Brennan v Attorney General

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1983
• Date: 01 January 1983
• Court: High Court

Brennan

and

The Attorney General

(H.C.)

Property rights -Valuation of agricultural land - Valuation carried out between 1852 and 1866 - No revaluation ever taking place - Valuation determining the extent of liability in respect of certain taxes, and the extent of eligibility for certain benefits - Valuation unrelated to the circumstances of the present day - Whether an unjust attack on property rights - Whether arbitrary and unjust discrimination -Whether legislation, by virtue of its purported amendment in 1961, entitled to the benefit of the presumption of constitutionality - Valuation (Ireland) Act, 1852, (15 16 Vict. c. 63 - Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act, 1961. (No. 39) -Constitution of Ireland, 1937, Articles 40, 43.

The plaintiffs are members of an unincorporated association of Wexford farmers under the auspices of the Wexford branch of the Irish Farmers Association. As holders of agricultural land the valuation of such land is made by reference to an estimate of the net annual value thereof which in turn was estimated by reference to the average prices of certain agricultural products listed in s. 11 of the Valuation Act, 1852, and which in turn represented an average of prices prevailing from 1849 to 1852. The valuation, known as "The Griffith Valuation" took a period of 14 years to complete for the whole of...