(Ireland.)

A

BILL

ΤΟ

Provide Compensation for Improvements made by
Tenants in Ireland.

[Note. The Words printed in Italics are proposed to be inserted
in Committee.]

W

HEREAS it would tend to the Improvement and better Preamble.
Cultivation of the Land if Provision were made by the

Law for securing to the Tenants and Occupiers of the
Soil in Ireland the proper Benefit of Expenditure, either in Capital or
5 Labour, made by them on the Land in their lawful Possession; and it
is likewise expedient to consolidate and amend the Laws now in force
respecting Emblements and Tenants Fixtures, and to provide Remu-
neration in certain Cases for outgoing Tenants: Be it therefore enacted
by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and
10 Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this
present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as
follows; (that is to say :)

I. In the Construction of this Act the following Words and Ex- Glossary. pressions shall have the Force and Meaning hereby assigned to them,

15 unless there be something in the Subject or the Context repugnant

thereto :

The Word "Person" or "Party" shall extend to and include any «Person:"
Body Politic, Corporate, or Collegiate, whether aggregate or

sole, or any public Company, as well as a private Individual:

"Landlord:"

"Tenant :"

"Owner:"

"Lease:"

"Rent:"

"Assistant

Barrister :"

"Clerk of the Peace :"

The Word "Landlord" shall be construed to mean the Person or
Party for the Time being entitled to a vested Right to the Pos-
session of his Tenant's Land immediately on the Determination
of such Tenant's Interest, the Person or Party in the Receipt of
the Rent payable by such Tenant (including a Receiver appointed 5
by the Court of Chancery) being deemed to be rightfully
entitled to such vested Right; and shall include the Person or
Party entitled as aforesaid at the Time of the Determination of a
Tenancy; and shall also include the Person equitably entitled to
and in receipt of the Rents and Profits, whether the Interest of 10
such Landlord (legal or equitable) shall have been acquired by
original Contract, lawful Assignment, Devise, Bequest, or Act
or Operation of Law:

The Word "Tenant," unless otherwise restricted, shall be con-
strued to mean a Person or Party in the actual and lawful 15
Occupation of Land let for Pasture or Cultivation, and which
shall not have been let for One or Two Seasons only, or for
a special or temporary Purpose, but shall be held by such
Person or Party as Tenant from Year to Year, or for a Term
of Years, absolute or determinable on the dropping of a Life or 20
Lives, whereof there shall not be Twenty-five Years unexpired;
and shall include the lawful Representatives of such Tenant, and
generally all Parties claiming or deriving Title from, through,
or under such Tenant by lawful Assignment, Devise, Bequest,
or Act or Operation of Law:

25

The Word "Owner" shall imply the Landlord in the actual
Receipt of the Rents having an Estate in the Reversion not less
than for the Time of his own Life, or an unexpired Term of
Sixty Years, whether determinable or not on a Life or Lives:
The Word "Lease" shall include every Instrument in Writing, 30
whether under Seal or not, containing a Contract of Tenancy
in respect of any Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, for a
definite Period of Time, whether absolute or contingent on some
Event, or for One or more than One Life, in consideration of
a Rent:

The Word "Rent" shall include any Sum in the Nature of Rent,
and payable by way of Compensation, for the permissive Occu-
pation of any Land:

The Expression "Assistant Barrister" shall extend to and include

35

the Recorder of the City of Dublin, and the Chairman of the 40
Sessions of the Peace for the County of Dublin:

The Expression "Clerk of the Peace" shall extend to and include
the Registrar of the Chairman of the Sessions of the Peace of
the County of Dublin so long as such Registrar shall continue
in Office, and the Registrar of Civil Bills for the City of Dublin, 45
and

5

10

15

20

25

30

and also the acting or Deputy Clerk of the Peace or Registrar,
or other Officer discharging the Duties of such Clerk of the
Peace or Registrar:

The Expression" the Court of Chancery" shall include any Branch "the Court
of that Court, or any Officer thereof, to which or to whom the of Chan-
cery:"
Lord Chancellor for the Time being may delegate or appoint
any of the Duties or Powers imposed or conferred by this Act:
The Word "serve" shall be construed to mean either personal "serve."
Service, or Service on the Attorney, Agent, Bailiff, Steward, or
Receiver of the Person to be served, or Service by Delivery at

the Place of Abode of the Person to be served:

The Word "County" shall extend to and include a County of a "County:"
City, and County of a Town, and a Riding of a County; and
where any Land shall be situate within One or more District or
Division, County or Riding, such Land shall be deemed for the
Purposes of this Act to be situate within the District, Division,
County, or Riding within which the greater Part of such Land
shall be situate:

And every Word importing the Singular Number only shall extend
and be applied to several Persons or Things as well as One Person
or Thing; and every Word importing the Plural Number shall
extend and be applied to One Person or Thing as well as several
Persons or Things; and every Word importing the Masculine
Gender only shall extend and be applied to a Female as well as
a Male.

II. In citing this Act in other Acts of Parliament, and in legal Short Title or other Instruments and Proceedings, it shall be sufficient to use of Act. the Expression "The Tenants Improvements Compensation Act (Ireland), 1853."

With respect to the Persons empowered to claim Compensation for Improvements under this Act, be it enacted as follows; that is to

say:

prove

under

III. Every Tenant from Year to Year, and every Tenant for a Persons enTerm of Years whose Tenancy, Estate, or Interest in the Lands in titled to im35 his Occupation shall at the Time of the Lodgment of the Specification the Act. of Improvements herein-after mentioned be less than a Term of Twenty-five Years absolute, and without any legal or equitable Right or Title to a Renewal, shall be empowered to execute Improvement under this Act.

40

With respect to the Classes of Improvements for which Compensation may be recovered under this Act, be it enacted as follows:

Classes cf
Improve-

ment:

Farm Buildings:

Reclaiming Waste Land:

Draining:

Clearing

Rocks, &c.:

Boundary
Fences:

tion not to be allowed

in certain

Cases.

IV. Any Improvements made under the Authority of this Act, and which shall confer the Rights of Compensation herein-after given, shall fall within some One or more of the following Classes; that is to say, 1. The erecting on any Lands of any new Building for Agricultural Purposes suitable to the holding or the enlarging or the 5 extending of any such Building erected or to be erected thereon, so as to render the same more suitable to the holding: 2. The reclaiming of Waste Land or cut-out Bog Ground, by converting the same into Arable or Pasture Land:

3. The main draining or thorough draining of Land, or the Im. 10 provement of it by Irrigation:

4. The durable Improvement of Land by clearing away Rocks or Stones :

5. The making of any Boundary Fences, or of internal Fences inclosing not less than Ten Acres of Land, or of Fences for 15 the inclosing of any Piece of Coppice Wood not previously inclosed or preserved from Trespass :

Compensa- Provided, however, that no Right to Compensation shall arise under this Act in respect of any Improvements which shall have been made in pursuance of any Contract binding the Tenant to make the same 20 or like Improvements, or which shall have been executed in consideration of any Reduction or Abatement of Rent made at the Commencement or at any other Period of his Tenancy, or which shall have been made at the joint or united Expense of the Landlord and Tenant; nor in any Case of Ground let for building, or let by the Foot or other 25 local Measurement, calculated upon the Extent of Frontage to any Road or Street, or let by Measurement, or under Provisions denoting that such letting was intended for the Purpose of building; nor in any Case where Lands are let in or for Con-acre, for the Purpose of cropping or depasturing for One Season or Two Seasons only, or for a 30 special or temporary Purpose; nor to any Case where any House or other Building shall form the principal Subject of Demise; nor to any Case of Lands (ordinarily termed "Town Parks "), adjoining or near to any City or Town, which shall bear an increased Value, as Accommodation Land, over and above the ordinary letting Value of Land 35 occupied as a Farm, and shall be in the Occupation of a Person living in such City or Town, or the Suburbs thereof; nor to any Parks or Demesnes; nor for any Buildings, unless the same shall have been erected in a permanent and durable Manner, the Walls being built of Stone and Mortar, or Brick and Mortar, and well 40 covered in with Tiles or Slates; and when there shall be any Dwelling House upon the Lands of any Tenant at the Time of the Service of any Notice of Improvements, the building of an additional Dwelling House thereon shall not be deemed an Improvement within the Meaning of this Act, unless the same shall have been 45

built with the Consent in Writing of the Owner thereof; nor for any Drainage, unless the Main Drain or Main Drains (if any) shall be of the Depth of at least Three and a Half Feet, where practicable, below the Surface, and the other Drain or Drains shall be of the 5 Depth of Thirty-six Inches, where practicable, below the Surface, and properly filled with Tiles or broken Stones, and placed at suitable Distances, and executed in such a Manner as is now authorized and sanctioned by Her Majesty's Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, and in all respects done according to the System of Drainage 10 commonly called " "Thorough Drainage ;" nor for any Improvements in any Case where the Land of the Tenant shall not lie altogether, unless the Owner, before such Improvements shall have been commenced, have consented in Writing to the making thereof; nor for Cottages or other Buildings erected without the like Consent, for 15 the Purpose of sub-letting, or for any other Purpose than the actual Occupation thereof by the Tenant; and no Compensation shall be allowed for any of the above-mentioned Classes of Improvements which, in the Opinion of the Assistant Barrister or Judge on Appeal, were not required, or shall not be altogether reasonably suitable to 20 the Tenant's Holding; and nothing shall be deemed an Improvement under this Act which shall not have reference solely to an Increase of the Agricultural Value of the Holding on which such Improvement shall have been made.

on Landlord,

with Clerk of

V. Every such Tenant intending to avail himself of the Benefit A Specifica25 of this Act shall fill up a Plan, Specification, and Estimate according tion of into the appropriate Form in the First Schedule to this Act annexed, provements and shall Three Months previously to the Commencement of any to be served Improvements authorized by this Act cause to be served on the and DupliPerson actually in receipt of the Rent of his Holding, or the known cate lodged 30 Agent or Receiver of such Person, a true Copy of such Plan, Speci- the Peace. fication, and Estimate, and shall at the same Time lodge a Duplicate of such Plan, Specification, and Estimate with the Clerk of the Peace of the County within which the Lands are situate, to be kept by such Clerk of the Peace on a separate File, and for the Receipt and 35 filing of which he shall be entitled to the Fee of One Shilling, and no more; and such Tenant shall also deposit with the Clerk of the Peace the Sum of Shillings to defray the Expense

of Publication herein-after next directed.

Peace to

VI. The Clerk of the Peace of each County shall on or before the Clerk of the 40 First Day of February One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, and publish a on or before the First Day of February in each succeeding Year, make List of Speout a List according to the Form in the Second Schedule to this Act annexed, of all such Specifications lodged with him during the pre

cifications.