IRISH LAND ACTS

British Prime Minister William Gladstone had taken up the "Irish Question" in part to win the general election of 1868 by uniting the Liberal Party behind this single issue. The shock of Fenian violence, especially in England , as well as the growing awareness of the potency of nationalist feelings from European politics was a second reason for Gladstone tackling the Irish Question, as well as a sincere desire to bring peace to Ireland. As well as the 'Irish Land Act', the Liberal government also passed the Irish Church Disestablishment Act and put forward the Irish University Bill that failed to pass both Houses of Parliament.

Contents

Background to First Irish Land Act: 1870

Terms of the First Irish Land Act

Consequences of First Irish Land Act

Second Irish Land Act, 1881

Overview

Land (Purchase) Acts 1885 and 1903

Background to First Irish Land Act: 1870

This Act was partly the work of Chichester Fortescue and John Bright. The Irish situation was favourable, with agriculture improving and pressure on the land decreasing since the Great Irish Famine. The Encumbered Estates Act (1849) had led to the sale of estates by debt-ridden mainly absentee landlords; research suggest that the new landlords, who were more often resident did not in general charge excessive rents - with some exceptions - and invested capital into their property. Gladstone's Liberal government had no explicit mandate for the Act, unlike the 1869 Disestablishment Act, 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 and partly for his own views, since 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, and the resulting compromise measure was so weak that it had little difficulty in passing both Houses of Parliament, with one significant amendment.

Terms of the First Irish Land Act

# The Custom of Ulster or any similar custom prevailing elsewhere, was given the force of law where it existed.

# 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.

# 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 in practice enabled landlords to raise rents above what tenants could pay and then evict them for non-payment without giving any compensation.

Consequences of First Irish Land Act

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 peasants 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 at a low level anyway. In the late 1870's when depression struck, evictions for non-payment of rent mounted, tenants had no protection, and 'outrages' and the Land League were the results. Even in 1871, the government had to pass a Coercion Act because of the increase in violence in Ireland; it lost support to the Home Rule Movement, which won 9 out of 14 Irish by-elections (1870-4), mainly formerly Liberal held seats.

Nevertheless, "Gladstone's Irish legislation, though a long way short of revolutionary, had a symbolic significance far beyond its immediate effects" - Lyons. 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 in law an interest in their holding.

Second Irish Land Act, 1881

Gave tenants real security, though by this time the Irish were demanding proprietorship. This act created the Irish Land Commission.
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.

Overview

The flawed economics that lay behind these acts exposes a political aim on Gladstone's behalf, to destroy the raison d'étre of the Land League (following the recent Land War). Although the second land act ushered in a period of tentative calm, it became clear further reforms were necessary. It is widely accepted by historians that Gladstone was addressing the wrong crowd in seeking to calm the nationalist movement by land reform as the driving force behind this sentiment was an emerging Irish cultural identity following the years of comparative prosperity in the 1850s and 1860s.
The Act successfully 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 Irish Land Commission. Thus the 1881 Act also tentatively conceded the need for state participation in the redistribution of land-ownership.
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 is a world away from Gladstone's policy of 'retrenchment' and his commitment to Free markets.

Land (Purchase) Acts 1885 and 1903

Continued land agitations throghout the 1880s and 1890s culminated firstly with the passing of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885, also known as the Ashbourne Act, putting limited tenant land purchase in motion.
It was followed by 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 to a lasting solution in the land question. Under both government, UIL and IPP pressure the Chief Secretary for Ireland - George Wyndham gave his backing to a Land Conference in December 1902 comprising four moderate landlord representatives led by Lord Dunraven and four tenant representatives led by William O'Brien . They worked out a new scheme for tenant land purchase 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 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 landlordism control over tenants and made it easier for tenants to purchase land, facilitating the transfer of about 9 million acres (36,000 km²) up to 1914. By then 75% of occupiers were buying out their landlords under the 1903 Act and the later 1909 Act which introduced compulsory purchase. Munster tenants availed of land purchase in exceptionally high numbers, encouraged by their Irish Land and Labour Association’s leader D.D. Sheehan. O’Brien exalted in the triumph of successfully combining the "doctrine of conciliation" with "conference plus business", to finally settling the Irish land question.