IRISH LAND LAWS. Under the Brehon laws, when the people of Ireland were divided into tribes, the land was usually the property of one of the four or five tribes which were the strongest in Erin. A large portion was given to the king or chief of the tribe, then divided among the clans that made up the tribe. Here again a large portion was given to the chief of the clan and then divided among the septs. The chief of the septs received the largest portion of the amount set apart for the sept. The free tribesmen, after the chief, received the greater part of the sept lands.
Some of the tribesmen, the Ceil, owned cat tle, some, the Daer and Saer, were loaned cattle by the chief. The Fuidhir were the tenants who performed the manual labor.
When a chief died, the tribesmen distributed his land among his descendants, and when a tribesman died, the chief distributed his prop erty. After England took possession of Ire land, the land tenure in a large part of the island continued to be administered under the communal basis of Brehon laws; but within °The Pale' the English feudal system pre vailed; there the king alone owned the land and the tenants derived ownership from him. Grad ually England forced her land laws upon Ire land. This was done by driving the °rebellious Irish' out of certain counties, Kings, Queen's, then out of all Ulster, when the Ulster plantation was established, in 1607. Other confiscations and dispossessions took place until all Ireland tame under the English law. Cromwell took forcible possession of the best lands of Munster and Leinster and a large part of Ulster, and divided the whole among his soldiers. Al though some of these lands were restored later, more was retaken, by act of Parliament, under William III. The chiefs and leaders among the people of Ireland were deprived of their lands and the friends of the king of England or of the English government, were given Irish possessions as a reward for military or political services. Thus the problem associated with the Irish land question virtually began with the en trance of Henry II into Ireland. In later times under the penal laws no Catholic could own land, and that in a country predominantly Catholic. The effect of this proscription on a proud and sensitive race need not be described, With the Irish owners deprived of their lands there was instituted the system of which has been a hindrance to Ireland's prog ress. The majority of those who owned the land did not live upon it, and usually the money received for rent was spent in a foreign conn= try. This absentee proprietorship, involving the total lack of personal contact between owner and tenant, was a further root of bitter ness. The landlord owned only the land; the houses had to be built and all improvements had to be made by the tenant and at his own expense. The more a holding was im proved, the more rent was demanded. The °middle men' who held lands under the owner and sublet to tenants were the means of in creasing the burdens of the unhappy peasantry. The commission under Lord Devon, in 1843, to investigate conditions in Ireland, revealed ait alarming state of affairs, and the famine of 1846-48 brought the Irish land question to the notice of the whole civilized world, even many of the English statesmen who had censured what they had regarded as Irish shiftlessness being astorushed when they learned the nature of the land laws which gave power of eviction without any remuneration for improvements; and the wonder was that so much thrift and industry existed. In 1847 John Russell
endeavored to pass an act to protect the tenant against loss by eviction. This measure failed, and others accepted by Parliament later proved ineffectual. Two years after the terrible dev astation by -famine,tlic Tenant Right League was organized in Dublin, and its members began a systematic campaign to elect to Parliament members pledged to Support measures for the relief of the tenants. The Land Acts of 1860, under the Palmerston ministry, may be said to have resulted from the agitation kept up by the Tenant Right League. Various other organ izations for the betterment of the people of Ireland were established, and among them were *physical force' societies. In 1870, under the Gladstone ministry, the first of really ameliora tive measures was passed, under which three principles were established: that a tenant could not be evicted if his rent were paid; that this non-payment must be for at least three years; and that if the tenant chose, be might sell his improvements. This purchase of improvement clause was a great advance in favor of tenants' rights. The next act was passed by Gladstone in 1881, giving the tenant a possessory right to his holding except for the non-payment of rent, and established a land commission to fix fair rents. The Land League in various parts of the world, especially the United 'States, con tinued the agitation and brought the remaining grievances of the Irish tenants before she whole world. The Ashbourne Act of 1885 provided for the purchase of the lands by the tenants and nearly $25,000,000 was set aside for that purpose. Later a like amount was added. A comprehensive scheme of land' purchase was an integral part of Gladstone's abortive Howie Rule bill of 1886. In 1891 the Balfour land purchase bill was passed and nearly $150,000,000 was provided for purchase. In 1896 this law was improved; but for various reasons. all the laws enacted by Parliament proved effective only in so far 'as the bringing of the matter to the notice of fair-minded statesmen. (See LAND Ukase). With the culminating' act' in the series definite settlement may be regarded as having been reached, when the. land pur chase bill was enacted 14 Aug. 1903, whereby the tenant may purchase and own land and the government will, under certain and fair condi tions, be responsible for the payment. To George Wyndham, who as chief secretary for Ireland, prepared the bill, the credit is largely due for the passage of the act. (See WYNDHAM, GEORGE ) Consult Reports on the °Land Pur chase)) acts for relief of Ireland; Hansard's 'Parliamentary Debates' ;Grinnell,(The Brehon Laws); Maine, on the Early History of Institutions); Fisher, (History of Landhold ing in Ireland) • Richey, (The Irish Land Law) ; Godkin, 'The Land War in Ireland); Richey, 'The Irish Landlord); 'Report of the Devon Commission); Cherry and Maxwell, (Irish Land Purchase Acts, 1880-1904); Bonn, (Modern Ireland and Her Agrarian Problem) (trans. by Rolleston) • McCarthy, (Irish Land and Irish Liberty.) See GREAT BRITAIN -THE ENGLISH LAND LAWS; HOME RULE.