Union with Ireland Act 1800
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1800 c. 67 |
| Year | 1800 |
(39 & 40 Geo. 3) C A P. LXVII.
[2d July 1800]
'WHEREAS in pursuance of his Majesty's most gracious Recommendation to the two Houses of Parliament inGreat Britain and Ireland respectively, to consider of such Measures as might best tend to strengthen and consolidate the Connection between the two Kingdoms, the two Houses of the Parliament of Great Britain and the two Houses of the Parliament of Ireland have severally agreed and resolved, that, in order to promote and secure the essential Interests of Great Britain and Ireland , and to consolidate the Strength, Power, and Resources of the British Empire, it will be advisable to concur in such Measures as may best tend to unite the two Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into one Kingdom, in such Manner, and on such Terms and Conditions, as may be established by the Acts of the respective Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland :
And whereas, in furtherance of the said Resolution, both Houses of the said two Parliaments respectively have likewise agreed upon certain Articles for effectuating and establishing the said Purposes, in the Tenor following:'
ARTICLE FIRST.
That it be the first Article of the Union of the Kingdoms ofGreat Britain and Ireland , that the said Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, upon the first Day of January which shall be in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one, and for ever after, be united into one Kingdom, by the Name of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ; and that the Royal Stile and Titles appertaining to the Imperial Crown of the said United Kingdom and its Dependencies, and also the Ensigns, Armorial Flags and Banners thereof, shall be such as his Majesty, by his Royal Proclamation under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, shall be pleased to appoint.
ARTICLE SECOND.
That it be the second Article of Union, that the Succession to the Imperial Crown of the said United Kingdom, and of the Dominions thereunto belonging, shall continue limited and settled in the same Manner as the Succession to the Imperial Crown of the said Kingdoms ofGreat Britain and Ireland now stands limited and settled, according to the existing Laws, and to the Terms of Union between England and Scotland .
ARTICLE THIRD.
That it be the third Article of Union, that the said United Kingdom be represented in one and the same Parliament, to be stiledThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland .
ARTICLE FOURTH.
That it be the fourth Article of Union, that four Lords Spiritual ofIreland by Rotation of Sessions, and twenty-eight Lords Temporal of Ireland , elected for Life by the Peers of Ireland , shall be the Number to sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; and one hundred Commoners (two for each County of Ireland , two for the City of Dublin , two for the City of Cork , one for the University of Trinity College , and one for each of the thirty-one most considerable Cities, Towns, and Boroughs), be the Number to sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom:
That such Act as shall be passed in the Parliament ofIreland previous to the Union, to regulate the Mode by which the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Part of Ireland , shall be summoned and returned to the said Parliament, shall be considered as forming Part of the Treaty of Union, and shall be incorporated in the Acts of the respective Parliaments by which the said Union shall be ratified and established:
That all Questions touching the Rotation or Election of Lords Spiritual or Temporal ofIreland to sit in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, shall be decided by the House of Lords thereof; and whenever, by reason of an Equality of Votes in the Election of any such Lords Temporal, a complete Election shall not be made according to the true Intent of this Article, the Names of those Peers for whom such Equality of Votes shall be so given, shall be written on Pieces of Paper of a similar Form, and shall be put into a Glass, by the Clerk of the Parliaments at the Table of the House of Lords, whilst the House is sitting; and the Peer or Peers, whose Name or Names shall be first drawn out by the Clerk of the Parliaments, shall be deemed the Peer or Peers elected, as the Case may be:
That any Person holding any Peerage ofIreland now subsisting, or hereafter to be created, shall not thereby be disqualified from being elected to serve if he shall so think fit, or from serving or continuing to serve, if he shall so think fit, for any County, City, or Borough of Great Britain , in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, unless he shall have been previously elected as above, to sit in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; but that so long as such Peer of Ireland shall so continue to be a Member of the House of Commons, he shall not be entitled to the Privilege of Peerage, nor be capable of being elected to serve as a Peer on the Part of Ireland , or of voting at any such Election; and that he shall be liable to be sued, indicted, proceeded against, and tried as a Commoner, for any Offence with which he may be charged:
That it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to create Peers of that Part of the United Kingdom calledIreland , and to make Promotions in the Peerage thereof after the Union; provided that no new Creation of any such Peers shall take place after the Union until three of the Peerages of Ireland , which shall have been existing at the Time of the Union, shall have become extinct; and upon such Extinction of three Peerages, that it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to create one Peer of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland ; and in like Manner so often as three Peerages of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland shall become extinct, it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to create one other Peer of the said Part of the United Kingdom; and if it shall happen that the Peers of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland , shall, by Extinction of Peerages or otherwise, be reduced to the Number of One Hundred, exclusive of all such Peers of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland , as shall hold any Peerage of Great Britain subsisting at the Time of the Union, or of the United Kingdom created since the Union, by which such Peers shall be entitled to an Hereditary Seat in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, then and in that Case it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to create one Peer of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland as often as any one of such One Hundred Peerages shall fail by Extinction, or as often as any one Peer of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland shall become entitled, by Descent or Creation, to an Hereditary Seat in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; it being the true Intent and Meaning of this Article, that at all Times after the Union it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to keep up the Peerage of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland to the Number of one hundred, over and above the Number of such of the said Peers as shall be entitled, by Descent or Creation, to an Hereditary Seat in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom:
That if any Peerage shall at any Time be in Abeyance, such Peerage shall be deemed and taken as an existing Peerage; and no Peerage shall be deemed extinct, unless on Default of Claimants to the Inheritance of such Peerage for the Space of one Year from the Death of the Person who shall have been last possessed thereof; and if no Claim shall be made to the Inheritance of such Peerage, in such Form and Manner as may from Time to Time be prescribed by the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, before the Expiration of the said Period of a Year, then and in that Case such Peerage shall be deemed extinct; provided that nothing herein shall exclude any Person from afterwards putting in a Claim to the Peerage so deemed extinct; and if such Claim shall be allowed as valid, by Judgment of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, reported to his Majesty, such Peerage shall be considered as revived; and in case any new Creation of a Peerage of that Part of the United Kingdom calledIreland , shall have taken place in the Interval, in consequence of the supposed Extinction of such Peerage, then no new Right of Creation shall accrue to his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, in consequence of the next Extinction which shall take place of any Peerage of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland :
That all Questions touching the Election of Members to sit on the Part ofIreland in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom shall be heard and decided in the same Manner as Questions touching such Elections in Great Britain now are, or at any Time hereafter shall by Law be heard and decided; subject nevertheless to such particular Regulations in respect of Ireland , as, from local Circumstances, the Parliament of the United Kingdom may from Time to Time deem expedient:
That the Qualifications in respect of Property of the Members elected on the Part ofIreland to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, shall be respectively the same as are now provided by Law in the Case of Elections for Counties and Cities and Boroughs respectively in that Part of Great Britain called England , unless any other Provision shall hereafter be made in that respect by Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom:
That when his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, shall declare his, her, or their Pleasure for holding the first or any subsequent Parliament of the United Kingdom, a Proclamation shall issue, under the Great Seal of...
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