Custom of Ulster

The Custom of Ulster gave tenants of this province of Ireland a reasonable expectation of security of tenure so long as they paid their rent, and also allowed them to sell the right to occupy their holding to another tenant acceptable to the landlord. It was believed to be one reason for the greater prosperity of Ulster farms, but modern research does not support this.

The Custom of Ulster was given the force of law under the 1870 Irish Land Act: From September 1869 William Gladstone was busily engaged in investigating landlord-tenant relations in Ireland and also elsewhere in Europe to devise a scheme to regulate landlord-tenant relations. The Chief Secretary, Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue, suggested in November that the Ulster custom of security of tenure for tenants should be protected by law and that a tenant not enjoying the protection of this custom should be entitled to compensation from the landlord if they were evicted.

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