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Summary

The so-called ‘Constitution of 1782’ has always been an important symbol in Irish history. By amending Poyning’s Law and repealing the Declaratory Act, the changes of 1782–83 meant that the Irish House of Lords regained its judicial functions, and the Irish Parliament could initiate its own legislation. But whether these changes constitute a significant constitutional change which touched a ‘principal part of a constitutional framework’ and raised ‘an important question of principle’ is necessary to determine. By analysing the economic legislation of the Irish Parliament, in particular the legislation on infrastructure, linen laws and the Dublin Paving Board, this chapter argues that the legislative independence did not influence the subsequent legislation of Grattan’s Parliament. The significance of the constitutional change lies in the symbolic importance for the contemporaries rather than in the legislative changes themselves, which had little effect internally in Ireland or externally in the relationship with Great Britain.

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9 - Constitutional Change, Law and Grattan’s Parliament

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9 - Constitutional Change, Law and Grattan’s Parliament

Summary