TAOISEACH LAUNCHES STATUTE LAW REVISION BILL 2007
BILL IS A LANDMARK IN LEGAL MODERNISATION
The Taoiseach Mr Bertie Ahern T.D. today announced the transmission to the Oireachtas of the Statute Law Revision Bill 2007. This Bill is the most comprehensive revision of the statute book ever undertaken in the history of the State.
This Bill will repeal 3,200 laws dating from 1066 to 1922, and is the result of a major project to modernise and update the statute book being undertaken by the Office of the Attorney General.
The principal purpose of the Bill is to repeal all public general statutes enacted before 6th December 1922, with the exception of a “white list” of Acts that are specifically preserved.
“This Bill is the single biggest repealing measure in the State’s history, and will remove almost as many laws from the statute book as have been enacted in the years since independence.” the Taoiseach said. “It is important that we keep our statute book up to date and relevant and that we clear from the statute book any laws which are obsolete, as well as identifying those which are still of relevance.”
Among the laws repealed by the Bill are the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which provided that the authority of the British Parliament over Ireland remained undiminished, the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922, which gave the 1921 Treaty the force of law, and the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 which implemented the Free State Constitution. These measures have become obsolete but have never been formally repealed.
The process leading to the Bill attached to this Memorandum involved a review by the Office of the Attorney General of a total of 26,371 public general statutes enacted before 1922. This was the first comprehensive examination of all statutes enacted before 1922 in the history of the State.
Of the 26,371 statutes examined in the Attorney General’s exercise, 9,266 were already repealed prior to this Act, and 12,557 were not applicable to Ireland. This left 4,550 statutes still in force, of which 3,200 will be repealed by this Bill (these are listed in Schedule 2) and 1,350 will be retained for the time being (these are listed in Schedule 1) pending a more comprehensive exercise of statute law reform and consolidation.
Under the Bill, there will be publicly available, for the first time, a comprehensive and complete list of pre-1922 statutes that are retained as part of the law, as set out in Schedule 1.
The Bill will be a landmark development in creating a modern and relevant statute book.
9th January 2007
Note for editors on Statute Law Revision Bill 2007 and Lord Edward Fitzgerald attached
Note on the Statute Law Revision Bill 2007
Summary of the key provisions of the Statute Law Revision Bill 2007
When the State achieved independence in 1922, a huge number of laws were inherited from the UK system. Thousands more remained on the statute books which had been passed by the various parliaments which had sat in Ireland between the Norman conquest in 1169 and the Act of Union in 1800.
This Bill is the first time a comprehensive list of the laws pre-dating independence has been produced.
It has two parts – a “white list” of Acts retained and a “black list” of Acts repealed.
There are 3,200 Acts in the “black list”, making this Bill by far the largest statute law revision measure ever completed in Ireland.
There are 1,350 Acts on the “white list”. These have been found to have some degree of modern relevance, and they must be replaced with modern laws before they can be repealed.
Many of the Acts on the white list will be repealed by legislation before the Oireachtas at the moment. For example, the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006 (which has been passed by the Seanad and is shortly to come before the Dáil) will repeal 130 of the Acts on the white list.
Within the next number of years, the Government intends that all pre-Independence legislation will be repealed and replaced with modern laws.
The Taoiseach for the first time today announced his intention to “codify” the Irish statute book. This means that Ireland will ultimately have a unified code of laws which are clear and accessible.
1542 - That the King, his heirs and successors be Kings of Ireland
A number of Acts of different parliaments asserted that the kingship of Ireland would be held by the King of England. In 1542, King Henry VIII tried to put the Irish question beyond doubt by having the Irish parliament pass a law declaring him to be the King of Ireland. This law was repealed in 1962. However, recent research has discovered a second law of 1542, which restated and expanded on the first, and this second law – which also declared King Henry to be the King of Ireland – has never been repealed. The Taoiseach’s Bill will repeal this law.
1920 – The Government of Ireland Act
This was the Act which, for the first time in Irish history, separated the island into two jurisdictions, called Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, both of them under British jurisdiction. Southern Ireland never had any practical existence, being replaced (before it came into practical existence) by a largely independent Irish Free State.
The Government of Ireland Act 1920 continued to be of enormous constitutional significance to Northern Ireland until recent years. The repeal of the Government of Ireland Act was one of the fundamental provisions of the Good Friday Agreement, and it was duly repealed in the UK in 1998. This Act has no significance to this State, and is now being repealed.
1922 – The Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922
The last two Acts passed by the Westminster parliament which had effect in this State relate to the establishment of the Irish Free State. In British law, the constitutional legitimacy of the new entity arose from the actions of parliament rather than from the people of this State. This anomaly was put to rest by the adoption of Bunreacht na hÉireann in 1937. The Constitution of Ireland makes it clear that the authority of the State derives from the Irish people.
1070 – 1087 the oldest laws
The oldest laws which have effect in Ireland actually pre-date the Norman conquest of Ireland. This is because all the laws of England were later transported wholesale to Ireland in 1494 in an effort by King Henry VII to stabilise Ireland.
“One God to be revered throughout the whole realm”
The very first law imposed by William the Conqueror on England – and which was later transposed to Ireland – was designed to suppress paganism. This was at a time when the Danish and Norwegian descendants of the Vikings still had designs on Britain.
The Irish invasion of England - 1487
During the Wars of the Roses in England, most of the Irish nobility supported the House of York. The Yorkists lost the wars with the coronation of King Henry VII in England, but some in Ireland still hoped to revive the Yorkist claim by producing dubious Yorkist “heirs”. One such was Lambert Simnel, who was crowned “King Edward VI” in Dublin in 1487. Simnel was only 10 years old at the time, and was a puppet of some of the Yorkist lords of England and Ireland. With young Simnel at its head, an army of Irish levies and German mercenaries invaded England but was quickly defeated. Henry VII did not imprison or execute Simnel but put him to work in the royal kitchens, where he continued to work for several decades. An Act of the Irish parliament which was passed after Simnel’s defeat which dealt with the aftermath of Simnel’s brief “reign” is one of is one of the Acts to be repealed by the Taoiseach’s Bill.
Notes for Editor
Short Biography of Lord Edward Fitzgerald.
Lord Edward Fitzgerald was born in 1763 at Carton House, Co. Kildare, into an aristocratic family. His father was the 20th Earl of Kildare and 1st Duke of Leinster.
Fitzgerald joined the Sussex militia in 1779 and served in the British forces in North America during the American Revolution. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Eutaw Springs in 1781.
He returned to Ireland and sat for Athy in the Irish Parliament where he was closely associated with Henry Grattan. Fitzgerald was strongly influenced by the French Revolution and visited Paris in 1792 where he struck up a friendship with Thomas Paine.
He was dismissed from the British Army for calling for the abolition of hereditary titles. In 1796, Edward Fitzgerald joined the United Irishmen who were committed to establish an independent Irish republic. He accompanied Cork radical Arthur O’Connor to Paris to ask General Hoche for French military assistance.
Fitzgerald, along with Theobald Wolfe Tone, was one of the militants in the debates on strategy within the United Irishmen during 1797. In July of that year, he resigned his parliamentary seat telling his constituents free elections were impossible under martial law.
By this stage, Fitzgerald was the prime military strategist as the United Irishmen prepared for rebellion. A reward of £1,000 was offered for information about his whereabouts.
He was captured in Thomas Street on 19th May, 1798, four days before the rebellion began. His arrest deprived the insurrection of a key figure.
In the fierce struggling surrounding his seizure, Fitzgerald was shot. He died of his wounds in Newgate Prison, Dublin, on 4th June. He is buried in St. Werburgh’s Church.