Irish House of Lords | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Established | 1297 |
| Disbanded | 1 January 1801 (1801-01-01) |
| Succeeded by | House of Lords of the United Kingdom |
| Leadership | |
The Earl of Clare1 (1789–1800) | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | typically 122–147[1] |
Length of term | Lifetime |
| Salary | nil |
| Elections | |
| Ennoblement bythe monarch or inheritance of apeerage | |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Lords Chamber,Parliament House, Dublin | |
| Footnotes | |
| 1In 1800 See also: Parliament of Great Britain | |
TheIrish House of Lords was theupper house of theParliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until the end of 1800. It was also thefinal court of appeal of theKingdom of Ireland.
It was modelled on theHouse of Lords of England, with members of thePeerage of Ireland sitting in the Irish Lords, just as members of thePeerage of England did at Westminster. When theAct of Union 1800 abolished the Irish parliament, a subset of Irish peers sat asIrish representative peers in theHouse of Lords of the mergedParliament of the United Kingdom.[2]
The Lords started as a group of barons in theLordship of Ireland that was generally limited to thePale, a variable area around Dublin where English law was in effect, but did extend to the rest of Ireland. They sat as a group, not as a separate House, from the first meeting of theParliament of Ireland in 1297. From the establishment of theKingdom of Ireland in 1542 the Lords included a large number of new Gaelic and Norman lords under the policy ofsurrender and regrant.
Religious division was reflected in the House, but as late as the 1689 "Patriot Parliament" a majority of Lords had remainedRoman Catholics, while the administration and a slight majority in the Commons wereAnglicans, adherents of theChurch of Ireland. In 1634 the campaign to secure"The Graces" came to a head. Most of these Catholic lords lost their titles in the ensuing1641 rebellion, notably during the 1652Cromwellian Settlement. These dispossessed lords were regranted their titles (if not always their lands) after theRestoration of 1660 by theAct of Settlement 1662. Others took the losing side in theWilliamite War in Ireland (1689–91), and a much smaller number of them were re-granted their lands in the 18th century.
By the 1790s most of the Lords personified and wanted to protect the "Protestant Ascendancy". By the time of the abolition of the Irish House of Lords in 1800 some of the peerages were very ancient, such as thelords Kingsale, created in 1397, and theviscounts Gormanston from 1478. The firstEarl of Kildare had been created in 1316.
Following theAct of Union in 1800, thepeerage of Ireland elected just 28 of their number to sit in theUnited Kingdom House of Lords, described as the "Irish representative peers". This practice ended in 1922 with the establishment of theIrish Free State. Other newly created Irish peers, such asClive of India, theEarl of Carysfort andLord Curzon, were still able to stand for election to theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom (not beingUK peers) if they were not a representative peer. This was a convenient way of giving a title for reasons of prestige to someone who expected to sit in the British House of Commons.[3]
Today the 18th-centuryIrish Parliament building onCollege Green inDublin is an office of the commercialBank of Ireland, and visitors can view the Irish House of Lords chamber within the building.
The Parliament of Ireland was abicamerallegislature, andbills could originate in either the Commons or the Lords; both had to pass a bill for it to stand a chance of becoming law. Either house could amend or reject the others' proposals. UnderPoynings' Law, matters passed by the Irish parliament had to be approved and could be amended by theIrish Privy Council andEnglish Privy Council; main debates before this stage were thus technically on "heads of bills". Following approval the Parliament of Ireland voted on the formal finalised "bill" (which could only be rejected or passed unamended).
The Lords was the highestcourt of appeal in Ireland, same as theLords were in England. However, the controversial BritishDeclaratory Act 1719 asserted the right of the Lords in Westminster to overrule the Irish Lords. TheIrish Patriot Party secured therepeal of the Declaratory Act as part of theConstitution of 1782.
The House of Lords was presided over by theLord Chancellor, who sat on thewoolsack, a large seat stuffed with wool from each of the three lands of England, Ireland and Scotland. At the state opening of the Irish parliament Members of Parliament were summoned to the House of Lords from the House of Commons chamber byBlack Rod, a royal official who would "command the members on behalf of His Excellency to attend him in the chamber of peers". Sessions were formally opened by theSpeech from the Throne by theLord Lieutenant, who sat on the throne beneath a canopy of crimson velvet.
Sessions were generally held atDublin Castle in the 16th and 17th centuries, until the opening of theIrish Houses of Parliament in the 1730s.
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Vol 1 (1634–1698)Vol 2 (1703–1725)Vol 3 (1727–1752)Vol 4 (1753–1776)Vol 5 (1776–1786)Vol 6 (1787–1791)Vol 7 (1792–1797)Vol 8 (1798–1800)
