LAND LAW (COMMISSION) ACT, 1923

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO THE IRISH LAND COMMISSION AND TO DISSOLVE THE CONGESTED DISTRICTS BOARD FOR IRELAND AND TRANSFER ITS FUNCTIONS TO THE IRISH LAND COMMISSION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES CONNECTED THEREWITH. [24th July, 1923.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTAT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Interpretation of certain terms.

1.—In this Act unless the context otherwise requires—

The expression “the Congested Districts Board” means the Congested Districts Board for Ireland;

The expression “the transfer date” means the date on which the administration of public services relating to land purchase was transferred as respects Saorstát Eireann to the Executive Council of Saorstát Eireann;

The expression “the Land Law Acts” means the Land Law Acts as defined by the Irish Land Act, 1909;

The expression “the Land Purchase Acts” means the Land Purchase Acts as defined by the Irish Land Act, 1909, together with any subsequent Act now in force which is by its terms to be construed as one with the Land Purchase Acts;

The expression “the Congested Districts Board (Ireland) Acts” shall have the same meaning as in the Irish Land Act, 1909, but shall include Part III. of that Act.

2 Confirmation of powers of the Irish Land Commission.

2.—(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Part III. of the Second Schedule to the Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1922, whereby the office of Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission ceased to exist as from the transfer date, the Irish Land Commission shall be deemed to have had since the transfer date continuous corporate existence in Saorstát Eireann and shall, from and after the passing of this Act, consist of a Judicial Commissioner and such number of other Commissioners as the Executive Council of Saorstát Eireann shall consider requisite.

• (2) The Irish Land Commission shall, notwithstanding the provisions aforesaid, have and be deemed to have had continuously since the transfer date all the jurisdictions, powers, duties and obligations which immediately before the transfer date were vested in or imposed on the Irish Land Commission and were exercisable or to be performed in Saorstát Eireann.

• (3) All the property of every nature and kind which was vested in the Irish Land Commission immediately before the transfer date, and was either situate in Saorstát Eireann or was vested in the Irish Land Commission for the purpose of functions to be performed in Saorstát Eireann, shall, notwithstanding the provisions aforesaid, be and be deemed to have been continuously since the transfer date vested in the Irish Land Commission for the like estates, interests and purposes and subject to the like trusts for and subject to which such property was respectively vested in the Irish Land Commission immediately before the transfer date.

3 Appointment of Judicial Commissioner.

3.—Until the establishment of Courts pursuant to Article 64 of the Constitution of Saorstát Eireann, Sub-section (5) of Section 28 of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, shall apply to the office of Judicial Commissioner under this Act, and from and after the establishment of such Courts a Judge of the High Court shall be assigned, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law, to discharge the office of Judicial Commissioner under this Act.

4 Appointment of Commissioners.

4.—(1) The Commissioners (other than the Judicial Commissioner) of the Irish Land Commission shall be appointed by the Executive Council of Saorstát Eireann.

• (2) Every jurisdiction, power and duty which immediately before the transfer date was by law vested in or imposed on the Estates Commissioners of the Irish Land Commission and was exercisable or to be performed in Saorstát Eireann shall upon the appointment of Commissioners under this section become and be vested in or imposed on the Commissioners so appointed, and every mention of or reference to the Estates Commissioners of the Irish Land Commission or any one or more of such Estates Commissioners contained in any Act, rule, regulation or order shall be construed and take effect as a mention of or reference to Commissioners appointed under this section or to a like number of such Commissioners.

• (3) Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to authorise the appointment of Estates Commissioners of the Irish Land Commission.

• (4) So much of Sub-section (3) of Section 28 of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, as provides that each Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission shall hold his office by the same tenure as if he was a County Court Judge in Ireland shall not apply to Commissioners appointed under this section.

5 Dissolution of the Congested Districts Board.

5.—Immediately upon the passing of this Act the Congested Districts Board shall stand dissolved, and thereupon every officer and person then in the employment of the Congested Districts Board shall be transferred to the employment of the Irish Land Commission, and shall, for the purposes of the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1919, be deemed to have been paid from moneys provided by Parliament or the Oireachtas throughout their service under the Congested Districts Board within the meaning of Section 17 of the Superannuation Act, 1859, and the pensionable service under the Congested Districts Board of such officers and persons as are pensionable pursuant to the provisions of any scheme made under Section 52 of the Irish Land Act, 1909, shall for the purposes of Section 2 of the Superannuation Act, 1909, be deemed to have been service in the permanent Civil Service of the State.

6 Transfer of jurisdiction and power of Congested Districts Board.

6.—(1) There shall be transferred to and vested in the Irish Land Commission immediately on the passing of this Act all and every jurisdiction, power and duty which, immediately before the passing of this Act, appertained to or were by any means vested in the Congested Districts Board under or by virtue of the Congested Districts Board (Ireland) Acts and were situate or exercisable within the area of Saorstát Eireann.

• (2) Whenever the jurisdiction or powers of the Congested Districts Board in respect of land situate in the Congested Districts Counties as defined by Section 46 of the Irish Land Act, 1909, were in derogation of the jurisdiction or powers of the Irish Land Commission exercisable in respect of land so situate or were more limited in any respect than the jurisdiction or powers of the Irish Land Commission in respect of land not so situate, the Irish Land Commission shall in addition to the jurisdiction and powers aforesaid of the Congested Districts Board, have in respect of lands so situate all the jurisdiction and powers which on the transfer date were vested in the Irish Land Commission in respect of land so situate, or of land not so situate.

• (3) All and every jurisdiction, power and duty transferred by this section which was, previous to the passing of this Act, exercisable or to be performed by the Congested Districts Board or any members or member thereof shall from and after the passing of this Act be exercised and performed by the Commissioners (other than the Judicial Commissioner) of the Irish Land Commission, but subject to the like right (if any) of appeal (including appeal by way of case stated or reference of a point of law) to the Judicial Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission as existed previous to the passing of this Act.

7 Transfer of property of Congested Districts Board.

7.—(1) Immediately upon the passing of this Act all lands, tenements and hereditaments situate in Saorstát Eireann which were vested in or held in trust for the Congested Districts Board immediately before the passing of this Act shall, without any conveyance thereof, become and be vested in the Irish Land Commission for all the estate and interest for which the same lands, tenements and hereditaments were respectively held by or for the Congested Districts Board.

• (2) Immediately upon the passing of this Act all property and assets whatsoever (other than lands, tenements and hereditaments) which immediately before the passing of this Act were vested in or belonged to the Congested Districts Board, shall vest in and become the property of the Irish Land Commission.

• (3) All moneys, stocks, shares and securities transferred to the Irish Land Commission by this Act which at the date of the passing of this Act are standing in the books of the Bank of Ireland or of any other corporation or company in the name of the Congested Districts Board shall, upon the request of the Minister for Agriculture, be transferred by such bank, corporation or company in its books into the name of the Irish Land Commission.

• (4) From and after the passing of this Act every bond, obligation, security or other chose-in-action made with or to the Congested Districts Board, the benefit of which is transferred by this Act, may be sued upon by the Irish Land Commission in its own name and it shall not be necessary for the Irish Land Commission to give notice to the person bound by such bond, obligation, security or chose-in-action of the transfer effected by this Act.

8 Adaptation of pending contracts.

8.—(1) Every deed and every contract and agreement in writing made before the passing of this Act with or by any person by or with the Estates Commissioners of the Irish Land Commission or the Congested Districts Board shall, if and so far as the terms and provisions of such deed, contract or agreement are not fully executed and completed, be construed and read as if the name of the Irish Land Commission was substituted in such deed, contract or agreement for the name of the Estates Commissioners or the Congested Districts Board as the case may require.

• (2) The benefits conferred and the obligations imposed on the Estates Commissioners aforesaid or the Congested Districts Board, as the case may be, by any such deed, contract or agreement as is mentioned in the preceding sub-section shall, so far as the same remains to be performed, be as from the passing of this Act respectively vested in or imposed on the Irish Land Commission as fully as if the Irish Land Commission were actually named in such deed, contract or agreement.

9 Disposal of the funds of the Congested Districts Board.

9.—(1) From and after the passing of this Act the following existing statutory provisions shall cease to have effect, that is to say—

• (a) Section 5 of the Congested Districts Board (Ireland) Act, 1899;

• (b) Section 38 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, in so far as it provides for the payment of the sum of £20,000 to the Congested Districts Board in each financial year;

• (c) Section 49 of the Irish Land Act, 1909, in so far as it provides for the payment to the Congested Districts Board of the annual sum of £144,750 (being the residue of the annual sum of £163,750 mentioned in that section remaining after payment of the annual sum of £19,000 to the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction).

• (2) The annual charge on moneys provided by the Oireachtas created by Section 1 of the Ireland Development Grant Act, 1903, shall be reduced by the sum of £20,000, being the annual sum payable under the said Section 38 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, to the Congested Districts Board.

• (3) From and after the passing of this Act, the annual sum placed at the disposal of the Congested Districts Board by virtue of Sub-section (1) of Section 35 of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, shall be paid to the Irish Land Commission and applied as an appropriation in aid of the vote for the Irish Land Commission.

• (4) All the property and assets (other than lands, tenements, and hereditaments) transferred by this Act from the Congested Districts Board to the Irish Land Commission shall be applied or retained by the Irish Land Commission under Regulations made by the Minister for Finance to meet outstanding or contingent liabilities of the Congested Districts Board and so far as not so applied or retained shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance may appoint.

10 Continuation of pending proceedings by or against the Congested Districts Board.

10.—In all suits, matters and proceedings to which the Congested Districts Board is a party and which at the passing of this Act are pending in any Court in Saorstát Eireann, the Irish Land Commission shall on the passing of this Act become and be a party in the place of the Congested Districts Board, and every such suit, matter and proceeding shall be continued between the Irish Land Commission and the other parties thereto accordingly.

11 Adaptation of existing enactments.

11.—(1) Every mention of or reference to the Judicial Commissioners or the Commissioners of the Irish Land Commission or to any of them contained in any Act or Order to which this section applies, shall, subject and without prejudice to the provisions of this Act and unless the context otherwise requires, be construed and take effect as a mention of or reference to the Judicial Commissioner appointed under this Act or the Judge for the time being executing his office or the Commissioners or a like number of Commissioners appointed under this Act, as the case may require.

• (2) Every mention of or reference to the Congested Districts Board contained in any Act or Order to which this section applies, other than the Congested Districts Board (Ireland) Acts, shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed and take effect as a mention of or reference to the Irish Land Commission.

• (3) The Executive Council of Saorstát Eireann may from time to time make all such general or specific adaptations of or modifications in any Act or Order to which this section applies as, in the opinion of the Executive Council, are necessary to remove doubts or difficulties in regard to the application of such Act or Order to the Irish Land Commission, or to the members thereof appointed under this Act or are otherwise necessary to give effect to the provisions of this Act.

• (4) This section applies to every Act of the Parliament of the late United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which was on the 6th day of December, 1922, in force in the area now within the jurisdiction of Saorstát Eireann and to every Act of the Oireachtas and to every Order made under any such Act as aforesaid, and which was in force on the date and in the area aforesaid, and in this section the word “Order” includes rule and regulation.

12 Control by Minister for Agriculture.

12.—The Irish Land Commission shall, in the exercise of such of its powers and duties as are of an administrative or executive nature, be subject to the control of the Minister for Agriculture.

13 Expenses of Irish Land Commission.

13.—The salaries or remuneration of the members, officers, and staff of the Irish Land Commission and all moneys required by the Irish Land Commission for the exercise of the powers or performance of the duties heretofore exercised or performed by the Congested Districts Board and all such other expenses of carrying this Act into effect shall to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

14 Short Title and Construction.

14.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Land Law (Commission) Act, 1923.

• (2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Land Law Acts and may be cited with those Acts and shall also be construed as one with the Land Purchase Acts and may be cited with those Acts.

• (3) So much of this Act as relates to the Congested Districts Board shall be construed as one with the Congested Districts Board (Ireland) Acts and may be cited with those Acts.