PARLIAMENT OP IRELAND. 



PARLIAMENT OP IRELAND. 



aie 



revlTed, and wa* u*td with gnat energy by the 

 , both as n instrument of popular power mi for the f urther- 

 ol pnbUo juatlce. Between th. you- 10, when Sir <lil 

 Mootreawr and Lori Bacon wrre impeached, and UM Revolution in 

 1M, there wen about tarty eat** of impeachment. In the reign* of 

 William III., Am*, and Oeorge L, there wen fifteen; and in 

 Own* II. only ooe (that of Lord Lorat. in 174, for Ugh treaeon). 

 TlM bat mandnbU caaaa an thoae of Warren Haatinfa,in 1788, ~ J 

 Lord Merrill*. In 1806. 



An outline of UM forma obeerred In the oondnet of impeachment* 

 may be briefly given. A member of the Houae of Common* charge* 

 the aceuMd of certain high erimea and misdemeanors, and move* that 

 be be impeached. If the houae agree to it, the member la ordered to 

 go to the lord*, and at their bar, in the lumr of the Houae of Com- 

 mon and <>f all the common, of the United Kingdom, to impeach 

 the aoouaed. A committee I* then ordered to draw up article* of 

 impeachment, which an reported to the bouse, and, having been dis- 

 nmul and agreed upon, are aHErneard and delivered to the lords. 

 Further article* may be delivered from time to time. In the case of 

 Warren Hastings, the article* had been prepared before hi* impeach- 

 ment at the bar of the Houae of Lord*. The aoeuaed sends answers to 

 Mr h article, which are communicated to the commons by the lords ; 

 to thaw, replication* are returned if necessary. After t(aM prelimi- 

 naries, the lord* appoint a day for the trial. The commons desire 

 the lord* to summon the witnesses required to prove their charges 

 and appoint managers to conduct the proceedings. Westminster Hall 

 ha* been usually fitted up as the court, which is presided over by the 

 lord high steward. The commons attend with the managers as a com- 

 mittee of the whole house. The accused remains in the custody of 

 the uaber of the black rod, to whom he is delivered, if a commoner, by 

 the serjeant-at-arms attending the House of Commons. The managers 

 should confine themselves to charges contained in the articles of 

 impeachment. Mr. Warren Hastings complained of matters having 

 been introduced which had not been originally laid to his charge, and 

 the houae resolved that certain words ought not to have been spoken 

 by Mr. Burke. Persons impeached of high treason are entitled, by 

 statute 20 Oeo. II. c, SO, to make their full defence by counsel, a 

 privilege which is not denied to persons charged with high crimes and 

 misdemeanor*. 



When the managers have made their charges and adduced evidence 

 in support of them, the accused answers them, and the managers have 

 a right to reply. The lords then proceed to judgment in this manner: 

 The lord high steward put* to each peer, beginning with the junior 

 barun, the question upon the first article, whether the accused be 

 guilty of the crimes charged therein. The peers in succession rise in 

 their places when the question is put, and, standing uncovered, and 

 laying their right hands upon their breast, answer " guilty," or " not 

 guilty," a* the case may be, " upon my honour." Each article is pro- 

 ceeded with separately in the same manner, the lord high steward 

 giving hi* own opinion the last. The numbers are then cast up, and 

 being ascertained, are declared by the lord high steward to the lords, 

 and the accused is acquainted with the result. 



(A Trtatitc on the Law, Priviltget, Procecdimji, anil 1'iagei of Parlia- 

 ment, by T. E. May, Esq., fourth edit., 1859.) 



PARLIAMENT OF IRELAND. In Ireland, as in England, from 

 the conquest of the country by Henry II. in the latter part of the 

 12th century, meetings of the barons were occasionally summoned to 

 consult on public affairs, to which the old historians sometimes give 

 the name of parliaments. But parliaments, in the modern sense, 

 cannot be traced back in Ireland farther than to the latter end of the 

 18th century, or to a date about thirty years subsequent to that of 

 the earliest parliament which is ascertained to have consisted both of 

 lord* and commons in England. Simon de Montfort's celebrated 

 parliament, the first for which writs are extant summoning repre- 

 sentative* of the counties and boroughs, met at Westminster in 1205 ; 

 and the first Irish parliament to which, as far as is known, the sheriffs 

 were directed to return two representatives for each county was held 

 hi 1296. Representatives of boroughs in Ireland cannot be traced 

 much higher than to the middle of the 14th century. They first 

 make their appearance in 1341, and in an actor ordinance of 1369 

 they are spoken of as forming an essential part of the parliament. 



At this time, however, and down to a much later date, it wax only 

 the email portion of Ireland occupied by the English settlers that was 

 represented in the legislature. Even in the reign of Edward III. only 

 the province of Munater and a part of Leinster were considered a* 

 shire-land : they were divided into twelve counties. But in the course 

 of the 15th century much the greater part of these districts had 

 become to all intent* and purposes independent of the English 

 and in the reign of Henry \ II. the English dominion and the par- 

 liamentary representation were alike confined to the counties com-. 

 posing what waa called the Pale, that is, to those of Dublin, Loiith, 

 Kildare, and Heath (then comprehending both East and West Meath), 

 with a very few seaport* beyond these limits. The vigorous measures 

 taken under II. my VIII. and succeeding kings however gradually 

 extended the authority of the English institution* and laws. Th.- 

 p naiiea or* of some of the original Irish peerages, after iMint^impg {or 

 centuries an independence as complete as that of the native chieftains 

 themselves, were induced to give their attendance in the House of 



Lord*, and many new peerage* were conferred, some on Km;!. 

 or person* of English descent, some on the heads of the 9). I 

 families. The twelve ancient counties were all reclaimed in the reign 

 of Henry VIII., and others were added by Mary, Elizabeth, and James, 

 till, in the time of the last-mentioned king, the whole island wa* 

 divided into thirty-two counties, as at present, each returning two 

 representative*. Of these thirty-two counties however it is said there 

 were seventeen in which there wa* not a single parliamentary borough, 

 while in the remaining fifteen there were only about thirty, lint 

 either this account must be wrong or the common statement that 

 James added only forty new boroughs must be an under statement, 

 if, aa appears, the entire number of the Irish commons in 1613 was 

 282. In this number however would be included the two repre- 

 sentatives of Trinity College, Dublin. Subsequent new charters to * 

 boroughs augmented the house by the year 1692 to 800, at which 

 number it remained stationary. In 1634 the number of peers waa 

 122, and more than 500 Irish peerages were created between that date 

 and the Union. Of course however some also became extinct. 



It was only for a very short period of its existence that the Irish 

 parliament wa* held to be a supreme legislature. Ireland being 

 regarded as a conquered dependency, it was maintained that it* par- 

 liament was in all respects subordinate to that of England, and 

 subsequently to that of Great Britain, which might make lawn to Kind 

 the people of the one country as well as of the other. The received 

 legal doctrine used to be, that King John, in the 12th year of his 

 reign (A.D. 1210), ordained by letters-patent, in right of dominion of 

 conquest, that Ireland should! be governed by the laws of England : in 

 consequence of which both the common law of England and all 

 English statutes enacted prior to that date were held to be of the 

 same authority in Ireland as in England. With regard to English acts 

 passed subsequently to that date, it was also held, in the first place, 

 that Ireland was bound by all of them in which it was either specially 

 named or included under general words. But further, inasni 

 one of the Irish acts called Poyning's Laws, passed in the tent) 

 of Henry VII. (A.D. 1495), in the lord-lieutenancy of .^ 

 Poyning, or Poynings, declared that all statutes "lately" made in 

 England should be deemed also good and effectual in Ireland, it was 

 held that this established the authority in Ireland of all preceding 

 English statutes whatsoever; making those of the 12th of John of 

 the same force with those enacted before that date. This however 

 was admitted to be the last general imposition of the laws of England 

 I]." 1 ! Ireland. Of the English statutes passed since the 10th of 

 Henry VII., it was allowed that those only were binding upon Ireland 

 in which that country was specially named or included under general 

 words. 



But the above-mentioned was only one of Poyning's laws. Others 

 provided, as their substance is given by Blackstone (1 ' Com." 102) : 

 " 1. That before any (Irish) parliament be summoned or holden.thr 

 chief governor and council of Ireland shall certify to the king, under 

 the great seal of Ireland, the considerations and causes thereof, and 

 the articles of the acts proposed to be passed therein. 2. That after 

 the king, in his council of England, shall have considered, approved, or 

 altered the said acts, or any of them, and certified them back under 

 the great seal of England, and shall have given licence to summon and 

 hold a parliament, then the same shall be summoned and held ; and 

 therein the said acts so certified, and no other, shall be proposed, 

 received, or rejected." It was found, however, in the course of time, 

 that many inconveniences were occasioned by these severely restrictive 

 regulations, which prevented any laws from being proposed, except 

 only such as were drawn up before the parliament which should pass 

 them was in being ; and therefore, by the 3 & 4 Ph. and M., c. 4., it 

 was provided that any new propositions might be certified in England 

 for approval, even after the summons and during the session of par- 

 liament. Still this left to the parliament of Ireland nothing more 

 than merely the power of rejecting any law proposed to it ; it could 

 neither initiate a new law nor repeal an old one, nor even amend or 

 alter that which was offered for its acceptance. In practice, however, 

 the letter of the statute was somewhat relaxed. Blackstone goes on to 

 state that the practice in his day (some years after the middle of the 

 last century) was, " that bills are often framed in either house, under 

 the denomination of ' heads for a bill or bills,' and in that shape they 

 are offered to the consideration of the lord-lieutenant and privy- 

 council, who, upon such parliamentary intimation, or otherwise upon 

 the application of private persons, receive and transmit such heads, or 

 reject them without any transmission, to England." These heads of 

 bills however really differed in nothing from bills or acts of parliament , 

 except that, instead of the word* " Be it enacted," the formal com- 

 mencement of each paragraph or clause was, " We pray that it may !>o 

 enacted ;" and the motion for presenting them scarcely differed, except 

 in form, from tin; motion in the English House of Commons for leave 

 to bring in a bill, a motion necessary in all cases to bo assented to or 

 carried in the affirmative before the actual bringing in of any bill. 

 And as for the consent of the crown or the government, \vhit li 

 leccssary to obtain before either house of the Irish p.n !i.mi> n: 

 ike up the consideration of any proposed law, with a view to its 

 enactment, that would in practice probably be found to operate much 

 n the same way with the assent of the crown, which even in England 



i necessary to give validity to any bill after it had passed both 



