THE IRISH LAND PURCHASE ACT OF 1903 899 



came into being. Under it the peasant cultivator possessed of 

 little capital bid directly for the privilege of occupying land. As 

 a result, rents were raised to the highest point ; and, though 

 they were often merely nominal, being subject to abatements in 

 times of pressure, they yet represented the full surplus produce 

 after the wants of the laborers under their low standard of sub- 

 sistence had been supplied. The growth of population and the 

 immense expansion of Great Britain due to the great series of 

 inventions in the period 1760-178 5 still further affected Irish 

 agriculture. Under the cover of the corn duties (and the earlier 

 bounties) tillage was considerably extended, in order to supply the 

 English market. The high prices that accompanied the French 

 wars worked in the same direction. This unhappy system was 

 overthrown by the great famine of 1 846-1 847. But the seeds 

 of decay were implanted before. The miserable condition of the 

 cultivators, the defective methods of agriculture, and the heavy 

 burden of indebtedness which pressed on the landowners made 

 a change imperative and also certain, whenever free trade in corn 

 should be adopted by Great Britain. But the need for reform in 

 the conditions of tenure had been urged before the famine, in 

 the form of a claim for " tenant right," which would protect the 

 improvements of the farmer, and which existed by custom in the 

 Ulster Plantation counties. Sharman Crawford's bill for a com- 

 pensation for improvements was introduced in 1835. "If," said 

 O'Connell in 1845, "they asked me what are my propositions 

 for relief of the distress, I answer first tenant right. I would 

 give the landlord his land, and a fair rent for it ; but I would 

 give the tenant compensation for permanent improvements." 



The actual legislation was of a very different tendency. In 

 1 848 the Encumbered Estates Court was established ; and by its 

 agency the landowners most heavily in debt were weeded out, 

 their place being taken by a more provident and enterprising 

 class. To secure this result, the stringent rules of real property 

 law were set aside, and estates were in many cases sold at very 

 low prices. The " commercial principle " was still further ap- 

 plied to land in i860 by Dardwell's and Deasy's acts. The whole 

 system of tenancy was based on contract, not on tenure, and thus 



