Poynings' Law (on certification of acts)
| Act of Parliament | ||
 10 Hen. 7 . c. 4 (I) (The Irish Statutes numbering)10 Hen. 7. c. 9 (I) (Analecta Hibernica numbering) | ||
| Introduced by | Probably Commencement 1 December 1494 | |
|---|---|---|
| Repealed | 1878 | |
| Other legislation | ||
| Repealed by | Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1878 | |
Status: Repealed | ||
| Text of statute as originally enacted | ||
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Poynings' Law or the Statute of Drogheda
Background
Poynings' Parliament was called by Sir
Function and operation
The working of Poynings' Law took place in several steps. The first step was for the lieutenant governor and the Irish council (or Irish executive) to decide that a parliament was needed, usually for the purpose of raising funds. At this point, the council and lieutenant would write drafts of legislation to be proposed to the king and his council. After this had been completed, the lieutenant and council, according to the act, were required to certify the request for parliament "under the great seal of that land [Ireland]”,[2] and then forward it to England for approval. Once the request arrived in England, it was reviewed by the King and his council, and a formal licence, approving the request for parliament and the draft bills were returned to Ireland.[3] Once the licence was received in Ireland, the governor would summon parliament, and the bills passed. It is important to note that "government" was not representative as in the modern sense and there was no sustained opposition. Parliament's consent was necessary for some purposes, and it frequently offered advice, but the decisions were made by the English and Irish councils.[4] This is an important fact to consider when examining exactly who the law was aimed to suppress. As the point above demonstrates, parliament was virtually a rubber stamp, and it was the Irish executive who made the actual decisions in proposing policy.
The two important aspects of the procedure presented by Poynings' Law are transmission and certification. Both of these requirements placed limits on various parties within the lawmaking process in Ireland. The combination of these processes created a situation where bills could be sent, along with the request for parliament, and the king could amend and remove such bills as he wished, however, he could not add new bills himself. This is a result of the certification process which requires the submission to be made by the Irish council "under the great seal of that land [Ireland]".[2] The original intention of the certification process was to remove the capacity of initiating legislation from the parliament, and place it with the Irish council and governor.[5] But as a result of the way it was framed in the act, it also removed that capacity from the English parliament and administration as well: legislation could only be submitted for approval by the Irish executive.
Furthermore, the two processes made it impossible for the Irish to add more bills or amendments to a request after the initial licence request had been granted.
Changes after 1692
After the
Heads of bills
Whereas an independent legislature can amend a bill between the time of its introduction and the time it is passed, this was not possible for the Parliament of Ireland, as only the bill originally introduced would be in compliance with the requirement under Poynings' Law to have been pre-approved by the privy councils. As a consequence, a
Amendment and repeal
The Declaratory Act 1719 declared the right of the Parliament of Great Britain to make laws for Ireland and overrule judgments of the Irish House of Lords. The Declaratory Act and Poynings' Law were two major grievances of the Irish Patriot Party that were addressed by the Constitution of 1782. One element of the Constitution was Barry Yelverton's Act,[13] an implied amendment of Poynings' Law which removed the Irish Privy Council altogether from the legislative process and reduced the British Privy Council's power to one of veto rather than amendment. The Acts of Union 1800 rendered most of the Constitution of 1782 and Poynings' Law moot. Poynings' Law was formally repealed as obsolete by the Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1878.
References
- ISBN 9780198258179. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
- ^ a b Curtis & McDowell 1968, p. 83.
- ^ Quinn 1941, p. 245.
- ^ Ellis 1985, p. 78.
- ^ Bradshaw 1979, p. 150.
- ^ Quinn 1941, p. 246.
- ^ Quinn 1941, p. 250
- ^ Quinn 1941, p. 247.
- ^ McGrath 2000, p. 85.
- ^ Bartlett & Hayton 1979, p. 21.
- ^ McGrath 2000, p. 96.
- ^ "Parliament". The Standard Library Cyclopaedia of Political, Constitutional, Statistical and Forensic Knowledge. Vol. 4. H.G. Bohn. 1853. p. 477.
- ^ 21 & 22 Geo. 3. c. 47
Notes
External links
Sources
- Primary
- The Statutes at Large, passed in the Parliaments held in Ireland. Vol. 1: From the third year of Edward the Second, A.D. 1310, to the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth years of James the First, A.D. 1612, inclusive. Boulter Grierson. 1765. Retrieved 12 March 2015. (Where two chapters are given, the first is the printed number, the second the enrolled number.)
- 10 Hen. 7. c. 4 (c. 9) (p. 44)
- 10 Hen. 7. c. 22 (c. 39) (pp. 56–57)
- 28 Hen. 8. c. 4 (pp. 89–90)
- 28 Hen. 8. c. 20 (c. 31) (pp. 157–159)
- 3 & 4 Ph. & M. c.4 (c. 11) (pp. 246–248)
- 11 Eliz. 1 Sess. 3 c. 8 (c. 18) (pp. 346–347)
- Irish Statute Book
- Secondary
- Bartlett, Thomas; Hayton, David, eds. (1979), Penal Era and Golden Age, Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, ISBN 0-901905-23-2.
- Bradshaw, Brendan (1979), The Irish Constitutional Revolution of the Sixteenth Century, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-22206-0.
- Curtis, E.; McDowell, R.B., eds. (1968), "Poynings' Law", Irish Historical Documents 1172–1922, London: Methuen & Company Limited, p. 83.
- Ellis, Steven G. (1985), 'Tudor Ireland: Crown, Community and the Conflict of Cultures 1470–1603, New York: Longman, ISBN 0-582-49341-2.
- Hayden, Mary T. (1925). "The Origin and Development of Heads of Bills in the Irish Parliament". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 15 (2): 112–125. JSTOR 25513369.
- McGrath, Charles Ivar (2000), The Making of the Eighteenth Century Irish Constitution, Dublin: Four Courts Press, ISBN 1-85182-554-1.
- Pack, Mark (2001), "Charles James Fox, the Repeal of Poynings Law, and the Act of Union: 1782–1801" (PDF), Journal of Liberal History, 33, archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2009, retrieved 7 April 2008.
- Porritt, Edward; Porritt, Annie (1909). "Poynings' Law". The Unreformed House of Commons; Parliamentary representation before 1832. Vol. 2: Scotland and Ireland. Cambridge University Press. pp. 424–449. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
- Quinn, D.B. (1941), "The early interpretation of Poynings' Law, 1494–1534", Irish Historical Studies, 2 (7): 241–254, JSTOR 30005898.
- Richardson, H.G. (Henry Gerald); Sayles, G.O. (1964). "Poynings Law". The Irish Parliament in the Middle Ages. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 269–281. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
- "Background to the Statutes: The Constitutional Position". History of the Irish Parliament. Ulster Historical Foundation. Retrieved 9 March 2015.