LAW. 
nearly the fame as in England, the chief governor hold¬ 
ing parliaments at his pleafure^ which enacted fuch laws 
as they thought proper. Irijhjlat. u Eliz. fi. 3. c. 8. But, 
an ill ufe being made of this liberty, particularly by lord 
Gormanftown, deputy-lieutenant in the reign of Edward 
3 V. (Irifh fiat. 10 Hen. VII. c. 23.) a fet of ltatutes were 
there enabled in the 10 Hen. VII. fir Edward Poynings 
being then lord deputy, whence they are called Poynings ’ 
lauis-, one of which (cap. 4. expounded by 3 and 4 Ph. 
Sc Mar. c.4.) in order to re ft rain the power as well of the 
deputy as the Irilh parliament, provided, 1. That, before 
any parliament be fummoned or holden, the chief gover¬ 
nor and council of Ireland thould certify to the king, un¬ 
der the great feal of Ireland, the confiderations and caufes 
thereof, and the articles of the afts propofed to be palled 
therein. 2. That, after the king, in his council of Eng¬ 
land, ihould have confidered, approved, or altered, the 
faid acts, or any of them, and certified them back under 
the great feal of England, and fhould have given licence 
to l'ummon and hold a parliament, then the fame Ihould 
be fummoned and held; and therein the faid afts fo cer¬ 
tified, and no other, (liould be propofed, received, or re¬ 
jected. 4 Infi. 353. But, as this precluded any laws from 
being propofed, but fuch as were pre-conceived be¬ 
fore the parliament was in being, w'hich occafioned many 
inconveniences, and made frequent diffolutions necefla- 
ry, it was provided, by the ftatute of Philip and Mary, 
before-cited, that any new propofitions might be cer¬ 
tified to England in the ufual forms, even after the 
fummons and during the feliion of parliament. By this 
means, however, there was nothing left to the parliament 
in Ireland, but a bare negative, or power of rejecting, not 
of nropofing or altering, any law. But the ufage, till 
the independence of Ireland in 1782, 3, was, for bills to 
be framed in either houfe, under the denomination of 
“heads fora bill or bills;” and in that (ltape they were 
offered to the confideration of the lord lieutenant and 
privy council; who, upon fuch parliamentary intimation, 
or otherwife upon the application of private perfons, re¬ 
ceived and tranfmitted fuch heads, or rejefted them with¬ 
out any tranfmiftion, to England. 
But the Irilh nation, being excluded from the benefit 
of the Englifh ftatutes, were deprived of many good and 
profitable laws, made for the improvement of the common 
law ; and the meafure of juftice in both kingdoms be¬ 
coming thence no longer uniform, it was therefore enaft- 
ed, by another of Poynings’ laws, cap. 22, that all afts 
of parliament, before made in England, Ihould be of force 
within the realm of Ireland. 4 lnfi. 351. But, by the 
fame rule, that no laws made in England between king 
John’s time and Poynings’ law were then binding in Ire¬ 
land, it followed that no acts of the Englifh parliament 
made fince the 10 Hen. VII. could bind the people of 
Ireland, unlefs fpecially named, or included under gene¬ 
ral words. 12 Rep. 112. 
But this ftate of dependence being altnofl forgotten, 
and ready to be difputed by the Irilh nation, it became 
neceffary to declare how that matter really flood; and 
therefore, by flat. 6 Geo. I. c. 5. it was declared “ that the 
kingdom of Ireland ought to be fubordinate to, and de¬ 
pendent upon, the imperial crown of Great Britain, as 
being infeparably united thereto; and that the king’s ma- 
jelty, with the confent of the lords and commons of Great 
Britain in parliament, hath power to make laws to bind 
the people of Ireland.” 
The laws of Ireland thus communicated with thofe of 
England; and it was by the fame ftatute exprefsly de¬ 
clared, “that the peers of Ireland have no jurifdiftion to 
affirm or reverfe judgments or decrees whatfoever.” So 
that, from that time up to 1782-3, the ultimate refort 
from the courts of juftice in Ireland was, as in Wales, to 
thofe ip England; a writ of error in nature of an appeal ly¬ 
ing from the king’s bench in Ireland to the king’s bench 
In England, as the appeal from the chancery in Ireland- 
lay immediately to the houfe of lords here. 
393 
But, this fubjeftion of the people of Ireland having 
occafioned much popular dilcontent in that country, 
the aft 22 Geo. III. c. 33, repealed the ftatute of Geo. I. 
However, as the ftatute of Geo. I. was thought to be 
merely declaratory of the former law, the repeal of it 
could produce no farther operation than to render the 
law in fome degree lefs clear than that ftatute had 
made it. Therefore, to produce the intended efteft, it 
required another ftatute, the 23 Geo. III. c. 28, which 
exprefsly declared, “ that, in all cafes whatever, the peo¬ 
ple of Ireland fhotild be bound only by laws enafted by 
his majefty and the parliament of that kingdom; and that 
no appeal or writ of error from any court in Ireland 
Ihould for the future be brought into any of the courts in 
England.” 
Since thefe laft afts, the great and important events of 
an union between Great Britain and Ireland hath 
taken place. 
The manner in which this happy confolidation of the 
national rights and interefts of both countries, was 
brought about, appear from the flat. 39 & 40 Geo. III. 
c. 77. which is in fubftance as follows: 
In purfuance of his majefty’s molt gracious recommen¬ 
dation to the two houfes of parliament in Great Britain 
and Ireland refpeftively, to confider of fuch meafures as 
might belt tend to ftrengthen and confolidate the connec¬ 
tion between the two kingdoms, the two houfes of parlia¬ 
ment in each country refolved, that, in order to promote 
and fecure the effential interefts of Great Britain and Ire¬ 
land, and to confolidate the ftrength, power, and refources, 
of the Britifh empire, it was advifeable to concur in fuch 
meafures as (liould heft tend to unite the two kingdoms 
into one kingdom, on fuch terms and conditions as Ihould 
be eftabliflied by the afts of the refpeftive parliaments in 
the tw'o countries. And, in furtherance of that refolu- 
tion, the two houfes of each parliament agreed upon eight 
articles, which, by an addrefs of the refpeftive houfes of par¬ 
liament, were laid before his majefty for his confideration ; 
and, his majefty having approved of the fame, and having- 
recommended it to his parliaments in Great Britain and 
Ireland to give full efteft to them, they were ratified by 
an aft of parliament of Great Britain on the 2d of July, 
1800. 
Art. 1. That the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ire¬ 
land (hall, on the firft day of January, 1801, and for ever 
after, be united into one kingdom, by the name of The 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; 
and that the royal ltyle and titles of the imperial crown, 
and the enfigns, armorial flags, and banners, (hall be fuch 
as (liould be appointed by his majefty’s royal proclamation. 
2. That the fucceffion to the imperial crown (hall con¬ 
tinue fettled in the fame manner as the fuccefiion to the 
crown of Great Britain and Ireland flood before limited, 
3. That there (hall be one parliament, ftyled. The Par¬ 
liament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire¬ 
land. 
4. That four lords fpiritual of Ireland, by rotation of 
feffions, viz. one of the four archbifhops, and three of 
the eighteen bifhops, and twenty-three lords temporal 
elefted for life by the peers of Ireland, (hall fit in the 
houfe of lords of the parliament of the united kingdom ; 
and, in the houfe of commons, one hundred commoners; 
two for each of the thirty-two counties in Ireland 
two for Dublin, two for Cork, one for Trinity-college, 
Dublin, and one for each of the thirty-one molt conli- 
derable cities, towns, and boroughs; viz. Waterford,. 
Limeric, Belfaft, Drogheda, Carrickfergus, Newry, Kil¬ 
kenny, Londonderry, Galway, Clonmel, Wexford, You- 
ghal, Bandonbridge, Armagh, Dundalk, Kinfale, Lif- 
burn, Sligo, Catherlough, Ennis, Dungarvon, Downoa- 
trick, Coleraine, Mallow, Athlone, New Rofs, Tralee,,, 
Cafliel,Dungannon, Portarlington, and Ennifkillen. 40 Geo 
III. c. 29. 
That queftions refpeftihg the rotation or election c£l 
the IpirittuI or temporal peers fnall be. decided, by tie., 
he ale 
