce excessive rents. But something had to be done. A Royal Commission was appointed, under the Chairmanship of the Earl of Bessborough. Largely, on its recommendations, the Act of 1881 was framed—an Act which revolutionised the relations of landlords and tenants in Ireland.
The Irish tenants had long fought for the "Three F's"—the right to Free Sale of their interests in their holding; to Fixity of Tenure; and to have Fair Rents fixed by an independent tribunal. All these were conceded by the Act of 1881. The administration of the Act of 1870 largely failed, as we have seen, because the Courts did not realise the urgent revolutionary character of the change made in the law. The framers of the 1881 Act saw the necessity of creating a new tribunal to carry into effect the revolutionary principles now introduced. A Land Commission, presided over by a Judge of the High Court was set up, with power to organise sub-commissions that would sit in all parts of the country. Applications could be made by either landlords or tenant to have a judicial rent fixed for their farms, and such applications could be made before the Land Commission or in the County Courts. The great majority of cases came before the Sub-Commission Courts, and in a few years most of the agricultural tenants in Ireland had fair rents fixed. The fair rent provisions of the Act were limited to "present tenancies"—that is, practically to tenancies that were subsisting at the time of the passing of the Act—and to holdings that were agricultural or pastoral in character. The tenants of such tenancies—or the landlord if he wanted the rent raised—might "from time to time apply to the Court to fix the fair rent to be paid by such tenant to the landlord for the holding, and thereupon the Court, after hearing the parties, and having regard to the interest of the landlord and tenant respectively, and considering all the circumstances of the case, holding, and district may determine what is such fair rent" (Section 8). The statutory term during which such fair rent could not be altered ran for fifteen years.
Much controversy took place as to the methods and principles governing the fixing of judicial rents. The statute gave little guidance, and the Land Commissioners, regarding themselves as judges rather than valuers, did not throw much light on the subject. However, the work went on in the Sub-Commission Courts, which consisted usually of a legal chairman and two lay valuers with an appeal to the Chief Commissioners; and fair rents have been fixed in almost all the holdings in Ireland that came within the Act of 1881. Various amending statutes were passed in 1887—admitting leaseholders—in 1891 and 1896. It will, perhaps, be convenient, before considering the question of Land Purchase, to summarise here the work done under these Acts.
The entire number of rents fixed under the Land Law Acts to the 31st March, 1916, where the parties applied to have fair rents fixed for a first statutory term, was 381,687. The total rental dealt with was £7,523,816, and the aggregate judicial rent fixed in respect thereof was £5,968,174, the result being an average reduction of 20·7 per cent, over the entire country. The number of cases struck out, withdrawn, or dismissed was 75,681, of which latter some were disposed of on subsequent applications. The total number of cases disposed of during the period from August, 1881, to 31st March, 1916, was therefore 457,368 for a first statutory term.
The entire number of rents fixed to the 31st March, 1916, for a second statutory term was 143,394. The total rental in these cases for the first statutory term was £2,571,983, and the aggregate judicial rent fixed in respect of the same for a second statutory term was £2,074,512, the result being an average reduction of 193 per cent, on first term rents. The number of applications in such cases struck out, withdrawn or dismissed was 20,897. The total number of second term cases disposed of to 31st March, 1916, was, therefore, 164,291.
The entire number of rents fixed to the 31st March, 1916, for a third statutory term was 5,007. The total rental in these cases for the second statutory term was £84,558, and the aggregate judicial rent fixed in respect of the same for a third statutory term was 76,799, the result being an average reduction of 92 per cent, on second term rents. The number of applications in such cases struck out, withdrawn, or dismissed was 325. The total number of third term cases disposed of to 31st March 1916, was, therefore, 5,332.