INCUMBERED ESTATES COURTS are tribunals, established under recent statutes, for the purpose of disposing more readily than the ordinary judicial machinery will permit, of landed property subject to incumbrances, or legal claims at the instance of other per sons than the proprietors. The want of such courts was first felt in Ireland. A quarter of a century ago the rents of many Irish estates did not suffice to pay the interest of the debts created over them, and the number of such ineumbered properties was increased by the abolition .of the corn-laws in 1846, which lessened the demand for those products of tillage which had rendered the cultivation of the soil possible by cottier tenants. It was believed that Ireland must become a grazing country; but that it could only do so in the hands of capitalist farmers, or landlords farming their own lands, and that a complete revolution in tenure was required to put them in possession of the soil. The sluggish and expensive procedure of the court of chancery made it impossible to effect this; and it became necessary to call into existence some more simple machinery by which property could be transferred from the old to a new class of proprietors. An auction-mart rather than a legal tribunal was wanted, under the control of officers able 'to scrutinize titles and adjust claims on landed property with care, yet without undue delay, and authorized to sell incumbered estates in the open market, to hand over a good and simple title to the purchasers, and to divide the sum realized among the proprietors, mortgagees, and others concerned, according to their interests. To accomplish this,.an act (11 and 12 Viet. c. 48) was passed in 1848; but owing to defective construction it was found inoperative. It was followed, in 1849, by a second act (12 and 13 Vict. c. 77), the object of whibli was to enable any owner of laud, or of a lease of land for not less than 63 years unexpired, sub ject to incumbrance, to apply to commissioners, appointed under it, and forming a court of record, to direct a sale. The total number of petitions presented in the eight years ending 1837 was 4,413, of which 1363 were lodged by owners. The number of absolute orders for sale during the same period was 3,547. The gross amount produced by sales from the foundation of the court up to Aug., 1859, was £25,190,839, of which there was distributed to creditors £24,229,027, including £3,692,611 allowed to incumbrancers who became purchasers. A sum of £961,809 remained in hand to satisfy unadjusted claims. At this period, however, the business before the court had almost ceased. There were, in fact, no longer mOrtgagees`exasperated by long-suffering left to petition; all the incum bered. land had been sold, and everybody with claims on it had been paid. It was then determined that the new tribunal should, with wider functions, be rendered permanent. The landed estates (Ireland) act (21 and 22 Vict. c. 72), passed in 1858, abolished the incumbered estates court, and transferred the judges and officers to the landed estates court, a permanent tribunal, with the wider functions required, and with various other powers connected with the declaration of title, partitions, exchanges, and redistribution of land. The record of title office, the counterpart of the land registry office in England, has been since placed under the direction of the landed estates court. Since the passing
of the act in 1865 to Nov., 1871, 493 estates had been registered, valued at £1,715,870, the amount of mortgages recorded being £177,344. Between Nov. 1, 1858, and Jan. 31, 1862, the amount realized by sales made by the landed estates court was £5,940,990; and the approximate capital value of estates brought under its jurisdiction, but remaining unsold, £3,664,990. The rental and value of the estates sold in 1870, 1875, and 1877 are indicated in the following summary: 1870. 1875. 1877.
Net rental of estates sold 248,269 233,2II2 .£74,W0 Amount of purchase money 757,218 1,209,488 1,430,453 Number of sales eel 258 310 There can be no doubt that the statutes calling into existence these courts have facilitated a great revolution in the tenure of the land in Ireland. They supplied the means by which a very great part of the soil passed rapidly from cottier tenants (i.e., laborers pay ing rents determined by competition) and an embarrassed and non-resident gentry to capitalist farmers and to landlords who cultivated the soil themselves, and under whom the country rapidly increased in agricultural prosperity. There can be as little doubt, however, that the process inflicted grievous injury on the tenants. It had never been usual in Ireland, as in other countries, for the landlord to bear the expense of permanent improvements. These were carried out by the tenant, who trusted to make an arrange ment with regard to rent which would compensate him for his expenditure of labor or money. The sales under the incumbered and landed estates acts deprived the tenant of all power to make such claims. Increased rents were demanded under pain of eviction, and the result was that small farmers were obliged to emigrate, to remove to the towns in search of work, or remain as servants on their old farms. The Irish peasantry were not a elass•likely to submit quietly to such changes. Acts of retaliation and widespread discontent were the consequences, and it was found necessary to reconsider the whole subject of land tenure in Ireland. The conclusion come to was that exceptional legisla tion was necessary for this part of the United Kingdom; and accordingly on Aug. 1, 1870, the Irish land act was passed, which effectually checked what was described as the grievous wrong and injustice to tenants by the purchasers in the land courts. It would at present be premature to express any opinion as to the ultimate effect of the new land law on the political and social condition of the Irish people.—See The Story of the Ineum bered Estates Court, by Percy Fitzgerald, 1862; article on the new Irish land law, iu Fraser's Magazine for Mar., 1872; and Thom's Irish Almanac, which gives annually a summary of the information contained in the return made to the house of commons.
In 1854 the West Indian incumbered estates court was established under the statute 17 and 18 Viet. e. 117, entitled "an act to facilitate the sale and transfer of incumbered estates in the West Indies." The purposes and regulations were similar to those of the Irish incumbered estates act, the court of the chief commission being held, however, in Westminster, where it still sits