Re Settled Land Acts and Obre

JurisdictionIreland
Judgment Date02 December 1919
Date02 December 1919
CourtHigh Court
In re Settled Land Acts and Obré.
In re SETTLED LAND ACTS and OBRÉobré

Settled land - Sale to tenants - Person "deemed to be tenant for life" - Trust for sale - Costs - Land Act, 1903 (3 Edw. 7, c. 37), sect. 48 - Land Act,1904 (4 Edw. 7, c. 34), sect. 3 - Settled Land Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 38),sect. 63 - Settled Land Act, 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c. 18), sect. 7.

Summons.

By his will, dated the 9th November, 1899, Edward Stanley Obré devised the lands the subject of the present application, to his executors and trustees upon trust for sale and conversion at their discretion, and to invest the residue of the proceeds of such sale, after payment of his funeral and testamentary expenses, and pay the income thereof to his wife, Georgina Augusta Obré, for her life or during her widowhood, with remainder in trust for the children of the marriage. The testator died on the 1st July, 1907. In 1908 Georgina Augusta Obré entered into agreements with the occupying tenants of the lands for the sale to them of the fee-simple thereof under the Land Acts, 1903 and 1904. The present application was brought under sect. 7 of the Settled Land Act, 1884, by the said Georgina Augusta Obré as "a person deemed to be tenant for life" of the lands under sect. 63 of the Settled Land Act, 1882, for leave to exercise her power of sale.

Where the person deemed to be tenant for life of land devised to trustees upon trust for sale has entered into agreements for the sale of the land under the provisions of the Irish Land Acts, 1903-4, the Court, if satisfied that he is acting honestly and for the advantage of all persons interested, will give him leave to exercise his power of sale under the Settled Land Acts, although the effect will be that he will capture the bonus. The applicant was directed to bear his own costs, and the costs of the trustees were directed to be paid out of the trust fund.

In re Iever's Settlement ([1904] 1 I. R. 492); In re Settled Land Acts and Tuthill ([1907] 1 I. R. 305); Finch v. Jones ([1912] 1 I. R. 388), followed.

O'Connor M.R. :—

I must follow the decided cases. Although in In re Iever's Settlement(1) the applicants raised the point that the trustees could not sell without the consent of the tenant for life, Barton J. attached no importance to this, but decided that as the proposed sale would be for the benefit of the estate the tenant for life was entitled to get the bonus. In Tuthill's Case(2) my predecessor quoted the following...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT