DISTURBANCE OF TENANTS 203 



what they first set out to do in 1872, viz., to obtain uniformity 

 in the method and scale of compensation for unexhausted 

 improvements. 



Compensation for Disturbance. 



A previous paragraph (page 199) referred to the bad drafting 

 and vague phrasing of Section 11 of the Act of 1908. Every- 

 one who knew anything about the management of land 

 foresaw a crop of litigation in this section, and foretold it 

 while the Act was still a Bill in 1906. In 1910 the sentence 

 " not inconsistent with good estate management " was deemed 

 in the Shrewsbury County Court (Clewlow v. Briscoe) to 

 cover disturbance of a sitting tenant for the purpose of sale 

 by the executors of an agricultural estate. There was no 

 appeal against this decision, and consequently it was accepted 

 as law that, although a tenant disturbed by a landlord could 

 claim compensation for such disturbance (unless it was due 

 to bad farming, non-payment of rent, or similar cause), a tenant 

 dispossessed by the sale of an estate could not establish any 

 such claim. 



The Small Holdings Act, 1908, had been the cause of a 

 number of tenants being turned out of or partially 

 dispossessed of their holdings,' and in December, 1909, 

 the Council unanimously resolved that the Act required 

 amending : (i.) in the event of land being taken 

 compulsorily for small holdings or allotments the occupier 

 to be entitled to compensation for disturbance ; (ii.) that a 

 right of appeal should be granted from the decisions of the 

 Board of Agriculture ; (iii.) that parties should have the 

 right to employ expert assistance. The following January 

 members of Parliament were asked to ballot for a Bill to give 

 effect to this resolution, and although none of our members 

 were successful in the ballot two Bills were introduced by Mr. 

 Lane-Fox and Sir Courtenay Warner. The Government, 

 however, introduced a Bill of their own, which, after amend- 

 ment in Committee, became law in 1910. This Bill dealt 

 satisfactorily with the first point of the resolution, but dis- 

 regarded the other two points. 



