The Estate of Thomas F. Ruttledge

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Wylie, J.
• Judgment Date: 12 November 1907
• Court: Chancery Division (Ireland)
• Date: 12 November 1907

In the Matter of the Estate of Thomas F. Ruttledge.

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.

1908.

Land Purchase Acts — Tenant, pending the matter, remaining in possession after dismissal of petition — Tenancy, when created — “Former tenant” — Irish Land Act, 1903 (3 Edw. 7, c. 37), s. 53(1).

Held, (1) that the tenancy was one created after the 1st January, 1901; but (2) that the tenant was a former tenant, within the meaning of the proviso to section 53 (1) of The Irish Land Act, 1903.

Questions of law submitted by the Estates Commissioners for the decision of the Judicial Commissioner, pursuant to section 23 (1) of the Irish Land Act, 1903.

From the memorandum of the Estates Commissioners the following facts appeared:— Martin May had signed an agreement dated 9th January, 1905, for the purchase of his holding, which comprised 107_A. 3_R. 21_P. of the lands of Ballyargadaun, county Mayo, held at a rent of £120, and had applied for an advance of £2615. The holding was situated in an administrative county, which comprised a congested districts county. The holding was formerly comprised in the estate of C. B. Jennings, owner, J. E. Chapman, petitioner, which was for sale in the Land Judge's Court. By lease dated 26th May, 1900, the Land Judge let the holding to Martin May, the present tenant purchaser, for seven years from 25th March, 1900, pending the matter of Jennings' estate, at the yearly rent of £120. By order dated 12th May, 1902, the Land Judge dismissed the petition for sale in Jennings' estate as regards the lands then unsold, which included Martin May's holding. By indenture, dated 18th August, 1902, Mary E. Jennings, in whom all the estate and interest of C. B. Jennings were then vested, conveyed the lands compromised in Martin May's holding, with other land, to the vendor absolutely.

On the petition for sale in Jennings' estate being dismissed, Martin May remained in possession of the bolding, and continued to pay the rent of £120 per annum to Mary E. Jennings, and subsequently to the vendor without any new agreement; the contention of the vendor was that no tenancy was created after the 1st January, 1901, and if it should be held that the present tenancy of Martin May commenced on or subsequent to the determination of the tenant's former lease by the dismissal of the petition for sale in Jennings' estate on...