A most important appeal was heard before the Irish Land
Commission at Belfast on Wednesday, in which the clause commonly called " Healy's clause," by which it is provided that "no rent shall be made payable in respect of improve- ments made by the tenant, or his predecessors in title, for which he shall not have been compensated by the landlord," was first brought under the consideration of the Court. Applying this clause to the particular case before him, Mr. Justice O'Hagan held, it seems to us, with obvious reason and equity, that "in order to enable the landlord to claim rent for those improve- ments, he must, so to speak, have bought them from the tenant, and paid him for them, or otherwise compensated him. Such compensation may take a hundred forms, which it would be im- possible to enumerate ; but it must, I conceive, be something given or done by the landlord as an equivalent for the improvements." We fail to see how the clause can be otherwise logically con- strued. Mr. Litton, the second legal Commissioner, concurred with Judge O'Hagan. But Mr. Vernon, who is not a lawyer, differs from the judgments of the legal Commissioners, believing they would "lead to results which were never contemplated by the Legislature." But surely there is no way of knowing what the Legislature contemplates, except by construing, according to well-understood rules, the words, here sufficiently plain, in which it expounds its meaning. The case is reserved for the Appellate Court, and its decision will probably lead to the settle- ment by agreement out of Court of a great number of cases.
