William Frederick Bailey

“ The Land Act of 1860 proceeded on the assumption that the land is the exclusive property of the landlord, and that the tenant's interest is nothing more than that of a person who has agreed to pay a certain remuneration for the use of the soil for a limited period. It simplified and increased the remedies of the landlord for recovering possession of the land, and rendered efficient the law of ejectment for non-payment of rent and on notice to quit. ”

“ In the middle of the last century economic and legal tendencies in England set strongly in the direction of definiteness. The scientific split was abroad, and the desire of reformers was to bring all social phenomena under a rule of law. In England the method and system of the occupation of land easily lent themselves to a contractual relation, and it was considered that the same system should be applied to Ireland notwithstanding that the conditions there were quite different. ”

“ The cases in which the landlord does any of these things are the exception. In most cases, whatever is done in the way of building or fencing is done by the tenant, and in the ordinary language of the country—dwelling-houses, farm buildings, and even the making of fences, are described by the general word improvements, which is thus employed to denote the general adjuncts to a farm, without which, in England or Scotland, no tenant would be found to rent it. ”