Land Act , 1933

PART I. Preliminary and General.

1 Short title, construction and citation.

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Land Act, 1933.

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

2 Definitions.

2.—In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Lands and Fisheries;

the expression “the first gale day in the year 1933” means the first day in the year 1933, which is a gale day in respect of the annuity, rent, interest, or other annual payment in respect of which the expression is used;

the expression “officer of the Land Commission” includes a Land Commissioner other than the Judicial Commissioner;

the expression “Lay Commissioner” means a Land Commissioner other than the Judicial Commissioner;

references to proceedings for the recovery of any annuity, rent, interest, or other annual payment shall be construed as including a sale or proceedings for a sale of the holding, tenancy, or other land on account of a default in payment of such annuity, rent, interest or other annual payment.

3 General rules and regulations.

3.—(1) The Minister may, with the concurrence of a majority of a committee consisting of the Judicial Commissioner, the Secretary of the Land Commission, and a Lay Commissioner appointed for the purpose by the Minister and after consultation with the President of the Incorporated Law Society, make rules for carrying into effect the provisions (other than provisions relating to land purchase finance) of the Land Purchase Acts including this Act (except Part II thereof) and in this Act the word “prescribed” means prescribed by such rules.

(2) Rules made under the next preceding sub-section of this section may revoke in whole or in part or amend any rule made under any of the Land Purchase Acts except rules relating to land purchase finance.

(3) The Minister for Finance may make rules and regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act relating to land purchase finance, and may by such rules or regulations adapt to the requirements of this Act any provision relating to land purchase finance contained in any Act passed before this Act.

4 Expenses.

4.—(1) All expenses incurred by the Minister in the execution of this Act and not otherwise provided for by this Act shall, to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(2) All payments made and expenses incurred by the Land Commission in the execution of this Act and not otherwise provided for by this Act shall, to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

PART II. The Minister and the Appeal Tribunal.

5 Commencement of this Part of this Act.

5.—(1) This Part of this, Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister shall by order appoint to be the appointed day for the purposes of this Part of this Act.

(2) In this Part of this Act the expression “the appointed day” means the day appointed by the Minister under this section to be the appointed day for the purposes of this Part of this Act.

6 Powers of the Minister in relation to the Land Commission and the Lay Commissioners.

6.—(1) The following matters shall be excepted matters for the purposes of this section and the expression “excepted matters” shall in this section be construed accordingly, that is to say:—

(a) the determination of the persons from whom land is to be acquired or resumed;

(b) the determination of the actual lands to be acquired or resumed;

(c) the determination of the price to be paid for land so acquired or resumed;

(d) the determination of the persons to be selected as allottees of untenanted land;

(e) the determination of the price at which land is to be sold to any such allottee;

(f) the determination of the new holding which is to be provided for a tenant or proprietor whose holding has been acquired by the Land Commission;

(g) the determination whether or not a holding has been used by the tenant thereof as an ordinary farm in accordance with proper methods of husbandry.

(2) On and after the appointed day, the Land Commission, in the exercise and performance of the powers and duties for the time being vested in it by law (including this Act), and the Lay Commissioners, in the exercise and performance of the powers and duties for the time being specifically vested in them by law (including this Act), shall, save in relation to excepted matters, act under and in accordance with the directions, whether general or particular, of the Minister, and the Minister shall have and may exercise, if and so far as he shall think proper, full and unrestricted power of regulating and controlling every and any exercise or performance by the Land Commission or the Lay Commissioners (as the case may be) of any such power or duty not relating to an excepted matter and also power of reserving to himself rights of approval and disapproval or of reconsideration, revision and confirmation of every or any act of the Land Commission or the Lay Commissioners not relating to an excepted matter.

(3) All powers and duties for the time being vested by law (including this Act) in the Land Commission or the Lay Commissioners in relation to an excepted matter shall, on and after the appointed day be exercised and performed in all respects as if this section had not been enacted, save that—

(a) any appeal which may lie by law (including this Act) from the determination of an excepted matter shall lie to the Appeal Tribunal, and

(b) the Minister may, if and so far as he thinks proper, arrange by reference to the class or classes of case or the county or counties in which the land concerned is situate the distribution amongst the Lay Commissioners of their work in relation to the excepted matters, but not so as to allocate any particular case or land to any particular Lay Commissioner.

(4) Nothing in this section shall apply to the Judicial Commissioner or to the Appeal Tribunal or operate to give the Minister any power or control of any kind over or in relation to the exercise of his functions by the Judicial Commissioner or their functions by the Appeal Tribunal.

7 The Appeal Tribunal.

7.—(1) On and after the appointed day the Judicial Commissioner and two Lay Commissioners nominated for the purpose by the Executive Council shall constitute a tribunal, to be known and in this Act referred to as the Appeal Tribunal, to hear and determine all such applications, matters, and things as are by this Act or shall hereafter be authorised to be brought before it.

(2) Every Lay Commissioner appointed to be a member of the Appeal Tribunal shall hold his office as such member by the same tenure as a Judge of the Circuit Court holds his office as such Judge.

(3) Whenever the Executive Council is satisfied that a member of the Appeal Tribunal other than the Judicial Commissioner is temporarily unable on account of illness, absence on vacation, or other sufficient reason to discharge his duties as such member, the Executive Council may appoint another Lay Commissioner to be a member of the Appeal Tribunal during such temporary inability, and every Lay Commissioner so appointed shall while his said appointment continues hold office as such member by the same tenure as a Judge of the Circuit Court holds his office as such Judge.

(4) The Judicial Commissioner shall preside at every sitting of the Appeal Tribunal.

(5) Every question before the Appeal Tribunal shall be determined by a majority of the members of the tribunal, save that, on any question which, in the opinion of the Judicial Commissioner with the concurrence of one or both of the other members of the tribunal, is a question of law, the opinion of the Judicial Commissioner shall prevail.

(6) An appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from every determination by the Appeal Tribunal that a question before it is or is not a question of law, and for that purpose whenever the Appeal Tribunal determines that a question before it is or is not a question of law, the order made by the Appeal Tribunal on the said question so before it shall state the fact of such determination and whether the said question so before it was determined to be or was determined not to be a question of law.

(7) The Minister may, with the concurrence of a majority of a committee consisting of the Judicial Commissioner, the Secretary of the Land Commission, a Lay Commissioner appointed for the purpose by the Minister, a practising barrister nominated by the Council of the Bar of Saorstát Eireann, and the President of the Incorporated Law Society, make rules regulating and prescribing the practice and procedure of the Appeal Tribunal.

8 Applications to the Appeal Tribunal by way of appeal under this or any future Act.

8.—(1) Whenever, on or after the appointed day, an order is made or a thing is done, in exercise of a power conferred by this Act (other than this Part thereof) or any Act passed after this Act and an unlimited right of appeal or a limited right of appeal to the Appeal Tribunal from an exercise of such power is given by this Act (other than this Part thereof) or any Act passed after this Act, any person aggrieved by the making of such order or the doing of such thing may apply to the Appeal Tribunal for relief from such exercise of such power but limited, in the case of a limited right of appeal, to such relief as is within such limited right.

(2) The Appeal Tribunal shall hear and determine every application made to it under this section and may give such relief or make such other order thereon as the Appeal Tribunal shall consider to be just and equitable.

9 Transfer of appeals from the Judicial Commissioner to the Appeal Tribunal.

9.—(1) On and after the appointed day no appeal to the Judicial Commissioner shall lie from an order of the Land Commission or of the Land Commissioners other than the Judicial Commissioner but, in lieu thereof, wherever any such appeal would have lain on or after the appointed day if this section had not been enacted the like appeal shall, in cases not otherwise provided for by this Part of this Act, lie to the Appeal Tribunal.

(2) Every appeal to the Judicial Commissioner which is brought before the appointed day and the hearing of which is not begun before the appointed day shall be deemed to be an appeal to the Appeal Tribunal and shall be heard and determined accordingly.

(3) In this section the expression “order of the Land Commission” includes an order of the Land Commission under section 3 of the Forestry Act, 1928 (No. 34 of 1928), and a decision of the Land Commission under section 4 of the Mines and Minerals Act, 1931 (No. 54 of 1931).

10 Appeals from orders of the Appeal Tribunal.

10.—Whenever the Appeal Tribunal makes an order from which an appeal would have lain if this Part of this, Act had not been enacted and such order had been made by the Judicial Commissioner, the like appeal shall (save as is otherwise provided by this Act) lie from such order of the Appeal Tribunal as would have lain as aforesaid.

11 Transfer of certain powers to the Appeal Tribunal.

11.—On any application by the Land Commission for or in connection with the resumption of a holding, the powers of the Court under section 5 of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881, as amended, by subsequent enactments (including this Act) shall be exercised by the Appeal Tribunal, and the decision of the Appeal Tribunal on such application shall be final.

PART III. Arrears and Revision of Purchase Annuities, Rents, and other Annual Payments.

12 Arrears and revision of purchase annuities payable to the Land Commission.

12.—(1) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to proceedings by the Land Commission for the recovery of arrears of any purchase annuity to which this section applies which accrued due on or before the first gale day in the year 1933, that is to say:—

(a) no such proceeding shall be begun after the passing of this Act;

(b) any judgment or decree for the payment of any such, arrears obtained in any such proceeding but not executed before the passing of this Act shall, immediately upon such passing, become and be void and unenforceable;

(c) no such proceeding which was begun before and is pending at the passing of this Act shall be further prosecuted or proceeded with by the Land Commission after such passing unless a defence was filed or entered in such proceeding before such passing.

(2) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act, the Land Commission shall ascertain the amount of the arrears of every purchase annuity to which this section applies which were due and owing on the 31st day of July, 1933, and the amount of the costs and expenses (if any) incurred by the Land Commission before the passing of this Act in proceedings (if any) commenced before the 1st day of October, 1932, for the recovery of such arrears, and immediately upon such ascertainment—

(a) where the amount so ascertained of such arrears does not exceed the aggregate amount of such purchase annuity payable during the three years ending on the first gale day in the year 1933, such arrears together with the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses shall (if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be payable by means of a funding annuity and not otherwise; and

(b) in every other case, the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses together with so much of such arrears as is equal to the said aggregate amount shall (if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be payable by means of a funding annuity and the residue of such arrears shall not be payable.

(3) The amount payable by the purchaser in respect of any instalment accruing after the first gale day in the year 1933 of any purchase annuity to which this section applies shall—

(a) in the case of a purchase annuity payable by an allottee in respect of a parcel of land purchased under the Irish Land (Provision for Sailors and Soldiers) Act, 1919, or under the Land Act, 1923, or any Act amending or extending that Act, be 45 per cent. and no more of the full amount of such instalment; and

(b) in every other case, be 50 per cent. and no more of the full amount of such instalment.

This sub-section shall apply to a purchase annuity notwithstanding that the holding in respect of which such annuity is payable was sold at an enhanced price owing to expenditure by the Land Commission on improvements.

(4) Where, in the case of a purchase annuity to which this section applies, arrears of rent or of interest on purchase money or of interest in lieu of rent or of payment in lieu of rent were due and owing on the 31st day of July, 1933, in respect of the holding in respect of which such purchase annuity is payable, the said arrears of rent, interest on purchase money, interest in lieu of rent or payment in lieu of rent (as the case may be) shall be deemed for the purpose of this section to be arrears of the said purchase annuity and this section shall apply thereto accordingly.

(5) This section (save as otherwise expressly provided therein) applies to every purchase annuity subsisting at the passing of this Act and payable in respect of a holding purchased under the Land Purchase Acts, including holdings for the purchase of which advances were made on the sale of lands bought by the Congested Districts Board out of the funds at its disposal.

(6) This section also applies to the following sums and moneys as if they were purchase annuities, and the expression “purchase annuities” shall for the purposes of this section be construed as including the said following sums and moneys, that is to say:—

(a) annual sums and additional sums payable by purchasers of holdings for the purchase of which agreements for purchase are deemed to have been entered into under the Land Purchase Acts; and

(b) annual sums and additional sums payable by tenants of retained holdings for the purchase of which agreements for purchase are not deemed to have been entered into; and

(c) annual sums and additional sums and arrears of rents or of interest on purchase money payable by purchasers of holdings comprised in a list of congested districts holdings published in pursuance of section 23 of the Land Act, 1931, or in a list of holdings on untenanted land published in pursuance of section 24 of that Act.

13 Arrears and revision of purchase annuities payable to the Commissioners of Public Works.

13.—(1) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to proceedings by the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland for the recovery of any arrears of a purchase annuity to which this section applies which accrued due on or before the first gale day in the year 1933, that is to say:—

(a) no such proceedings shall be begun after the passing of this Act;

(b) any judgment or decree for the payment of any such arrears obtained in any such proceeding but not executed before the passing of this Act shall, immediately upon such passing, become and be void and unenforceable;

(c) no such proceceding which was begun before and is pending at the passing of this Act shall be further prosecuted or proceeded with by the said Commissioners after such passing unless a defence was filed or entered in such proceceding before such passing.

(2) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland shall ascertain the amount of the arrears of every purchase annuity to which this section applies which were due and owing on the 31st day of July, 1933, and the amount of the costs and expenses (if any) incurred by the said Commissioners before the passing of this Act in proceedings (if any) commenced before the 1st day of October, 1932, for the recovery of such arrears, and immediately upon such ascertainment—

(a) where the amount so ascertained of such arrears does not exceed three times the yearly amount of such purchase annuity, such arrears together with the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses shall (if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be payable by means of a funding annuity and not otherwise; and

(b) in every other case, the amount so ascertained of the said costs and expenses together with so much of such arrears as is equal to three times the yearly amount of such purchase annuity shall (if not otherwise paid before the passing of this Act) be payable by means of a funding annuity and not otherwise and the residue of such arrears shall not be payable

(3) The amount payable by the purchaser in respect of any instalment accruing after the first gale day in the year 1933 of any purchase annuity to which this section applies shall be 50 per cent. and no more of the full amount of such instalment.

(4) This section applies to purchase annuities payable in respect of holdings purchased under Parts II and III of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870.

14 Arrears and revision of interest in lieu of rent.