Constitution of 1782

Documents relevant to personal and legislative unions of the Countries of the United Kingdom
Treaty of Perth (1266) Statute of Rhuddlan 1284 Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 Crown of Ireland Act 1542 Union of the Crowns Treaty of Union 1706 Acts of Union 1707 Irish Constitution of 1782 Acts of Union 1800 Government of Ireland Act 1920 Anglo-Irish Treaty, 1921 Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 Government of Wales Act 1998 Northern Ireland Act 1998 Scotland Act 1998 Government of Wales Act 2006
v · d · e

The Constitution of 1782 is a collective term given to a series of legal changes which freed the Parliament of Ireland, a Medieval parliament consisting of the Irish House of Commons and the Irish House of Lords, of legal restrictions that had been imposed by successive Norman, English, and later, British governments on the scope of its jurisdiction. These restrictions had, in effect, allowed the Irish executive of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to control the parliamentary agenda and to restrict its ability to legislate rather than promote the objectives of the monarchy.

The most punitive restrictions arose in Poynings' Law of 1495. These restrictions were lifted in 1782, producing a period of novel legislative freedom. This period came to be known as Grattan's Parliament after Henry Grattan, a major campaigner for reform in the House of Commons and leader of the Patriot Party.

The new constitutional arrangements proved short-lived in consequence of the 1798 uprising by the United Irishmen. By the Acts of Union the Parliament of Ireland was abolished, and the Kingdom of Ireland absorbed into the new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with effect from 1 January 1801.

See also

Irish Patriot Party