Irish Land Acts

Series of 19th-century laws designed to improve the lot of the Irish peasantry. The first act in 1870 awarded tenants compensation for improvements they had made to land, but offered no protection against increased rents or eviction. The second act in 1881 introduced the ‘three ‘f’s’ – fair rents, fixity of tenure, and freedom of sale. The third act in 1885, part of the British prime minister William Gladstone's abortive plans for home rule, provided £5 million for tenants to buy out their landlords. This scheme was further strengthened by the Wyndham Act of 1903, which offered inducements to landlords to sell. Before the end of the Union with Britain, some 11 million acres were purchased with government assistance.