it shall be lawful for the owner of the lease or underlease in perpetuity, who has required such grant, or would be entitled to require the same, as the case may be, to apply to the Court of Chancery in Ireland, or Court of Exchequer in Ireland, on the equity side thereof, in a summary way by petition praying that a grant may be executed to him under this act,, or that it may be declared what covenants, conditions, exceptions or reservations should be contained in such grant, or that any such exceptions, reservations, or rights, as aforesaid, may be commuted, or that the terms or conditions of such grant may be settled, or that the amount of the fee-farm rent may be determined, or such other relief as shall be applicable to the case; and every such petition shall be intituled "In the Matter of the Renewable Leasehold Conversion Act," ex parte the person who presents such petition, and shall shall state the date and names of the parties to whom, and the short contents of the lease or under-lease in respect of which the same is presented, and of the last renewal thereof, with the name of the lands, and the parish, barony, and county in which the same are situate, and the na ture and extent of the estate or interest of the petitioner in such lease or under-lease, and shall, where the right of the petitioner to a renewal of such lease or under-lease is disputed, state that such a right is disputed, and shall state such other matters as the circumstances of the case may require; and every such petition shall be verified by the affidavit of the person by whom the same is presented, or of his solicitor, attorney, or agent, or otherwise as the court shall consider sufficient, and in all cases under this act the reversion, lease, and under-lease respectively shall be sufficiently represented by the respective owners thereof, and it shall not be necessary to bring before the court any other parties interested in such reversion, lease, and under-lease respectively unless in special cases the court shall otherwise direct.

XXI. And be it enacted, that where such petition as aforesaid is presented in respect of a lease or under-lease the right to a renewal of which is disputed such petition shall be heard by the court, and the court may upon hearing determine the right to such renewal, or retain the petition until such right be established on a bill filed or other proper proceeding taken for such purpose, or may refer the said matter of such petition to the Master or Remembrancer, or make such other order in the matter of such petition as the court may think fit; and such petition shall, days before the hearing thereof, be served by or on behalf of the party presenting the same on the owner of the reversion, lease, under- lease, or estate from the owner whereof the grant under this act was required; and where such petition is presented in respect of a lease or under-lease the right to a renewal of whch is not disputed, it shall be in the discretion of the court either to make an order for hearing thereon, or else ex parte to make an order referring the matter of such petition to the Master or Remembrancer.

XXII. And be it enacted, that where the matter of any such petition as aforesaid is referred to the Master or Remembrancer, either upon the hearing

or ex parte, such Master or Remembrancer shall thereupon proceed to inquire into the matter of such petition, and shall require notice, in such form as he may think fit, of such petition and of the rule or order thereon, and of a time and place for the parties to appear before him, to be served upon the owner of the reversion, lease, under-lease, or estate from the owner whereof the grant under this act was or might be required, or in case such owner be under disability or out of the United Kingdom, and there be no guardian, committee, husband, or attor ney, competent to act for such owner under the provision hereinbefore contained, then the Master or Remembrancer may require such substituted service as he may think fit of such notice as aforesaid; and at the time and place fixed by such notice the Master or Remembrancer shall proceed to inquire and ascertain whether the petition is presented by a person entitled to require a grant under the provisions of this act of an estate of inheritance in the lands comprised in the lease or under-lease in perpetuity in respect of which such petition is presented, and in case he so find he shall proceed to ascertain the amount of the fee-farm rent to be made payable by such grant, and to settle the terms and conditions of such grant, in case the parties differ about the same or the nature of the petition shall so require, and when the owner from whom a grant might be required is under disability, and there is no guardian, committee, husband, or attorney as aforesaid of such owner, shall nominate a person to be substituted for the purposes of this act in all proceed ings under such petition as aforesaid in the place of such owner; and where there is any arrear or sum of or in respect of rent, or any fine or fines, or fees, which under this act might be required to be paid before the execution of a grant under this act, and the owner required to execute such grant has refused to accept payment thereof, or there is no person to whom the same can properly be paid, or it is not known to whom the same ought to be paid, the Master or Remembrancer shall require the full amount of such arrear or sum of or in respect of rent, and of such fine or fines, with interest thereon, and of such fees, to be lodged, under a special direction of the Master or Remembrancer, in the Bank of Ireland, in the matter of such petition, with the privity of the Accountant General of the Court, for the use of the party specified in such direction ; and the fact of such payment, and the cause or reason of the previous nonpayment of the amount so paid, and the facts relating thereto, shall be stated by the Master or Remembrancer specially in his report.

XXIII. And be it enacted, that the Master or Remembrancer shall make his report in relation to the matter of such petition, and such report shall state the application to the court, and the result of his inquiries and proceedings under the reference, and where the petitioner is entitled to a grant such report shall refer to the draft of the grant as settled or approved by such Master or Remembrancer, and shall state by whom such grant and the counterpart thereof should be executed, or should have been executed if not under disability or out of the United Kingdom, and shall state all such other matters as

act.

to the Master or Remembrancer may seem expedient for carrying into due execution the provisions of this XXIV. And be it enacted, that after the Master or Remembrancer has made his report, notice of the filing of such report shall be served by or on behalf of the petitioner on the party on whom notice of the petition is required to be served; and at any time before the expiration of the next ensuing term after such service it shall be lawful for the petitioner or the party so served, or any other person interested in the matter of the petition or report (such other person first obtaining, on an ex parte motion, the leave of the court so to apply,) to apply to the court by motion on notice to the opposite party, or where the application is by any such other person as aforesaid, on notice to both parties to the proceedings under the petition, and to such other persons (if any) as the court may, on such ex parte application as aforesaid, have directed, to set aside such report, or to vary or amend the same in any particulars specified in such notice of motion; and thereupon it shall be lawful for the court to make such order in relation to the matters aforesaid as the court may think fit; and the court, if it so think fit, may, upon the hearing of any such motion, either wholly confirm such report, or vary or amend the same in the particulars mentioned in such notice, or in any other particulars, and confirm the same, with such variations or amendments; and in case no such application be made to the court within such time as aforesaid, such report may and shall be confirmed according to the course and practice of the court.

XXV. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful For the court, upon the hearing of any such motion, made on notice as aforesaid, or upon any application made after the confirmation of the Report, where it may see fit so to do, on account of the disability, absence, or refusal of any person by whom the grant or counterpart respectively should be executed, to order that such grant or counterpart, as the case may be, be executed by the Master or Remembrancer and every grant and counterpart respectively so executed shall have the same force and effect as if the same had been executed by the owner of the reversion, lease, superior under-lease, or estate, or lease, under-lease, or inferior under-lease, as the case may be, on account of whom the same is so executed by the Master or Remembrancer.

XXVI. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for the owner of an under-lease in perpetuity immediately derived out of a lease in perpetuity, where such owner is entitled to require the owner of the lea se in perpetuity to procure the renewal thereof, and whether the time for renewal of such lease or under-lease has or has not arrived, to apply to the Court of Chancery, or to the Court of Exchequer at the Equity side thereof, by petition, in manner herein-before mentioned, praying that a grant may be executed to the owner of such under-lease under this act, and also praying that a like grant may be made by the owner of the reversion to and accepted by the owner of such lease in perpetuity; and pray ing such other relief as may be applicable to the case; and it shall be lawful for the owner of an inferior under-lease in perpetuity entitled to require

the owner of the immediately superior under-lease in perpetuity to procure a renewal thereof, and whether the time for the renewal of such inferior underlease or of any under-lease superior thereto or of the lease in perpetuity has or has not arrived, to apply by petition as aforesaid, praying that a grant may be executed to such first-mentioned owner under this act, and also praying that the like grant or grants (as the case may require) may be made to and accepted by the owner of the immediately superior under-lease in perpetuity, and to and by the owner of each under-lease in perpetuity (if any) superior to such under-lease (where such owner is under the like obligation to the owner of the immediately inferior under-lease in perpetuity to procure renewal, and to and by the owner of the lease in perpetuity where such owner is under the like obligation to the owner of the immediately under-lease in perpetuity to procure renewal) from the owner or respective owners from whom a grant or grants might be required under this act by such respective owners as aforesaid, and praying all such other relief in relation to such grant or grants as may be applicable to the case; and upon such petition being presented it shall be in the discretion of the court to make an order for hearing thereon, or, ex parte, to make an order referring the matter of such petition to the Master or Remembrancer; and all such inquiries, directions, orders, and proceedings shall and may be made, given, and taken in relation to the several grants prayed for by such petition as if such grants had been prayed for by the owners to whom such grants are thereby prayed to be made; and all the provisions herein contained in relation to the proceedings by and before the Master or Remembrancer, his report, and the execution by him of a grant or counterpart upon or after a reference to such Master or Remembrancer under a petition presented under the provision herein-before contained, shall extend and be applicable to a reference to the Master or Remembrancer, under a petition presented under this provision; and where there is any arrear or sum of or in respect of rent, or any fine or fines, or fees, which under this act might be required to be paid before the execution of a grant under this act, and the owner to whom such grant should be made neglects or refuses to pay the same within such time as the Master or Remembrancer or the court may appoint, it shall be lawful for any person interested in the lands to be comprised in the grant or in any fee-farm rent to be made payable out of such lands or any part thereof, and who shall be in this behalf authorised by the Master or Remembrancer or the Court to pay such arrear or sum of or in respect of rent, and such fine or fines, with interest thereon, and such fees; and all sums so paid, and the costs (if any) incurred in relation to such payment, shall be deemed a like lien and charge in favour of the person praying the same, his executors or administrators, and with the like priority as herein-before provided in the case of money paid on account of the redeption of lands from a judgment and execution in ejectment, and the costs of such redemption, subject only to the priority given to the charge and lien created in respect of such money and costs as last aforesaid, and all sums of money

paid under this provision and the costs in relation to such payment, shall also be recoverable by all the like ways and means, with the costs of the proceedings for recovery thereof, as money paid for such redemption as aforesaid and the costs thereof are under the provision herein-before contained recoverable.

XXVII. And be it enacted, that all persons who shall become parties to any proceedings under this act, by making any application to the court, or by submitting to the jurisdiction thereof, or by attending before the Master or Remembrancer in the course of such proceedings, or by otherwise taking part therein, and the representatives of the petitioner, and of all such persons, and all persons claiming under him or them by their act or by act of law subsequent to their becoming subject, shall for the purposes of this act be subject to the jurisdiction of the court, and to all orders of the court and of the Master or Remembrancer in the course of any such proceedings in like manner and as fully as parties to a cause pending in the court are so subject in such cause. XXVIII. And be it enacted, that in order to enable the Master or Remembrancer to ascertain such particulars as it may be necessary for him to ascertain upon any reference to him under this act, he shall be at liberty to examine upon oath the party who has presented any petition, and to inquire by affidavit and by examination of witnesses, and by other evidence, respecting any of the matters referred to him; and the owner of any lease or under-lease respecting which any inquiry is made as herein-before directed shall, when thereto required by the Master or Remembrancer, produce such lease or under-lease, and all other deeds or instruments under or by virtue of which such owner holds the lands respecting which such inquiry is made, and shall produce and furnish such proof or information as the Master or Remembrancer requires as to the rent, fine or fines, and fees (if any) payable under such lease or under-lease, and as to the existence and the age of the person or persons upon whose life or lives (if any) such lease or under-lease depends, and as to the rent, fines, interest, and fees (if any) which have become due or payable.

XXIX. And be it enacted, that whenever any notice required to be given by this act, or which is required or necessary for carrying into effect any of the provisions of this act, cannot be given or delivered to the person to or for whom such notice is directed or intended, it shall be sufficient for the person obliged to give such notice to leave the same at the last known or most usual place of abode of the person to or for whom such notice is directed or intended, with an inmate of such place of abode aged sixteen years or upwards, if such place of abode be within Ireland, and if the same be not within Ireland, then to serve such notice on the agent or attorney of such person, or the receiver of the rents of his estate, and if such agent, attorney, or receiver cannot be discovered, then it shall be sufficient service of such notice to publish the same at least once in each week, in two successive weeks, by advertisement in the Dublin Gazette and in two newspapers published in Dublin, and in one newspaper circulating in the county in which the lands to which the

notice relates or the greater part thereof are situate, and also to give such notice to any principal occu pier of any of such lands, or, if the Master or Remembrancer so direct, to send such notice by the post to the last known address of the party on whom the same shall be required to be served, within such period as to admit of its being delivered within the period prescribed, if any, for such notice to be given, or to serve such notice on such person and in such manner as the Master or Remembrancer directs. XXX. And be it enacted, that the proceeding under this act shall abate or be suspended by any death or transmission of interest, except so far as it shall be deemed necessary for the carrying on of such proceedings that any person not before the court should have notice of or be required to attend such proceedings; and in case of death or transmis sion of interest, and wherever, after the presentation of a petition under this act, the direction of the court is requisite for carrying on the proceedings under the same, or for effecting the objects thereof, or otherwise relative thereto, it shall be lawful for any person interested in such proceedings to apply to the court for an order for any such purpose, and it shall be lawful for the court to make such order on any such application as it may see fit.

XXXI. And be it enacted, that the costs of all proceedings by and under any petition presented under this act shall be in the the discretion of the court.

XXXII. And be it enacted, that all the provisions of this act in relation to the amount of the fee-farm rent to be made payable by a grant under this act, and the covenants, conditions, exceptions, and reservations to be contained in such grant, the com mutation of exceptions, reservations, and rights, the allocation of land, and all other provisions of this act concerning such grant and the effect and consequences thereof, shall, so far as the same are consistent with the provisions of this act in relation to the proceedings by and under and consequential upon a petition presented under this act, extend and be applicable to every such grant for or in relation to which a petition is presented.

XXXIII. And be it enacted, for the purposes of this act every person seised of or entitled at law or in equity to the reversion expectant on any lease in perpetuity as tenant in fee simple or in fee tail, general or special, or as tenant in dower or by the curtesy, or for life or lives, or for years determin able on a life or lives, or for a term of years absolute of which forty years or more are unexpired at the time of the application for a grant under this act, and also every feoffee or trustee (for charitable or other purposes whatsoever) of any such reversion as aforesaid, for any such estate or interest therein as aforesaid, (whether such estate or interest be or not determinable upon the execution or fulfilment of any trusts,) who is in the actual receipt of the rent reserved by any lease in perpetuity, and every executor or administrator who in that capacity, or as a special occupant of an estate pour autre vie, or as being entitled to an estate pour autre vie under any statute or otherwise, is in such receipt as aforesaid, and also any archbishop, bishop, parson, or other ecclesiastical person as to a reversion held

by him in his corporate capacity, shall be deemed to be the owner of the reversion; and every person entitled at law or in equity to a lease or under-lease in perpetuity for the whole estate created or agreed to be created by such lease or under-lease, or for any derivative estate (created by any instrument other than an under-lease at a rent) in tail, or quasi in tail, for life or lives, or for a term of years absolute, of which not less than twenty years or more are unexpired at the time of the application under this act for a grant to or by the owner of such lease or under-lease, and also every feoffee or trustee (for charitable or other purposes whatsoever) of any such lease or under-lease in perpetuity as aforesaid, for such estate therein as aforesaid (whether such estate be or not determinable upon the execution or fulfilment of any trusts,) who is in the actual possession of the land or in receipt of the rents payable by the tenants thereof, and every executor or administrator who in that capacity, or as a special occupant of an estate pour autre vie, or as being entitled to an estate pour autre vie under any statute or otherwise, is in such possession or receipt as aforesaid, shall be deemed the owner of such lease or under-lease in perpetuity; and where a feme covert is entitled to rents and profits for her separate use (whether or not she be restrained from anticipation) she shall, for the purposes of this act, be considered a feme sole: provided always, that no person shall be deemed an owner for the purposes of this act of the reversion, or of any lease or under-lease in perpetuity, by reason of any estate vested in him which has been created by way of mortgage, or for securing the payment of any sum of money, unless he be in the receipt of the rent incident to the reversion, or in possession of the land comprised in such lease or under-lease, or in receipt of the rents payable by the tenants thereof (as the case may be,) but the person who would be deemed the owner for the purposes of this act of such reversion, or lease or under-lease in perpetuity, if such estate by way of mortgage or for securing payment had not been created, shall, notwithstanding such estate, be deemed such owner as aforesaid: provided also, that where several persons in succession have in the reversion or lease or under-lease in perpetuity such estates or interests as would under this enactment entitle each of them to be deemed the owner, such of the said persons shall be deemed the owner for the purposes of this act as is in receipt of the rent incident to the reversion, or in possession of the land comprised in such lease or under-lease, or in receipt of the rents payable by the tenants thereof, as the case may be: or in case the person in such receipt or possession be not entitled to be deemed the owner under this enactment, then the person who has the first such estate or interest as aforesaid in reversion or remainder to or above the estate or interest of the person in such receipt or possession shall be deemed the owner of such reversion, or lease or under-lease in perpetuity; provided also, that in every case in which any person, not being the owner as herein-before defined, is in possession or receipt as herein-before mentioned under any charge, or any sequestration, extent, elegit, or other writ of execution, or as a receiver under any decree or order of a Court of Equity,

the person in possession or in receipt of the rents by virtue of such charge, sequestration, extent, elegit, writ, decree, or order, shall, jointly with the person who but for such possession or receipt would under this enactment be deemed the owner of the reversion or lease or under-lease in perpetuity, as the case may be, be deemed to be the owner for the purposes of this act of the reversion or lease or under-lease in perpetuity, as the case may be.

XXXIV. And be it enacted, that every person who under the provisions herein-before contained would for the purposes of this act be deemed the owner of the reversion or of a lease or under-lease in perpetuity if the same were not converted under this act, shall, where such reversion, or the estate held under such lease, or under-lease, has been so converted be, deemed for the purposes of this act the owner of the estate created by such conversion. XXXV. And be it enacted, that every lease of lands in Ireland, for one or more life or lives, with or without a term of years, or for years determinable upon one or more life or lives, or for years absolute, with a covenant or agreement for perpetual renewal, made after ths passing of this act, by any person competent to convey an estate of inheritance in fee-simple (and not so made in pursuance of a covenant or agreement entered into before the passing of this act), shall, notwithstanding anything therein contained to the contrary, be deemed to be, and shall operate as a conveyance of the lands specified therein to the intended lessee, his heirs and assigns for ever, at a fee-farm rent equal to the rent expressed to be reserved in such lease, and all reservation of fine or fines upon, or fees for or in respect of such renewal, and all and every covenant contract, or agreement for the payment of such fines or fees, shall be altogether void; and every contract for such a lease entered into, after the passing of this act, by any such person as aforesaid, (not be. ing a renewal of a contract in pursuance of an agreement in that behalf, made before the passing of this act), shall, notwithstanding anything therein contained to the contrary, be deemed to be a contract for a conveyance of the lands specified therein to the intended lessee, his heirs and assigns, a fee-farm rent equal to the rent in such contract proposed to be reserved: and any such fee-farm rent shall be recoverable by all the means and remedies provided for the recovery of fee farm rents, made payable by a grant under this act, and the provisions of this act, so far as the same may be applicable, shall be applied to such cases.

XXXVI. And be it enacted, that the following words and expressions shall, in this act, have the meanings hereby assigned to them, unless there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction; (that is to say,) words importing the singular number only, shall include the pural number, and the words importing the plural number only shall include also the singular number; words importing the masculine gender only shall include females; the word "person" and the word "owner" shall extend to a body politic, corporate, or collegiate, aggregate or sole; the word "lands,” shall extend to messuages, tenements, and hereditaments; the word "lease” shall include a grant or an agree