Summary
The 1929 Ordinance which, in the Peel Commission Report’s account, secured tenants from arbitrary removal from land in the event of its sale, and was replaced after several amendments by a new Ordinance in 1933 (Report of the Palestine Royal Commission, PDF p.93 / printed p.80).
Details
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It was enacted to guard against further “landlessness”, as one of the measures determined in 1930 for safeguarding and advancing Arab interests that came into operation in 1931 (PDF p.93 / printed p.80).
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In February 1936, answering the five Arab parties’ demands, the High Commissioner was authorised to announce a further Ordinance prohibiting the sale of land unless the owner retained a sufficient amount to provide subsistence for himself and his family (PDF p.103 / printed p.90).
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Chapter IX of the Report gives the Ordinance’s history: the 1929 Ordinance replaced the failed 1920-1921 Transfer Ordinances, providing compensation for disturbance and improvements to tenants given valid notice to quit and Boards for disputes, but dropping the earlier subsistence-area requirement and making no provision for sub-tenants; Hope Simpson’s point, as presented, was that what was required was not compensation for disturbance but a provision against disturbance (Report of the Palestine Royal Commission, PDF p.234 / printed p.223).
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The Protection of Cultivators (Amendment) Ordinance No. 1 of 1932 defined a tenant to include a sub-tenant; a new Ordinance No. 37 of 1933 set up Commissions over statutory-tenant disputes and was amended in 1934, and a recent Bill would restore displaced statutory tenants to their holdings (PDF p.234 / printed p.223).
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The Report holds it proved that recent alterations in the law relating to the protection of cultivators, and the machinery set up under it, “have led to grave abuse and to blackmailing claims by persons not entitled to protection under that law”, while the Jews took no objection to the Ordinance’s general principles (PDF p.253-254 / printed p.242-243).