The Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 (Session 2) was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

, passed in 1922 to enact in UK law the

Constitution of the Irish Free State The Constitution of the Irish Free State ( ga, Bunreacht Shaorstát Eireann) was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution,Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

formally.

Provisions

As originally enacted, the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 consisted of a preamble, five sections (three of which were very brief), and a schedule. The schedule was the text of the ''Constitution of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) Act 1922'', which had been passed in Ireland by the

Third Dáil The Third Dáil was elected at the general election held on 16 June 1922. This election was required to be held under the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on 6 December 1921. It first met on 9 September and until 6 December 1922, it was the Provision ...

sitting as a

constituent assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

and provisional parliament for the nascent Free State. This Irish Act itself had two schedules, the first being the actual text of the Constitution, and the second the text of the 1921 Treaty (formally, the ''Articles of Agreement for a treaty between Great Britain and Ireland''). The UK Act's

preamble A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subj ...

quotes section 2 of the Irish Act: ;Section 1: declared the scheduled Constitution would come into effect upon a

royal proclamation A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...

no later than 6 December 1922. ;Section 2: made transitory provisions regarding taxation liabilities ;Section 3: empowered the Free State parliament to adopt legislation applied to other dominions ;Section 4: was a saver empowering the UK Parliament to pass laws for the Free State on the same basis as for other dominions ;Section 5: assigned the

short title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. T ...

and specified that the Treaty to have been ratified. Article 12 of the Treaty accorded to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

the right to secede from the new Free State and rejoin the United Kingdom, giving its parliament a month in which to decide: the so-called Ulster Month. The Treaty had been implicitly accepted by the UK parliament in votes on the King's Speech in December 1921, and most of its provisions had been effected in March 1922 by the

Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 The Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 (12 & 13 Geo. 5 c. 4) was an Act of the British Parliament passed on 31 March 1922. It gave the force of law to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which was scheduled to the Act. Main provisions Section 1(1) of th ...

. However, neither of these events was held to have formally ratified the treaty. This was because the Ulster Month would begin as soon as the treaty had been ratified, and it was felt that the opt-out should not be exercised until after the Free State had come into being. Section 5 of the Irish Free State Constitution Act therefore declared the Act to be the ratification of the treaty for the purposes of the Ulster Month.

Enactment

The Irish Act had been approved by the Irish constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. The bill for the UK Act was introduced by the Prime Minister

Bonar Law Andrew Bonar Law ( ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923. Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now ...

into the

in November 1922. The bill's third reading in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

was on 30 November. ''The New York Times'' reported on the passing of the Act on 5 December 1922 as follows: ''The New York Times'' also reported that in Parliament a group of Communists singing "

The Red Flag "The Red Flag" () is a socialist song, emphasising the sacrifices and solidarity of the international labour movement. It is the anthem of the British Labour Party, the Northern Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party and the Irish Labour ...

" caused a minor disturbance as the formalities relating to the Act's passage were underway.

Northern Ireland secedes from the Irish Free State

On 7 December 1922, the day after the establishment of the Irish Free State, the

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

addressed the King requesting its secession from Irish Free State. The address was unanimous, with the abstentionist

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

and

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gr ...

members absent. The King replied shortly thereafter to say that he had caused his Ministers and the Government of the Irish Free State to be informed that Northern Ireland was to do so.

Position in Irish law

After the

Statute of Westminster 1931 The Statute of Westminster 1931 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets the basis for the relationship between the Commonwealth realms and the Crown. Passed on 11 December 1931, the statute increased the sovereignty of the ...

, the UK government recognised the right of the Irish government to amend or repeal the UK act, but in fact the Irish government did not do so until it was formally repealed as spent by the Statute Law Revision Act 2007. The Irish government amended the Irish act in 1933, and the 1937 constitution repealed the entire Free State constitution. The UK

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Aug ...

ruled in 1935 that the 1933 Act had implicitly amended the UK Act with respect to the jurisdiction of the Free State. The Irish Supreme Court has taken the view that the Free State constitution was enacted by the Irish Act, not by the subsequent UK Act. This reflects the view of

popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. Popular sovereignty, being a principle, does not imply any ...

rather than

parliamentary sovereignty Parliamentary sovereignty, also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy, is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over ...

, with the constitution's legitimacy ultimately springing from the 1922 Irish election.

References

;Hansard: * HC Deb vol 159: Ordere
27 Nov 1922 cc294-7
Second Readin
27 Nov 1922 cc327-87
Committe
28 Nov 1922 cc537-67
Third Readin
29 Nov 1922 cc741-74
from Lord
4 Dec 1922 c1210
* HL Deb vol 52: First Readin
29 Nov c105
Second Readin
30 Nov 1922 cc108-72
Committe
1 Dec 1922 cc173-88
Third Readin
4 Dec 1922 cc211-36
{{UK legislation 1922 in law United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1922 British constitutional laws concerning Ireland Political history of Ireland 1922 in British politics 1922 in Ireland 1922 in international relations Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Ireland Independence acts in the Parliament of the United Kingdom Irish Free State Constitution of the Irish Free State Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations