There was, too, another grave miscarriage of justice caused, perhaps, by a mistake made by the head of the second Land Commission. The Act of 1881 provided that 'fair rent' should be fixed, having due regard to the 'interest' of the tenant on the land, that is, to his improvements, and perhaps to the mode of his tenure. Mr. Justice Bewley seems to have decided that another element ought to be taken into account, and should effect a reduction of rent; the tenant had 'an occupation right' in his favour, over and above the 'interest' the law gave him; by reason of this he had a right to have his rent cut down. The only plausible ground alleged for this doctrine was that landlords would usually accept a lower rent from a 'sitting' tenant in possession than from an incoming tenant; in other words, their good nature was turned against them, and was to be made a pretext for their being despoiled. It is just to observe that Mr. Justice Bewley's colleagues dissented from this curious view of the law; and the claim for 'occupation right' has since been blown to the winds in the superior Courts of Ireland. But though many faint denials were made, some of the Sub-Commissioners acted upon Mr. Justice Bewley's doctrine; the evidence is conclusive that this imaginary right was made the means of considerably reducing rent. Mr. Justice Bewley candidly admitted: 'From the commencement, apparently, a number of the Sub-Commissioners have acted on the principle that there is a certain occupation interest, which every tenant has, varying according to circumstances, not any fixed amount, but varying, and that that is to be taken into account in fixing the fair rent.'[122] This statement has been confirmed by a host of witnesses by no means willing in not a few instances. 'Would you make a difference between the assessment of the fair rent in the case of a sitting tenant, and in the case of an incoming tenant--a stranger? Certainly. Can you give us any idea what that difference is, expressed in percentage?--I could not very well answer that question. It is a mental calculation, and a good deal would depend upon the length of the tenure of the tenant.'[123] And again: 'In your experience of the Land Commission Court, do you find the "occupation interest" has been taken into account in fixing the fair rent?--Yes, I cannot account for the reductions that have been made, except on that supposition.'[124] And again: 'As far as your experience goes, do they invariably value the holdings on the principle of giving an occupation interest to the sitting tenant?--Yes, the tenants' valuers, as a rule, give 40 or 50 per cent. as the interest of the sitting tenant.... Do you find that the Sub-Commissioners fix the rent on what the valuers state?--Well, no; that would be going too much out of the way.'[125] And again: 'Have you any doubt that the rents are fixed on the basis of the occupation interest in the sitting tenant?--I have none. I do not know how else the rents could have been arrived at.'[126] And once more: 'Did the Sub-Commissioners invariably take the occupation interest of the sitting tenant into account?--I think so.' I conclude with these remarks of Mr. Barnes, one of the best and most impartial of Irish valuers: 'When I came to give evidence in Court I found that nothing else would be accepted as evidence unless based on occupation interest. It was almost the first question.... Whenever there was an answer made that the valuation was based on what the landlord would get for the land in his own hands, it was discounted at once.'[127] No wonder that it has been alleged by the highest authority with respect to this claim, since proved to have been unfounded, guarded and cautious as the language is: 'There is, however, reason to believe that this notion of an occupation interest existed in the minds of some of the early valuers, and did, in fact, influence them, and it is very possible that some cases in which the reductions there made appear startling, may be, in part, attributable to this doctrine.'[128]