A new look at the irish land question

Abstract

Behind the land question in nineteenth century Ireland lie two different conceptions of property and hence of landlord-tenant relations. One reflects communal notions and stresses tenants' prescriptive rights; the other reflects the idea of private property and stresses economically efficient outcomes. They can be described by simple economic models. Each is associated with a concept of rent and of the appropriate rent-setting institutions. During the nineteenth century, Irish land law was remodelled from a basis in equity and natural law to new concepts of contract and economic development. Attempts to move landlord-tenant relations and rent-setting institutions in this direction were only partially successful, and both economic and political developments are seen as the outcome of the coexistence of both traditions and the struggle between them.