SCIENCE.-SUPPLEMENT. 



FEIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1885. 



RECENT LAND LEGISLATION IN 

 ENGLAND. 



The attitude of the English government toward 

 the land question has undergone a thorough revo- 

 lution witliin the last generation. Thirty years 

 ago all propositions to reform the abuses which 

 had grown up under the present system of land 

 laws were uniformly met by loud protests about 

 the sacredness of vested interests, the ' natural- 

 ness' of the existing order, and the danger to 

 society and the government of disturbing it in any 

 way whatever. It was insisted that it would be a 

 violation of all sound principles of pohtical economy 

 for the government to go beyond its province so 

 far as to interfere with the relation of landlord and 

 tenant, or that of tenant and laborer, or that exist- 

 ing between these classes as a whole and the iDub- 

 lic. So vigorous was this protest, and so in ac- 

 cordance with the prevailing views as to the true 

 sphere of government iaterference, that reformers 

 were usually content to withdraw their proposi- 

 tions. 



But this attempt to delay or prevent much- 

 needed reforms in governmental policy was des- 

 tined to bring with it the usual penalty. The 

 disease, which might have been modified, if not 

 entirely cured, by mild remedies rightly applied at 

 an early stage, became more and more deep-seated 

 and serious with every passing year. The move- 

 ment for reform, too long delayed, and gathering 

 force with every rebuff, has finally proved irre- 

 sistible, and in its onward sweep has carried the 

 government and the people far beyond what 

 would have been necessary if legitimate demands 

 had been satisfied ia the first place. 



The evidence of this is seen very plainly in the 

 changed attitude and policy of the government, 

 which has recently given most unmistakable 

 evidence of its determination to take up the ques- 

 tion in earnest, and to leave no stone unturned in 

 order to secure a permanent settlement. In this 

 endeavor, limited thus far chiefly to one phase of 

 the Irish land question, it does not propose to be 

 checked by any theoretical considerations as to 

 the true limits of government interference. It 

 stands ready to do any thing which promises to 

 afford permanent or even temporary relief. If 

 necessarv, it will declare martial law. It will 



confiscate landed estates by the wholesale. It 

 will change a tenant at the will of the landlord 

 into a tenant at his own will. It will convert a 

 tenant into a proprietor. It wiU lend money, to 

 those wishing to buy land, at low rates of interest 

 and on insufficient security. It will desti'oy all 

 freedom of contract in regard to the use of land. 

 It has, indeed, already done all these things. 



The proof of these statements is to be found m. 

 the history of recent acts of parhament on the land 

 question.^ It is impossible to convey a clear idea 

 of such a complicated problem as the Irish land 

 question in a brief space, but one or two of the 

 most important points may be set forth which 

 will illustrate the far-reaching sweep of recent 

 legislation. 



The act which really introduced the new pohcy 

 was that of 1870, which declared whole classes of 

 contracts hitherto in vogue between landlord and 

 tenant to be void both in law and equity, and 

 established the novel principle of compensation for 

 disturbance or damages for eviction. It took from 

 the landlord the right to dismiss a tenant so long 

 as he paid his rent. It secured to the latter a just 

 compensation for all improvements, whether made 

 with or without the consent of the landlord, and 

 conferred on him the power to seU his tenant- 

 right, with all the privileges pertaining thereto. 

 This act was in form, therefore, a great encroach- 

 ment on the control of the landlord over his prop- 

 erty. But as it did not regulate the amount of 

 rent which the latter might exact, it left him, 

 after all, in practical control of his property, since 

 he might raise the rent at will, and evict the 

 tenant if he did not choose to pay it. It rather 

 aggravated than lessened the difficulty. 



The act of 1881, which was the most important 

 act relating to Ireland, was the logical outcome 

 of the act of 1870. It finished the work which 

 the latter had begun by establisliing a series of 

 optional courts for regulating rents. They are 

 optional in the sense that either landlord or tenant 

 may resort to them in case he is not contented 

 with the terms of a lease. The com-t, in case of a 

 resort to it, fixes the rent which the landlord may 

 exact. When the rent is thus judicially fixed, it 

 is to hold good for a period of fifteen years, when, 

 by a similar process, it may be modified to suit 

 altered circmnstances during another period of 

 like duration. As long as tlie tenant pays the rent 



1 Economic aspect of recent legislation. By William 

 Watt. London, Longmans, Green, & Co., 1885. 



