There is no catalogue of the contents of the records branch of the Irish land commission, nor is there even a summary description; in consequence, it is not claimed that the description given in this paper is by any means complete. Indeed, it is probable that not all the land commission records are contained in the records branch. For instance, a few of the rare examples of judicial leases executed under the land law act of 1881 appeared in the records branch for the first time in September 1949, having till then been in the hands of another department of the commission—a warning to the historian that the land commission is a working department of government, and not primarily a research institution.