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118-577: The success of the Land Acts in reducing the concentration of land ownership is indicated by the fact that in 1870, only 3% of Irish farmers owned their own land while 97% were tenants. By 1929, this ratio had been reversed with 97.4% of farmers holding their farms in freehold. However, as Michael Davitt and other Georgists had foreseen, peasant proprietorship did not end hardship in the Irish countryside. Emigration and economic disadvantage continued while

236-535: A free market should allocate land in the most productive way, but in practice landowning groups have disproportionate power in many countries. Landlords seek to control land so they can extract rent , in the form of payments from tenant farmers, or more recently agricultural subsidies and other subsidies from the state. State policies which favor large landowners, such as differential taxation that hits free peasants harder than large landlords and serfs, are an important cause of land concentration. One way that land

354-559: A "defence fund" for legal representation in eviction cases and support for evicted families. Rent strikes could also be effected in a Slowdown way, with paying a fraction now and promising more next week while making oneself unavailable, it could include obstacles for rent collectors, re-occupation of farms rented by evicted defaulters, etc. The Meaghers of Kilbury are credited as the inventors of this kind of tactics when they practiced it in January 1880. Contemporary opponents argued that

472-552: A combination of heavy rains, poor yields and low prices that brought widespread hunger and deprivation. Compounded by the reduction in opportunities for outside income, especially seasonal agricultural income in Great Britain, many smallholders were faced with hunger and unable to pay their rent. Some landlords offered rent abatement, while others refused on the grounds that their tenants were participating in anti-landlord agitation. Irish historian Paul Bew notes that five of

590-595: A correlation between land concentration and deforestation . Another study found an inverse correlation between inequality of land ownership and economic growth. According to a Scottish landlord group, however, land use is more important than land ownership, and there is not enough evidence for a negative effect. Scholars have linked land inequality with unstable democracies and dictatorships , whereas greater land equality tends to be linked to stable democratic forms of government. According to some economists, concentrated land ownership in non-Western countries explains

708-621: A country overwhelmingly Catholic. However, the "war" applied to landlords of all religions and none. The pace for land law reforms quickened after the Representation of the People Act 1884 , which gave a much greater number of votes to the Irish rural electorate. Continued land agitations throughout the 1880s and 1890s culminated firstly with the passing of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885 ( 48 & 49 Vict. c. 73), named

826-512: A defeat for the small farmers; besides "a legacy of bitterness and cynicism in Connaught", the main effect of their campaign was to show how Irish nationalism had become a bourgeois movement, including many large graziers. By the Irish War of Independence (1918–1922) about half a million people were occupying uneconomic smallholdings, mostly in the west of Ireland. In addition, veterans of

944-515: A higher take-up of land purchase than in any other province. Historian R. K. Webb gives most of the credit for the Wyndham Act to Conservative leader Arthur Balfour. He says the Act was: Having largely settled the Irish land question, William O'Brien, convinced by the success of combining the "doctrine of conciliation" with "conference plus business", turned his attention in a Second Phase to

1062-744: A majority of four-to-one ( Arthur MacMorrough Kavanagh dissenting) the commissioners declared in favour of the "Three Fs" as demanded by the Land League: fair rent, free sale, and fixity of tenure. From 1873 to 1896, farmers in Britain and Ireland suffered the " Long Depression " with its lower prices. Grain from America was cheaper and better, and was exported to Europe in ever-increasing amounts. Meat could be sent in refrigerated ships from as far as New Zealand and Argentina . For many tenant farmers in Ireland this meant lower net incomes with which to pay

1180-474: A mass meeting in Irishtown, County Mayo organised by local and Dublin-based activists, led by Davitt and James Daly . The activists tried to mobilize an alliance of tenant farmers, shopkeepers and clergy in favour of land reform. Although the clergy refused to participate, some 7,000 to 13,000 people attended the meeting, having come from all parts of Mayo and counties Roscommon and Galway . The main issue

1298-589: A meeting on 1 June 1879 in Dublin between Devoy, Parnell, and Michael Davitt . It is disputed what was actually agreed to. Davitt maintained that there was no formal agreement, while Devoy claimed that the IPP had promised not to act against the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and made other concessions in exchange for Irish-American support. The west of Ireland was hit by the 1879 famine ,

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1416-547: A new non-violent moral tactic against those taking over the land of evicted tenants. Parnell gave a speech in Ennis in 1889, proposing that when dealing with such tenants, rather than resorting to violence, everyone in the locality should instead shun them. This tactic was then widened to landowners. The term "boycott" was coined later that year following the successful campaign against County Mayo land agent Charles Boycott . The concerted action taken against him meant that Boycott

1534-517: A new scheme for tenant land purchase, in which sale was to be made not compulsory, but attractive to both parties, based on the government paying the difference between the price offered by tenants and that demanded by landlords. This was the basis of the "Wyndham Act" – the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 ( 3 Edw. 7 . c. 37) – which O'Brien orchestrated through Parliament. It differed from earlier legislation which initially advanced to tenants

1652-565: A quarter of a million rural labourers and their families, previously living in hovels, which thereby transformed the Irish countryside. Following the Great War , a further 5,000 houses were built in both parts of Ireland for returning soldiers , under the Irish Land (Provision for Sailors and Soldiers) Act 1919 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 5 . c. 82) which was defined as "An Act to facilitate the provision of land in Ireland for men who have served in

1770-676: A reported 20,000–30,000 turnout, in protest of the Church's position. Another meeting was held in Westport, County Mayo on 8 June, in protest against the Marquess of Sligo , the largest landowner in Mayo; Davitt persuaded Parnell to speak and 8,000 people turned out. Parnell went on with the engagement even after John MacHale , Archbishop of Tuam , denounced the meeting in a 7 June letter to The Freeman's Journal . Parnell also wanted to prevent

1888-403: A small number of people or organizations. It is sometimes defined as additional concentration beyond that which produces optimally efficient land use . Land concentration exists in many countries. In Brazil , one of the countries with the highest amount of land concentration, the situation has resulted in large tracts lying idle while 95% of farmers work just 11% of the arable land . In 2010,

2006-423: A tenant had been evicted, and purchasing their holding under the 1885 Ashbourne Act . Other forbidden actions included "participating in evictions, fraternizing with, or entering into, commerce with anyone who did; or working for, hiring, letting land from, or socializing with, boycotted person". Tribunals were typically led by the leaders of local chapters, holding open proceedings with a common law procedure. This

2124-623: Is accumulated is through unitary inheritance , in contrast to life estates or partible inheritance which tend to redistribute land over time. Conquest can lead to land concentration if the conquerors confiscate land from the original owners. High interest rates or lack of access to credit can block poorer farmers from buying land, while debt can force them to sell to larger landholders. Historically, when land owning becomes less profitable, landowners sell and rural peasants have an opportunity to acquire land. Along with land reform, inheritance taxes and capital gains taxes have also led to

2242-612: Is made towards lower rents but this is at the cost of lower rates of productivity growth in Irish farming. The Arrears of Rent (Ireland) Act 1882 ( 45 & 46 Vict. c. 47) was the result of the No Rent Manifesto and the subsequent Kilmainham Treaty made between Parnell and Gladstone by which the Land Commission was empowered to cancel arrears of less than thirty pounds due by tenants. Two million pounds in arrears were estimated to have been written off. The act

2360-632: The 1900 general election , laying the foundation for a lasting solution in the land question. Under pressure from both government, UIL and IPP, the Chief Secretary for Ireland , George Wyndham , gave his backing to a Land Conference in December 1902, comprising four moderate landlord representatives led by Lord Dunraven and four tenant representatives led by William O'Brien , the others John Redmond , T. W. Russell (who spoke for Ulster tenant-farmers) and Timothy Harrington . They worked out

2478-682: The Anti-Treaty side in the following Irish Civil War . In the Irish Free State , their grievances fueled the Fianna Fáil party and led to the Land Acts of 1923 and 1933, which caused the "dramatic redistribution" of large farms and estates to smallholders and the landless. Some of the Land League's local branches established arbitration courts in 1880 and 1881, which were explicitly modelled on British courts. Typically,

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2596-742: The Czech Republic had the highest concentration, according to World Bank figures. In Scotland, just 400 people own more than 50% of privately owned land. Other countries with high land concentration include the United States , Venezuela , Paraguay , South Africa , and Namibia . Land concentration is currently increasing in the European Union and the United States, but decreasing in North Africa . In theory,

2714-518: The Great Divergence in outcomes between wealthy, Western countries and the rest of the world. Israeli economist Oded Galor writes the mediating factor for this effect was that large landholdings gave the landowning elites political power to stop reforms aimed at improving education rates and therefore human capital , which in turn facilitated the divergence. According to Gary Libecap , differences in land ownership patterns explain much of

2832-723: The Irish Coercion Act . While in jail, they issued the No Rent Manifesto , calling for a national tenant farmer rent strike until their release. Finally, on 20 October the Government moved to suppress the Land League. A genuine No Rent campaign was virtually impossible to organise, and many tenants were more interested in "putting the Land Act to the test". It further seemed that the Coercion Act, instead of banishing agrarian crime, had only intensified it. Although

2950-619: The Irish National Land League based in Dublin, with Parnell made its president. As the land agitation progressed, it was taken over by larger farmers and the centre of gravity shifted away from the distressed western districts. In Mayo, the autumn potato harvest was only 1.4 tons per acre, less than half of the previous year. At the Land League conference in April 1880, Parnell's program of conciliation with landlords

3068-542: The Irish National League and the United Irish League , and aimed to secure fair rent, free sale, and fixity of tenure for tenant farmers and ultimately peasant proprietorship of the land they worked. From 1870, various governments introduced a series of Land Acts that granted many of the activists' demands. William O'Brien played a leading role in the 1902 Land Conference to pave

3186-462: The Irish National League . Preceded by economic difficulties due to droughts in 1884 and 1887 as well as industrial depression in England causing shrinking markets, the 1886–1891 Plan of Campaign was a more focused version of agitation and rent strikes. Tenants on an estate would meet and decide on what was a fair rent to pay their landlord, even though rents had already been judicially fixed by

3304-535: The Irish Volunteers and first Irish Republican Army had been promised land in exchange for their service. In 1919–1920, a wave of land seizures took place in western Ireland, and in 1920 agrarian crimes were recorded at their highest level since 1882. When their hopes for acquiring more land were dashed by the fact that the Anglo-Irish Treaty made no mention of the land issue, many joined

3422-521: The Land Commission in 1881 with quasi-judicial powers that eventually enabled most tenant farmers to buy freehold interests in their land. After the general election of April 1880 with the Land War still raging, Parnell believed then that supporting land agitation was a means to achieving his objective of self-government. Prime Minister Gladstone attempted to resolve the land question with

3540-630: The Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 . The Act gave greater rights to tenant farmers, so-called dual ownership , but failed to eliminate tenant evictions. Parnell and his party lieutenants, William O'Brien, John Dillon and Willie Redmond went into a bitter verbal offensive against the Act and were imprisoned in October 1881 in Kilmainham Jail , together with other prominent members of the League, under

3658-463: The League could not possibly exist". The land question in Ireland was ultimately defused by a series of Irish Land Acts , beginning in 1870 with rent reform, establishing the Land Commission in 1881, and providing for judicial reviews to certify fair rents. The Ashbourne Act of 1885 started a limited process of allowing tenant farmers to buy their freeholds , which was greatly extended following

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3776-541: The Local Government (Allotments and Land Cultivation) (Ireland) Act 1917 . Finally the Labourers (Ireland) Act 1919 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 5 . c. 55), which all together made provisions for a programme of large scale state-funded rural social housing, in which over 40,000 labourer-owned cottages were erected on 1 acre (4,000 m) of land by local County Councils. The Acts housed, at low annual annuities, over

3894-647: The Northern Ireland Land Act 1929 ( 19 & 20 Geo. 5 . c. 14) and the Northern Ireland Land Purchase (Winding Up) Act 1935 ( 25 & 26 Geo. 5 . c. 21). The Parliament of Northern Ireland passed the Land Registration Act (Northern Ireland) 1970 (c. 18 (N.I.)). Concentration of land ownership Concentration of land ownership refers to the ownership of land in a particular area by

4012-496: The Route Tenants' Defence Association , was however hostile towards the League. Agrarian crimes were rising during the late 1870s, from 135 in 1875 to 236 two years later. At the same time emigration (which acted as a pressure valve for political tension) decreased by more than half. Nevertheless, as late as 1877 the areas which would be heavily affected by Land League agitation were completely calm, without any hint of what

4130-798: The Sacred Congregation for Propaganda . In 1887 the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act 1887 was passed to deal with the offenses surrounding the Campaign. After the 1881 and 1885 Land Reform Acts (see below), many Tory press commentators described the Plan of Campaign as an opportunistic and cynical method of revenge following the division of the Liberal Party and the rejection of the first Irish Home Rule Bill in June 1886. It

4248-528: The "Ashbourne Act" for Lord Ashbourne , putting limited tenant land purchase in motion. The Act allowed a tenant to borrow the full amount of the purchase price, to be repaid at 4% over 49 years. Five million pounds sterling were made available, and about 25,400 tenants purchased their holdings during the period up to 1888, many in Ulster. In all 942,600 acres (3,815 km) were purchased, which made an average holding of 37 acres (150,000 m). The purchase price

4366-416: The 1885 act. They would offer to pay the lower rent, and if it was refused, would instead pay it to the Plan of Campaign fund. These rent strikes targeted the most heavily indebted and financially insecure landlords, who faced a choice between immediate bankruptcy and accepting a lower income. Lord Clanricarde had evicted many tenants and became the main target. Given the extended franchise allowed in 1884 ,

4484-420: The 1902 Land Conference , by the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 . Augustine Birrel 's Act of 1909 allowed for compulsory purchase , and also allowed the purchase and division of untenanted land that was being directly farmed by the owners. These Acts allowed tenants first to attain extensive property rights on their leaseholdings and then to purchase their land off their landlords via UK government loans and

4602-432: The 1903 Act and the later Irish Land Act 1909 of Augustine Birrell , which extended the 1903 Act by allowing for the compulsory purchase of tenanted farmland by the Land Commission, but fell far short in its financial provisions. In all, under these pre-1921 Land Acts over 316,000 tenants purchased their holdings amounting to 11.5 million acres (47,000 km) out of a total of 20 million acres (81,000 km) in

4720-638: The 1990s. The commission was dissolved on 31 March 1999, by the Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Act 1992 , and most of the remaining liabilities and assets were transferred to the Minister for Agriculture and Food . Many relevant historical records are held by the National Archives of Ireland . A "ground rent" is a nominal annual rent paid where a property is held under a long lease. Legislation has reformed ground rents alongside

4838-470: The 4,000 largest landlords in 1872 revealed that already 43% were Roman Catholics, 48% were Church of Ireland, 7% were Presbyterians, and 2% unknown. The term "Protestant Ascendancy" was used from 1879–90 in the Land War and the Plan of Campaign as an emotional term in what was an economic dispute. Religious affiliation was used as a factor as 55% of the largest estates were held by Protestants or Presbyterians in

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4956-517: The Act, 731 tenants became proprietors. More important was the fact that tenants had the right to take their rents to the Land Court for reduction under the fair rent clause, where in most cases a reduction of between 15% and 20% was awarded. Despite a short-term reduction of rents (by about 20% by 1882) this act can generally be seen as economically ineffective. Instead of cutting costs or increasing productivity, Irish farmers increasingly turned to

5074-420: The Act. The Land Commission had bought up 13 million acres (53,000 km) of farmland between 1885 and 1920 where the freehold was assigned under mortgage to tenant farmers and farm workers. The focus had been on the compulsory purchase of untenanted estates so that they could be divided into smaller units for local families, some of which proved to be "uneconomic"; this policy was applied unevenly across

5192-539: The Bill said that rents must not be "excessive", leaving this for the courts to define. But the House of Lords in a wrecking amendment substituted "exorbitant" in its place. This enabled landlords to raise rents above what tenants could pay, and then to evict them for non-payment without giving any compensation. However well-intentioned, the Act was at best irrelevant, at worst counter-productive. Fewer than 1,000 tenants took up

5310-472: The Bright Clauses, since the terms were beyond most tenants and many landlords did not wish to sell. Many substantial leasehold farmers, who had led the campaign for land reform, were excluded from the Act because their leases were longer than 31 years. Legal disputes over customary rights and "exorbitant" rents actually worsened landlord-tenant relations. Figures do not indicate any impact of the Act on

5428-498: The Custom of Ulster throughout the country, provided for compensation for improvements and created the Irish Land Commission and a Land Court . In Gladstone's words, the intention of the act was to make landlordism impossible. However, it was a complicated piece of legislation though it did provide for land purchase, three-quarters of the money to be advanced by the Land Commission, and to be repaid over 35 years at 5% interest. Under

5546-558: The Great Famine evictions. For radicals such as Michael Davitt, it meant land nationalization. The fusion between land agitation and nationalist politics was based on the idea that the land of Ireland rightfully belonged to the Irish people but had been stolen by English invaders who had foisted a foreign system of land tenure upon it. Nominally, the Land League condemned large-scale grazing as improper use of land that rightfully belonged to tillage farmers. As investment in grazing land

5664-543: The IPP had to gain credibility with the larger number of new voters, choosing the most numerous Irish group: the low-to-middle-income rural electorate. Most IPP members were Catholic, and appealed to Rome for moral support. So did the government, and the Vatican issued a Papal Rescript followed by an encyclical " Saepe Nos " in 1888, condemning the activities of the Land League, particularly boycotting. Saepe Nos also claimed to extend and clarify an earlier similar ruling by

5782-540: The Irish Land and Labour Association's demands for the need to settle Irish labourers in the soil. His parliamentary engagement achieved the successful enactment of the unprecedented Labourers (Ireland) Act 1906 ( 6 Edw. 7 . c. 37) (initiated by James Bryce ), followed by the Labourers (Ireland) Act 1911 ( 1 & 2 Geo. 5 . c. 19) (initiated by Augustine Birrell ). To provide small parcels of land for people to grow their own vegetables and fruits, Parliament passed

5900-533: The Irish land courts to cut their rents and jack up their dwindling incomes. The land purchase element can be described as counterproductive because the conditions tenants now enjoyed under this Act gave them no incentive to buy, furthermore, some economic historians dispute the effectiveness of land purchase as a solution to the Irish land problem. Land purchase significantly reduced the amount of capital in Ireland that could have been invested to improve efficiency and competitiveness of Irish farms. Therefore, some headway

6018-402: The Irish lawyers". He thought it "very amusing if the brave Gladstone thinks he has settled the Irish question by means of this new prospect of endless lawsuits". The legislation, however, "had a symbolic significance far beyond its immediate effects." The Land Act turned the tide of laissez faire legislation favouring capitalist landlordism, and in principle, if not in practice, was a defeat for

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6136-442: The Land Commission. The 1903 Act gave Irish tenant farmers a government-sponsored right to buy, which is still not available in Great Britain today. The success of the Land Acts in reducing the concentration of land ownership is indicated by the fact that in 1870, only 3% of Irish farmers owned their own land while 97% were tenants. By 1929, this ratio had been reversed with 97.4% of farmers holding their farms in freehold. However,

6254-486: The Land League by granting fair-rent control, fixity of tenure on leases, and freedom of sale: all to be overseen by the new government-sponsored Irish Land Commission. The 1881 act involved state participation in the redistribution of land-ownership. Because of attacks on landlords, the police and witnesses, the Protection of Persons and Property (Ireland) Act 1881 was passed, which added to the atmosphere of distrust of

6372-470: The Land War amounted to an "organised campaign of terrorism". In his biography of Michael Davitt, T. W. Moody acknowledged that the crime resulted from the Land League's militancy, but argued that statistics disprove the idea that the Land League maintained a "reign of terror". The most common type of agrarian offence was the sending of threatening letters. Davitt and other Land League leaders denounced agrarian crime in strong language, and local chapters of

6490-400: The League discouraged violence, agrarian crimes increased widely. For the ten months before the Land Act was passed (March–December 1880), the number of "outrages" were 2,379, but in the corresponding period of 1881 with the Act in full operation the numbers were 3,821. The figures to March 1882, with Parnell in jail, showed a continued increase. In April 1882 Parnell moved to make a deal with

6608-516: The National League passed many resolutions against it. However, the organisations were not in control of their rank-and-file. Between 1879 and in 1881, crimes related to the Land War rose from 25% to 58% of all crime in Ireland, without the leaders calling for an end to the agitation. Only 16 percent of agrarian crimes led to arrests, much less than the 50% rate for non-agrarian offences. Gladstone believed that escalating crimes were proof of

6726-654: The Naval, Military, or Air Forces of the Crown in the present War, and for other purposes incidental thereto", and, "so far as it relates to the provision of holdings under the Land Purchase Acts, shall be construed as one with those Acts, and, so far as it relates to the provision of cottages, plots, or gardens under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1919, shall be construed as one with the last-mentioned Acts." It

6844-468: The agricultural land laws (see above). While most tenancy reform legislation was enacted for agricultural land, urban and suburban occupiers / tenants have been allowed to "buy out" their ground rents from landlords, and so effectively can change a long lease into a freehold interest, most recently under Acts of 1978 and 2005. Notably, ground rents in Castlebar , County Mayo have been withheld following

6962-427: The amount available for purchase and removing the clauses which had made the Act unattractive. The Land Courts were empowered to sell 1,500 bankrupt estates to tenants. A total of 47,000 holdings were bought out between 1891 and 1896. Local government was introduced two years later under the revolutionary Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 , which in turn contributed to the success of the United Irish League (UIL) in

7080-465: The authorities. An overview of the land war, the reforms and the effect of the Coercion Act was published in 1888 by the journalist WH Hurlbert, an Irish-American Catholic. A symbolic significance of these land acts are how far Gladstone had come from his starting point. Judicial control of rent levels and the establishment of many land courts was a change from Gladstone's policy of 'retrenchment' and his commitment to free markets. An added consequence of

7198-861: The breakup of some estates. Land reform in some countries, including Ireland , South Korea, Japan, and Mexico , have significantly reduced land concentration. Critics argue that concentrated land ownership gives the landowner too much power over local communities, reduces opportunities, and impedes economic growth . One study of nineteenth-century Prussia found an inverse correlation between large estates and educational enrollment. In Central America, an economic boom in coffee production led to vastly different results in different countries: Costa Rica and Colombia were dominated by smallholdings and experienced democratization and surging literacy rates, while in El Salvador and Guatemala, rural laborers earned bare subsistence. Studies in 48 developing countries found

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7316-729: The campaign were abandoned on the run-up to the debates on the Second Irish Home Rule Bill in 1893. The IPP was by then divided into the Irish National Federation and the Irish National League over Parnell's divorce crisis. Between 1906 and 1909, smallholders seeking more land launched the Ranch War , demanding the sale of untenanted land owned by landlords and the breakup of large grazing farms. Opponents of ranching highlighted

7434-419: The cases were heard by the executive committee, which would summon both parties, call witnesses, examine evidence presented by the parties, make the judgment and assign a penalty if the code had been broken. Sometimes, juries would be called from the local communities and the plaintiff occasionally acted as prosecutor. Despite the trappings of common-law procedure, American historian Donald Jordan emphasizes that

7552-488: The concept of the absolute right of property. For the first time in Ireland tenants now had a legal interest in their holdings. The "Report of her Majesty's Commissioners of Enquiry into the working of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870 ( 33 & 34 Vict. c. 46) and the acts amending the same", under the chairmanship of the 6th Earl of Bessborough and hence commonly known as the " Bessborough Commission Report,"

7670-576: The country, with some large estates surviving if the owners could show that their land was being actively farmed. Provision was made for compulsory purchase of land owned by a non-Irish person until repealed in 1966. From 1923, the amounts outstanding under earlier acts were paid to the British government as "land annuities", accruing in a Land Purchase Fund. This was fixed at £250,000 annually in 1925. In December 1925, W. T. Cosgrave lamented that there were already: "250,000 occupiers of uneconomic holdings,

7788-473: The country. The Acts provided Irish tenant farmers with more rights than tenant farmers in the rest of the United Kingdom. Munster tenants availed of land purchase in exceptionally high numbers, encouraged by their Irish Land and Labour Association 's leader D. D. Sheehan after he and O'Brien established an Advisory Committee to mediate between landlords and tenants on purchase terms which produced

7906-439: The crime he has committed... if the population of a county in Ireland carry out this doctrine, that there will be no man ... [who would dare] to transgress your unwritten code of laws. Charles Stewart Parnell , at Ennis meeting, 19 September 1880 One of the Land League's main tactics was the famous boycott , whose target at first was " land grabbers ". Land League speakers including Michael Davitt began to advocate

8024-481: The different development trajectories between the United States and Latin America. He attributes the greater success and entrepreneurial spirit of the United States to its Homestead Acts giving land to prospective smallholders. Although there has been some debate as to the optimal size of landholdings for agricultural productivity , research has indicated that unlike industry, which benefits from economy of scale ,

8142-477: The disappearance of Lord Lucan in 1974. Paying ground rents is still considered by some to be an unresolved part of Ireland's history as a part of the United Kingdom; the Irish Government itself pays ground rents for iconic public buildings, including Government Buildings , the Four Courts , Dublin Castle and the Botanic Gardens . While the individual cost of each is relatively small, given inflation, an estimated 250,000 ground rents still exist in Ireland, with

8260-412: The economic situation deteriorated. Involvement of the clergy made it much more difficult for the British government to take action against the movement, which instilled "almost perfect unity" among Irish tenant farmers. In several constituencies, Land League-backed candidates failed in the 1880 general election due to clerical opposition. On 21 October 1879, the land League of Mayo was superseded by

8378-418: The fact that Catholic Irish were tenants was worse than "the heaviest yoke of feudal servitude". The Devon Commission of 1843–44 found that various forms of tenant right were practiced throughout Ireland, not just in Ulster . There was a tension between English law, which protected the absolute property rights of the landlord, and Irish custom on the other hand in which the tenant enjoyed an "interest" in

8496-602: The fact that many ranches had been created after the famine from land formerly tilled by evicted smallholders. Organised by the United Irish League and Laurence Ginnell , the Ranch War involved cattle drives, public rallies, boycotting, and intimidation. Between August and December 1907 alone, 292 cattle drives were reported to the authorities. It was most intense in areas of Connacht, North and East Leinster and North Munster where large grazing farms and uneconomic smallholdings existed side by side. The campaign resulted in

8614-407: The failure both of his government's policy of coercion and the Land League's No Rent strategy. Agrarian outrages decreased significantly after the founding of the Irish National League in 1882, due to the latter's system of dispute resolution for agrarian issues which imposed boycotting as its most severe punishment. British officials often claimed that the National League's effectiveness was due to

8732-526: The fear of violence from lawless elements if the litigant did not comply. Sociologist Samuel Clark argued that the threat of violence helped the Land League enforce its rulings and silence its enemies. In 1889, the Special Commission on Parnellism and Crime found no links between the IPP and agrarian crime. One British official explained that, while he was certain that the League did not plan or commit crimes, "without outrage and intimidation

8850-545: The formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, the commission was reconstituted by the Land Law (Commission) Act 1923 , which also dissolved the Congested Districts Board . The Land Act 1923 adopted many proposals for a final land settlement from decisions reached during the Irish Convention in 1918 under the chairmanship of Horace Plunkett . The convention's proposals formed the basis of

8968-547: The government. The settlement, known as the Kilmainham Treaty , involved withdrawing the manifesto and undertaking to move against agrarian crime. By 2 May all internees were released from jail, Davitt on 6 May, the day of the Phoenix Park Murders . With the Land League still suppressed, Parnell resurrected it with much ceremony together with Davitt on 17 October, proclaimed as a new organisation called

9086-505: The greatest beneficiaries of land reform were the middle class of medium farmers. The British Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone , had taken up the " Irish question " in an effort to win the general election of 1868 by uniting the Liberal Party behind this single issue. The shock of Fenian violence, especially in England, as well as the growing awareness of the potency of strong nationalist feelings in pan-European politics,

9204-542: The holdings of such a valuation as did not permit of a decent livelihood for the owners". Despite this, his government continued to subdivide larger landholdings, primarily to gain electoral support. The Land Act 1933 , passed on a vote of 70–39, allowed the Minister for Finance to divert the annuities for local government projects. This was a factor in the Anglo-Irish Trade War between 1932 and 1938, and

9322-530: The implications of property rights in England, many of whom were Whigs that Gladstone relied on for support in Parliament. Partly for this reason, Gladstone's approach was cautious, even conservative, for he was dedicated to maintaining the landlord class whose "social and moral influence", he said in 1863, was "absolutely essential to the welfare of the country." Furthermore, Gladstone met resistance from Whigs in his Cabinet itself, especially Robert Lowe , and

9440-528: The increase in violence in Ireland; it lost support to the Home Rule Movement , which won nine out of 14 Irish by-elections between 1870 and 1874, mainly formerly Liberal-held seats. Friedrich Engels , a contemporary observer, professed not to know "what the Tories could have against this Bill, which is so indulgent with the Irish landlords and finally places their interests in the tested hands of

9558-707: The land acts was the gradual displacement of the Protestant Ascendancy during the latter 19th and early 20th centuries accompanied by the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland by the Irish Church Act 1869 . Some "Ascendancy" land-owning families like the Marquess of Headfort and the Earl of Granard had by then converted to Catholicism, and a considerable number of Protestant Nationalists had already taken their part in Irish history. A survey of

9676-661: The land decreasing since the Great Irish Famine . The Encumbered Estates' Court (1849) and agitation by the Tenant Right League had led to the sale of estates by debt-ridden mainly absentee landlords . Gladstone's Liberal government had no explicit mandate for the Act, unlike the Irish Church Act 1869 , and so could expect some opposition from the English landlord class in the House of Lords , fearful for

9794-457: The largest landlords in Connacht also refused to contribute any money to relief funds, despite collecting more than £80,000 annually in rent. According to historians such as William Vaughan and Phillip Bull, the serious agricultural recession combined with a unified nationalist leadership set the stage to produce a powerful and lasting popular movement. The Land War began on 20 April 1879 at

9912-574: The law of conveyancing, mortgages, registration of and claims to title, rights of way and easements in the Republic of Ireland . Some little-used interests relating to feudal tenure , life interests , leases for lives and fee tails were formally abolished. The UK Parliament at Westminster passed further Land Acts for Northern Ireland after the Partition of Ireland , such as the Northern Ireland Land Act 1925 ( 15 & 16 Geo. 5 . c. 34),

10030-500: The leadership shifted from agitation to organization to harness the new energy for the nationalist cause. On 16 August 1879, the Land League of Mayo was founded in Castlebar , at which point the first overtures were made to the Catholic hierarchy. From September, priests quickly assumed leadership roles in the movement and presided over more than two thirds of the meetings in the rest of 1879. The movement continued to gain strength as

10148-484: The most productive farms are small- to medium- sized family farms cultivated with a minimum of hired labor. This may be because family labor is cheaper and more productive than hired labor, or because crops benefit from close attention. (The phenomenon of small farms being more efficient is known as the inverse relationship ). On the other hand, land fragmentation is known to reduce productivity of land. Land War The Land War ( Irish : Cogadh na Talún )

10266-403: The movement. The league adopted the slogan "the land for the people", which was vague enough to be acceptable to Irish nationalists across the political spectrum. For most of the tenant farmers, the slogan meant owning their own land. For smallholders on uneconomic holdings, especially in the congested western areas, it meant being granted larger holdings that their families had held previous to

10384-429: The new movement's capture by Fenian radicals, as the latter were unacceptable to the Catholic clergy and to larger tenants, on whose support Parnell depended. This meeting, especially Parnell's speech in which he promoted peasant proprietorship, was widely commented in the press as far afield as London. Initially, the movement was non-sectarian in character and Protestant tenants also took part in meetings. The focus of

10502-715: The poor smallholders in Connacht which it was intended to help, the League spurred the creation of the Independent Irish Party . In 1870, the Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone pushed through the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870 . The act actually increased agrarian tensions, as landlords attempted to evade provisions intended to protect departing tenants, while the tenants retaliated by setting up local Tenants' Defence Associations . One such

10620-519: The property, which he could buy or sell. This "interest" could be as much as 4–6 years rent, which incoming tenants had to pay with capital that they might otherwise have spent on their own improvements. In the decades following the Great Famine , rises in agricultural prices were not matched by rent increases, leading to an increase in the tenant's stake in the farm, which may have risen to as much as 10–20 years of rent. The existence of tenant right

10738-475: The rate of eviction, which was anyway at a low level. In the late 1870s when depression struck, evictions for non-payment of rent mounted, tenants had no protection, and in reply 'outrages' and the campaign by the Land League , led by Michael Davitt , became known as the Land War . The government had to pass a Coercion Act as early as 1881 (the Protection of Persons and Property (Ireland) Act 1881 ) because of

10856-455: The rents they had agreed. This impacted most on the poorer, wetter western parts of the island that also suffered from the 1879 famine . This provided the context and arguments for further legal reforms. The Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 ( 44 & 45 Vict. c. 49) gave tenants real security, though by this time the Irish were demanding proprietorship. The Act established the principle of dual ownership by landlord and tenant, gave legal status to

10974-423: The rest of the community." Larger farmers and landlords were better able to cope with a boycott, by weathering temporary loss of income, hiring scabs, or ordering supplies by mail. While the effectiveness of boycotting has been disputed the phrase and tactic has passed into the language of non-violent action. Rent strikes were used as a means of pressuring landlords to reduce the rent. Withheld rents often went to

11092-702: The resulting compromise measure was so weak that it had little difficulty in passing both Houses of Parliament, with one significant amendment. As well as the Land Act, the Liberal government also passed the Irish Church Act 1869 and put forward the Irish University Bill that failed to pass both Houses of Parliament . Policymakers made much use of the statistical data recently collated in Griffith's Valuation (1853–68). To prevent eviction by rack-renting, and so avoiding paying compensation to tenants,

11210-412: The same period—of which only 4–5% was reinvested. This led landlords to take on a role of non-productive managers within the island's overall economy. Conflict between landlords and tenants arose from opposing viewpoints on such issues as land consolidation , security of tenure , transition from tillage to grazing , and the role of the market. The Irish nationalist politician Isaac Butt pointed out

11328-694: The state annually paying for example to the Duke of Leinster for some buildings. Brian Hayes, Minister of State for the Office of Public Works in 2011, stated that a referendum would be required to put the practice to an end. Residents of Hayes' own constituency continue to be issued demands for payment, with many ignoring them, though given that outstanding liabilities of ground rent hinder residents' ability to sell their homes, about 1,600 applications per annum are made to buy out ground rents every year. The Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 comprehensively reformed

11446-403: The sum necessary to purchase their holdings, repayable over a period of years on terms determined by an independent commission, while the Wyndham Act finished off absentee landlords ' control over tenants and made it easier for tenants to purchase land, facilitating the transfer of about 9 million acres (36,000 km) up to 1914. By then 75% of occupiers were buying out their landlords under

11564-444: The tribunals essentially were an extension of the local branch judging if its own rules had been violated. These courts were described as a "shadow legal system" by British academic Frank Ledwidge. According to historian Charles Townshend , the formation of courts was the "most unacceptable of all acts of defiance" committed by the Land League. In 1881, Chief Secretary for Ireland William Edward Forster grumbled that Land League law

11682-463: The way for the most advanced social legislation in Ireland since the Union , the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 . This Act set the conditions for the break-up of large estates by government-sponsored purchase. Alongside the political and legal changes, the " Long Depression " affected rent yields and landlord-tenant relations across all of Europe from the 1870s to the 1890s. The population of Ireland

11800-514: Was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom ) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 1882, or include later outbreaks of agitation that periodically reignited until 1923, especially the 1886–1891 Plan of Campaign and the 1906–1909 Ranch War . The agitation was led by the Irish National Land League and its successors,

11918-480: Was a second reason to tackle the Irish question. Gladstone desired to bring peace with fairness to Ireland, and by extension, the rest of the UK, which was then at the zenith of worldwide Imperial power. The Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870 ( 33 & 34 Vict. c. 46) was partly the work of Chichester Fortescue , John Bright and Gladstone. The Irish situation was favourable, with agriculture improving and pressure on

12036-431: Was accepted by creditors who would extend loans with the tenant right as collateral. During the Great Famine (1845–1849), the poorest cottiers and agricultural labourers died or were forced to emigrate, freeing up land that was purchased by larger farmers. In 1850, the Tenant Right League briefly dominated Irish politics with the demand for free sale, fixity of tenure, and fair rent . Although it never caught on with

12154-498: Was also described as cruel, as new rent strikes would inevitably result in more evictions and boycotting as before, with all the associated intimidation and violence. Other reporters saw it as a matter of justice and of continuing concern to genuine liberals. The Campaign led on to events such as the Mitchelstown massacre in 1887 and the imprisonment of IPP MPs such as William O'Brien for their involvement. The violent aspects of

12272-509: Was ascendant: ... all law rests on the power to punish its infraction. There being no such power in Ireland at the present time, I am forced to acknowledge that to a great extent, the ordinary law of the country is powerless; but the unwritten law is powerful, because punishment is sure to follow its infraction. From 1882, the Irish National League organised courts to replace those of the earlier organisation. The key provisions forbade paying rent without abatements, taking over land from which

12390-405: Was designed to stop speculative purchases of land by non-Irish persons. The Succession Act 1965 treated real estate owned by a deceased person as personalty for the first time. The commission ceased acquiring land in 1983; this signified the start of the end of the commission's reform of Irish land ownership, though freehold transfers of farmland still had to be signed off by the commission into

12508-539: Was effected by the Irish Soldiers' and Sailors' Land Trust, which co-operated with the new Irish Free State , mostly building small new housing estates for veterans at the edge of towns. The object of the Act was to facilitate the reinstatement in civil-life of ex-servicemen and their dependents with the provision of £800,000 sterling for housing accommodation by the Local Government Board. On

12626-547: Was equal to 17½ years rental. The act was amended by the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1888 ( 51 & 52 Vict. c. 13), providing a further five million to the amount granted for purchase under the Ashbourne Act. The Land Law (Ireland) Act 1887 ( 50 & 51 Vict. c. 33) was Arthur Balfour 's major Land Act, which came at the end of the ' Plan of Campaign ' agitation. It provided £33,000,000 sterling for land purchase, but contained many complicated legal clauses, so that it

12744-468: Was further amended by Arthur Balfour : the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1887 ( 50 & 51 Vict. c. 33) extended the terms of the act to leaseholders. The flawed economics that lay behind these acts exposes a political aim on Gladstone's part, to destroy the raison d'être of the Land League (following the recent Land War ). Although the second Land Act ushered in a period of tentative calm, it became clear further reforms were necessary. The act undermined

12862-449: Was intended to uphold the League's image of being in favour of the rule of law, just Irish law instead of English law. When a man takes a farm from which another has been evicted, you must shun him on the roadside when you meet him, you must shun him in the streets of the town, you must shun him at the shop-counter, you must shun him in the fair and at the marketplace, and even in the house of worship... you must shun him your detestation of

12980-407: Was mutually resolved by a one-off payment of £10 million to Britain in 1938. From 1932 the government argued strongly that Irish farmers should no longer be obliged for historic reasons to pay Britain for Irish land, but when Britain had passed out of the payment system it illogically still required farmers to continue to pay their annuities to the Irish government as before. The Land Act 1965

13098-433: Was not put fully into effect until amended five years later. At this point only £13,500,000 had been employed. It substituted peasant proprietorship for dual ownership as the principle of land tenure. At the same time Balfour created the Congested Districts Board to deal with distress in the backward areas of the west of Ireland. The act was amended by the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1896 ( 59 & 60 Vict. c. 47), increasing

13216-482: Was overwhelmingly rural; in 1841, four-fifths of the population lived in hamlets smaller than 20 houses. This ratio declined over the century, but only due to emigration from rural areas and not from growth of the towns and cities. Land in Ireland was concentrated into relatively few hands, many of them absentee landlords . In 1870, 50% of the island was owned by 750 families. Between 1850 and 1870, landlords extracted £340 million in rent—far exceeding tax receipts for

13334-456: Was published in 1881 after lengthy hearings in 1880. It reported that the 1870 act gave the tenant no real protection because compensation for improvements could be claimed only on giving up the lease and because tenants saw themselves as forced to accept rent increases to avoid sacrificing what they had put into their holdings. It declared, "Freedom of contract, in the case of the majority of Irish tenants, large and small, does not really exist". By

13452-446: Was rejected in favour a demand for the abolition of "landlordism", promoted by Davitt and other radicals. On 17 May, Parnell was elected to the presidency of the IPP. Local chapters of the Land League frequently were formed from previous associations such as Tenants' Defence Associations or Farmers' Clubs, which decided to join the Land League because of the greater financial resources offered; this brought larger farmers and graziers into

13570-641: Was rent, which was typically paid in the spring; due to the poor harvest tenants could not afford to pay and many had been threatened with eviction. The crowd was guided and led into position by local Fenians—recruited by Davitt in an earlier trip with help from local IRB leader Pat Nally —even though the IRB council refused to sanction agrarian activism. Speakers included John O'Connor Power MP, Fenian Thomas Brennan , Glasgow-based activist John Ferguson , and Daly. Local Fenians organised meetings, at Claremorris on 25 May with 200 attendees and Knock on 1 June with

13688-418: Was the main vehicle of upward mobility for rural Catholics, the new Catholic grazier class was torn between its natural allegiance to Irish nationalism and its economic dependence on landlords to rent land for grazing. Many sided with the Land League, creating a mixed-class body whose actual economic interests conflicted. This further consolidated the nationalist nature of the Land League. The government set up

13806-610: Was to come. In 1878, the Irish-American Clan na Gael leader John Devoy offered Charles Stewart Parnell , then a rising star in the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), a deal which became known as the New Departure . As a result of this agreement, the physical-force and parliamentary wings of Irish nationalism agreed to work together on the land issue. This collaboration was cemented by

13924-534: Was unable to hire anyone to harvest the crops in his charge. Boycott was forced to leave the country; and the tactic spread throughout the country. The use of "intimidation" to enforce a boycott had to be criminalized in the Prevention of Crime (Ireland) Act 1882 . According to the Inspector General, boycotting "constituted a form of imprisonment for the victim who was isolated and separated from

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