524 



LAND LAWS. 



throw suspicion on many titles and make addi- 

 tional investigation necessary when the lands 

 were about to be sold. 



Parliament has made many attempts by lo- 

 cal and general acts to secure suitable dwell- 

 ings and allotments of land for artisans and 

 laborers. The local authorities have in some 

 cases been given power to acquire by compul- 

 sory purchase land for this and other sanitary 

 purposes. Owing to various limitations and 

 restrictions, however, comparatively little has 

 been done under these acts. At the last ses- 

 sion of Parliament a measure of considerably 

 wider scope, " The Housing of the Working 

 Classes Act," was passed. This act enables lo- 

 cal authorities, either in town or country, where 

 additional house accommodation is shown to be 

 necessary, to acquire, with the consent of the 

 local government board, land by compulsory 

 purchase, if necessary, and build cottages, al- 

 lotting to each not more than half an acre of 

 garden-ground, and letting them to laborers. 

 The powers conferred are carefully guarded, 

 and the danger of increased local taxation will, 

 it is thought, prevent the excessive purchase 

 of land and building of cottages. 



"The Yeoman and Small Holdings Act," 

 drawn up by Mr. Jesse Collings, Robert Reid, 

 Mr. Broadhurst, and others, and introduced 

 into Parliament at its last session, proposes to 

 empower local authorities to purchase land 

 compulsorily, if necessary, and resell it in 

 holdings of not more than thirty acres each, 

 advancing three fourths of the purchase- 

 money. The tenant may repay one third of 

 the loan, but the balance must remain, and 

 the interest will be a perpetual rent charge on 

 the holding. The local authorities may expend, 

 or loan to the tenants, money for making im- 

 provements on these small farms, over which 

 they are to exercise rather strict control, tak- 

 ing many of the powers and functions of the 

 landlords. When the tenant of a holding of 

 less than 150 acres agrees with the landlord 

 for its purchase, the local anthorities may ad- 

 vance him two thirds of the purchase-money. 

 The Government will supply the local authori- 

 ties with funds for these purposes at a low rate 

 of interest. It is claimed by Mr. Chamberlain 

 and his followers that the interests of the coun- 

 try and people demand the wider distribution 

 of land and the general introduction of yeoman 

 and peasant proprietors, that the state appro- 

 priates large sums of money for public improve- 

 ments, and that it takes land by compulsory 

 process, or permits local authorities, railroads, 

 and other corporations to take it, for the bene- 

 fit of the public, and that therefore the Gov- 

 ernment has a right to require the present 

 owners to sell their land at a fair price where 

 the interests of the people demand it, and 

 ought to aid the purchasers with its credit. 

 The land belonged originally to the people in 

 common ; in theory it is still held of the state, 

 which may justly resume possession of it, if the 

 interests of the public demand it and the own- 



ers are paid fair prices for their interests. A 

 fair price would not be the potential value 

 of the land in view of the possibility of its 

 use for building or other lucrative purposes, 

 plus the allowance of ten per cent, for compul- 

 sory sale, allowances for severance, etc., accord- 

 ing to methods now used for fixing the price of 

 land acquired by compulsory purchase but its 

 present value for agricultural purposes. Many 

 of the Conservatives and some of the moder- 

 ate Liberals are strongly opposed to these pro- 

 posals, claiming that compulsory purchase at 

 prices fixed by local authorities, or the courts, 

 would be unjust to the present owners, that 

 the possibility of such purchase in any case 

 would depreciate the value of land and dis- 

 courage improvements, that the measure would 

 greatly increase local taxation, and open the 

 door for a vast amount of political favoritism 

 and corruption, and that the new owners, ham- 

 pered by many conditions and restrictions, and 

 often without capital, could not compete with 

 the large farmers, possessed of good farming 

 machinery, stock, capital, and experience. The 

 moderate Liberals generally seem to agree with 

 Mr. Gladstone, that the legislature has an un- 

 doubted right to expropriate every landlord in 

 the country if the public interest demands it, 

 but question the present expediency of exten- 

 sive compulsory purchase, and the general dis- 

 tribution of land by state aid, and are opposed 

 to compelling landlords to sell at prices that 

 would not be a full compensation for their 

 rights and interests. The question was much 

 discussed during the recent parliamentary elec- 

 tion campaign, Mr. Chamberlain and his fol- ' 

 lowers advocating compulsory purchase on an 

 extensive scale, and at fair prices for agricult- 

 ural purposes, of land to be resold or let to 

 agricultural and other laborers, the Conserva- 

 tives generally opposing the scheme, and the 

 moderate Liberals opposing it, or giving it a 

 qualified assent. Mr. Gladstone has declared 

 himself in favor of providing, before resorting 

 to compulsory purchase, for the sale of the 

 many large tracts of land held by the Church, 

 universities, colleges, hospitals, and other char- 

 itable institutions, in such small parcels, and 

 on such terms as to payments, that many small 

 tenants and laborers may become purchasers. 



Landlord and Tenant. In theory, all the 

 land of the United Kingdom is still held of the 

 Crown, and even the owners in fee simple are 

 only tenants. The word landlord has, how- 

 ever, come to be applied in common usage to 

 the man who lets, and tenant to the one who 

 hires, land for a limited time. Since nearly all 

 the land in the country that is under cultiva- 

 tion is cultivated by tenants, the law of land- 

 lord and tenant is of great importance. While 

 there are leases of land for long terms of years, 

 most of the tenancies are from year to year, 

 many of them practically continuing for long 

 periods. The tendency of legislation in recent 

 years has been to increase the rights of the 

 tenant, and encourage him to invest money and 



