- Irwin v O'Connell and Others

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 31 July 1936
• Date: 31 July 1936
• Court: Supreme Court (Irish Free State)

S. C., I.F.S.]

- Irwin

and

O'Connell and Others

- Husband and wife -Yearly tenancy transferred by father to married son - Eviction threatened - Collusive transfer of tenancy to son's wife - Wi e subsequently registered as full owner under land Purchase Acts -Action by son for declaration of trust on her death - Surrender of tenancy by operation of law - Creation of new tenancy - Presumption of advancement - Presumption of resulting trust -Onus of proof - Laches and acquiescence.

In 1891, on the occasion of the plaintiff's marriage, he became tenant, in lieu of his father, of a farm held on a yearly tenancy. At the same time, he covenanted by deed, in consideration of the change of tenant, to support his father and mother and to pay them and the survivor an annuity and to allow them a right of residence. In 1898, upon the occasion of a threatened eviction under an ejectment decree for non-payment of rent, the sheriff was withdrawn upon payment of the arrears due, and the name of the plaintiff's wife was substituted for that of the plaintiff as tenant in the landlord's books. She thereafter paid the rent and received receipts in her own name. In 1903, the plaintiff's mother (his father having previously died) claimed arrears of annuity, unpaid since 1898, in an equity suit against the plaintiff and his wife. The County Court Judge (affirmed on appeal by the Judge of Assize) held the wife's interest in the farm to be a graft on the previous interest of the plaintiff and declared the annuity well charged on her interest. The annuity was thereafter paid until the mother's death in 1918. In 1921, the plaintiff's wife was registered as full owner of the farm subject to equities in pursuance of a purchase agreement under the Land Purchase Acts entered into by her alone in 1908. She died in 1931, the plaintiff having lived on the farm and worked it with her...