[1] The Irish act came into force in 1849 and by July 1853, 3.5 million acres of land had been sold, creditors repaid according to the rulings of an independent tribunal, and estates purchased with a parliamentary title guaranteed to be free of encumbrances.

The financial situation in Ireland and the West Indies was similar in that landowners in both places had taken on excessive debt when times were good that now matched or exceeded the value of the underlying security.

[6] Colonies were admitted as follows:[7] The first plantation sold under the Acts was Arnos Vale Estate in Saint Vincent, formerly in the ownership of William Samuel Greatheed who left it to his widow and children.

[8] The case was heard in March 1858 and the estate sold by auction in London in November that year,[9] the purchaser being the reverend F. R. Braithwaite of Saint Vincent for £10,050, a sum that Reginald Cust, commissioner and historian of the legislation, noted was much higher than expected.

The 1883 Report on the Working of the West Indian Incumbered [Encumbered] Estates Court Acts was printed for Parliament in 1884 and is held by the British National Archives.