Act of Union 1800 Information

Passed on 2 July 1800 and 1 August 1800 respectively, the twin Acts united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.^[2][3] The union came into effect on 1 January 1801. Both Acts, though since amended, remain in force in the United Kingdom.^[4]

In the Republic of Ireland the Union with Ireland Act 1800 (that passed in Great Britain) was not formally repealed until the passing by the Oireachtas of the Statute Law Revision Act 1983.^[5] The Act of Union (Ireland) 1800 (that passed in Ireland) was repealed in 1962.^[6]

Background

Before these Acts, Ireland had been in personal union with England since 1541, when the Irish Parliament had passed the Crown of Ireland Act 1542, proclaiming King Henry VIII of England to be King of Ireland. (Before then, since the 12th century, the King of England had been overlord of the Lordship of Ireland, a papal possession.) Both Ireland and England had came in personal union with Scotland with the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

In 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were united into a single kingdom: the Kingdom of Great Britain. Upon that union, each House of the Parliament of Ireland passed a congratulatory address to Queen Anne, praying that, "May God put it in your royal heart to add greater strength and lustre to your crown, by a still more comprehensive Union".^[7] The Irish parliament at that time was subject to a number of restrictions that placed it subservient to the Parliament of England (and following the union of England and Scotland, the Parliament of Great Britain).

In the century that followed the union of England and Scotland, Ireland gained effective legislative independence from Great Britain through the Constitution of 1782. However, a rebellion in 1798, involving a French invasion of Ireland and seeking complete independence from Great Britain, descended into sectarian violence and ruthless repression by the Irish authorities. The British drive for union between Great Britain and Ireland that passed in 1800 was motivated at least in part by a desire to restore order to Ireland, end sectarianism (including the introduction of Catholic Emancipation) and to ensure that Ireland would not become a staging post for a French invasion of Great Britain.

Passing the Acts

Each Act had to be passed in the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland.

After centuries subordination to the English, and later, British Parliaments, the Parliament of Ireland gained a large measure of independence by the Constitution of 1782. Many members of the Irish Parliament jealously guarded its autonomy (notably Henry Grattan) and a motion for union was rejected in 1799. However, a concerted campaign by the British government overcame the reluctance of the Irish Parliament.

Only Anglicans were permitted to become members of the Parliament of Ireland, though the great majority of the Irish population were Roman Catholic, with many Presbyterians in Ulster. In the 1790s Roman Catholics gained the minimal right to vote.

From the perspective of Great Britain, the union was required because of the uncertainty that followed the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the French Revolution of 1789, which inspired the rebels; if Ireland adopted Catholic Emancipation, willingly or not, a Roman Catholic parliament could break away from Britain and ally with the French, while the same measure within a united kingdom would exclude that possibility. Also the Irish and British parliaments, when creating a regency during King George III's "madness", gave the Prince Regent different powers. These considerations led Great Britain to decide to merge the two kingdoms and their parliaments.

The final passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was achieved with substantial majorities, achieved in part according to contemporary documents through bribery, namely the awarding of peerages and honours to critics to get their votes.^[8] Whereas the first attempt had been defeated in the Irish House of Commons by 109 votes against to 104 for, the second vote in 1800 produced a result of 158 to 115.^[8]

The Acts ratified eight articles which had been previously agreed by the British and Irish Parliaments:

• Articles I–IV dealt with the political aspects of the Union which included Ireland having over 100 MPs representing it in the united parliament, meeting in the Palace of Westminster. Ireland gained 100 seats in the House of Commons and 32 seats in the House of Lords: 28 representative peers elected for life, and four clergymen of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland, chosen for each session.
• Article V created a united Protestant church, the United Church of England and Ireland, but confirmed the independence of the Church of Scotland.
• Article VI created a customs union, with the exception that customs duties on certain British and Irish goods passing between the two countries would remain for 10 years (a consequence of having trade depressed by the ongoing war with revolutionary France).
• Article VII stated that Ireland would have to contribute two-seventeenths towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom. The figure was a ratio of Irish to British foreign trade.
• Article VIII formalised the legal and judicial aspects of the Union.

Part of the attraction of the Union for many Irish Catholics was the promise of Catholic Emancipation, thereby allowing Roman Catholic MPs, who had not been allowed in the Irish Parliament. This was however blocked by King George III who argued that emancipating Roman Catholics would breach his Coronation Oath, and was not realised until 1829.

Union Flag

The flag, created as a consequence of the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800, still remains the flag of the United Kingdom. Called the Union Flag, it combined the flags of England (which included Wales) and Scotland with a "St Patrick's Cross" to represent Ireland.

References

1. ^ Matching Legislation - Statute Law Database
2. ^ Welcome parliament.uk, accessed 7 October 2008]
3. ^ Act of Union 1707, Article 2.
4. ^ Home - Statute Law Database
5. ^ Republic of Ireland - Statute Law Revision Act 1983, "Repeals"
6. ^ Republic of Ireland - Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act 1962
7. ^ Journals of the Irish Commons, vol. iii. p. 421
8. ^ ^{a b} Alan J. Ward, The Irish Constitutional Tradition p.28.

Sources

• Ward, Alan J. The Irish Constitutional Tradition: Responsible Government and Modern Ireland 1782-1992. Irish Academic Press, 1994.
• Lalor, Brian (ed). The Encyclopaedia of Ireland. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, Ireland, 2003. ISBN 0-7171-3000-2, p7

External links

• Act of Union Virtual Library
• Acts of Union – complete original text
• Ireland 1798-1921
• Official text of the Act of Union (Ireland) 1800 (c.38) as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database
• Official text of the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database
• Official text of the Union with Ireland Act 1800 (c.67) as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database

Categories:

• Constitutional laws of the United Kingdom
• Northern Ireland
• History of Great Britain
• History of Ireland
• History of Ireland 1801–1923
• 1800 in law
• 1800 in Great Britain
• 1800 in Ireland
• Unionism
• Irish laws
• British constitutional laws concerning Ireland
• Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1800
• Acts of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801)
• Repealed Irish legislation

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