Tenant-right is a term in the common law

Common law

Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

 system expressing the right to compensation which a tenant has, either by custom or by law, against his landlord for improvements at the termination of his tenancy.

In England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, it is governed for the most part by the Agricultural Holdings Acts and the Allotments and Small Holdings Acts. In Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, tenant-right was a custom, prevailing particularly in Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...

, known as the Custom of Ulster

Custom of Ulster

The Custom of Ulster gave tenants of this province of Ireland a reasonable expectation of security of tenure so long as they paid their rent, and also allowed them to sell the right to occupy their holding to another tenant acceptable to the landlord. It was believed to be one reason for the...

, by which the tenant acquired a right not to have his rent raised arbitrarily at the expiration of his term. This resulted in Ulster in considerable fixity of tenure and, in case of a desire on the part of the tenant to sell his farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

, made the tenant-right of considerable capital value, amounting often to many years' rent.