Mid-1600s Acts affecting property in Ireland: the Acts of Settlement and Explanation

These lists are not intended to be comprehensive, but to give an outline of the mid-1600s laws which transferred much land-ownership in Ireland from (mainly Roman Catholic) inhabitants to (mainly Protestant) settlers.

Acts of the Long Parliament in the time of Charles the First

These Acts are usually referred to as Acts of 1640, the year in which the Long Parliament started to sit. This was in the 16th year of the reign of Charles the First, which can be referred to as 16 Charles I, 16 Chas I, 16 Cha I, 16 Car I, or 16 Carolus I. In fact, they were all passed in 1642, just before the start of the Civil War in England.

These Acts were designed to allow the English government to borrow money to finance their Army in Ireland; in the event the sums raised were insufficient, and money had to be raised by other additional means.

The Adventurers Act (c 33) received Royal Assent on 19 Mar 1642 (1641/2). This established the system that anyone considered to be in rebellion on or after 23 October 1641 would forfeit his lands in Ireland; the lands would then be re-allocated to approved settlers.

The Adventurers Act was extended and amended by 3 further Acts given Royal Assent by Charles the First:

c 34: an Act of Explanation, defining times of payment, etc
c 35: an Act to enable corporate bodies to be Adventurers
c 37: an Act to encourage early payment, by offering Plantation acres rather than Statute acres, etc

This page was last updated 3 Sep 2016