The Estate of Antonio R Edgeworth

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Wylie J.
• Judgment Date: 24 April 1917
• Court: Chancery Division (Ireland)
• Date: 24 April 1917

In the Matter of the Estate of Antonio R. Edgeworth.

Wylie J.

CASES

DETERMINED BY

THE CHANCERY DIVISION

OF

THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN IRELAND

AND BY

THE IRISH LAND COMMISSION,

AND ON APPEAL THEREFROM IN

THE COURT OF APPEAL.

1917.

Land Purchase Acts — Redemption — Superior Interest — Quit Rent — Jurisdiction of Land Commission to fix Redemption Price without consent of Commissioners of Woods and Forests — Land Law (Ir.) Act, 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 33), sect. 15, sub-s. 3 — Land Law (Ir.) Act, 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. 47), sect. 31, sub-ss. 1, 3, 8 — Irish Land Act, 1903 (3 Ed. 7, c. 37), sect. 64.

Section 15, sub-s. 3, of the Land Law (Ir.) Act, 1887, is impliedly repealed by sect. 31 of the Land Law (Ir.) Act, 1896, and accordingly quit rent, payable out of lands sold under the Land Purchase Acts, will be redeemed, and the redemption price fixed, without the consent of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests.

Attorney-General for Ireland v. Proby, [1916] 2 A. C. 468, applied.

Application by the vendor for an order that a quit rent of £4 18s. 1d, payable out of the lands which had been sold in this matter under the Land Purchase Acts be redeemed, and the redemption price fixed, without the consent of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests.

E. S. Murphy, for the vendor:—

Quit rent is a superior interest which comes within the provisions of sect. 31 of the Act of 1896, and the consent of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, under sect. 15, sub-s. 3, of the Act of 1887, is no longer necessary to redemption. The point was in effect decided in Attorney-General for Ireland v. Proby (1): see judgments of Lord Sumner (p. 477) and Lord Wrenbury (p. 480), the reasoning of which is general.

Serjeant Matheson K.C. and M. G. Longfield, for the Commissioners of Woods and Forests:—

The subject-matter of the decision in Attorney-General for Ireland v. Proby (1) was a Crown reversion expectant on the determination of an estate tail. Superior interests of that description were brought in for the first time by the extended definition in sect. 98, sub-s. 2, of the Act of 1903, The decision does not affect quit rent, which is still subject to the provisions of sect. 15 of the Act of 1887. Quit rent does not come within the definition of “superior interest” in sect. 31, sub-s. 8, of the Act of 1896, having regard to the special provisions in sect. 15 of the Act of 1887 affecting it. Sect. 31, sub-sect. 3, of the Act of 1896 in effect preserves the restrictions as to consent contained in sect. 15, sub-s. 3, of the Act of 1887. Having regard to the provisions contained in sect. 37, sub-s. 1, of the Act of 1896, dealing with the redemption of tithe rent-charge, it is clear that the consent of the Treasury is still necessary in cases not within the sub-section. This shows that sect. 15, sub-s. 3, of the Act of 1887 is still in force—an inference which further appears from sect. 31, sub-s. 1, of the Act of 1896. It cannot be suggested that the consent required by the sub-section is still necessary in the one case and not in the other. Sect. 61 of the Act of 1903 confers a new jurisdiction on the Commissioners of Woods and Forests in respect of the apportionment of quit and Crown rents, and preserves the express words of sect. 15 of the Act of 1887. The redemption cannot be carried out without the consent of the Commissioners.

E. S. Murphy, for the vendor:—

Serjeant Matheson K.C. and M. G. Longfield, for the Commissioners of Woods and Forests:—

Wylie J.:—

In this case, the lands sold were subject to a quit rent of £4 18s. 1d., and notwithstanding the recent decision of the House of Lords in Attorney-General for Ireland v. Proby (1), the Commissioners of Woods claim the right to fix the redemption price of this quit rent, and insist upon twenty-five years' purchase. The vendor, objecting to this, applied for an order that the quit rent be redeemed, and the price fixed without the consent of the Commissioners of Woods. On the hearing of...