Harrington, Tenant; Colomb, Landlord

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 24 November 1896
• Date: 24 November 1896
• Court: Land Commission (Ireland)

Harrington

Tenant

and

Colomb

Landlord (1).

Land Com.

CASES

DETERMINED BY

THE QUEEN'S BENCH AND EXCHEQUER DIVISIONS

OF

THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN IRELAND,

AND BY

THE IRISH LAND COMMISSION,

AND ON APPEAL THEREFROM IN

THE COURT OF APPEAL,

AND BY

THE COURT FOR CROWN CASES RESERVED.

1897.

Landlord and tenant — Application to fix fair rent — First occasion on which Land Commission Court sat — Service of originating notice on Land Commission during first sitting — No motion in Court — Subsequent order fixing fair rent — Commencement of statutory term — Application to determine judicial rent for second statutory term — Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 49), ss. 8 (8), 60.

An originating notice of application by a tenant to fix a fair rent for his holding was served on the landlord and the Irish Land Commission, during the extended sitting (20th October to 12th November, 1881), constituting the first occasion on which the Land Commission Court sat after the passing of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 49), but no motion was made in Court, nor was the application “recorded,” or any order or ruling made in respect of the same, during such extended sitting. An order fixing a fair rent was made on the 20th November, 1882. An originating notice of application to fix a fair rent for a second statutory term having been served in July, 1896:—

Held, on the authority of Chaine v. Nelson (12 L. R. Ir. 272) and Smyth v. Moore (32 L. R. Ir. 129), that no application to the Court, within the meaning of section 60 of the said Act, had been made on the first occasion on which the Court sat; that the first statutory term commenced from the rentday next succeeding, not the day on which the Act came into force (22nd August, 1881), but the fixing of the rent; and that the notice to fix a fair rent for the second statutory term was premature.

This Case was placed in the list for argument on the question whether the tenant's notice of application to fix a fair rent for a second statutory term was premature.

The Irish Land Commission commenced their first Court sitting on the 20th october, 1881, and by General Orders of the 19th and 27th october, 1881 (2), they directed that such sitting, forming the first occasion on which the Court sat [see Land Law (Ireland)

Act, 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 49), s. 60 (1)] should extend to and include the 12th November, 1881.

On the 31st October, 1881, the tenant's predecessor served on the predecessor of the landlord an originating notice of application to the Land Commission Court to fix the fair rent for his holding. On the 1st November, 1881, a copy of the notice was sent by post to the Land Commission [See Land Commission Rules (1st October, 1881), 24, 26, and 38] and was received by them on the following day. No motion or application was, however, made in Court during such extended sitting, nor was the application “recorded,” or any order or ruling in reference to the case made during that period.

The case was sent to a Sub-Commission, who, by order in the ordinary form, dated the 20th...