Union with Ireland Act 1800

1800 CHAPTER 67 39 and 40 Geo 3

An Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland.

[2nd July 1800]

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Short title given by Short Titles Act 1896 (c. 14)

C2 References in this Act to Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland or Ireland to be construed as exclusive of Republic of Ireland: S.R. & O.1923/405, (Rev. X, p. 298: 1923, p. 400), art. 2

Preamble. E+W+S

Whereas in pursuance of his Majesty’s most gracious recommendation to the two Houses of Parliament in Great 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 adviseable 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:

[1.] The Parliaments of England and Ireland have agreed upon the articles following: E+W+S

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 E+W+S

That Great Britain and Ireland shall upon Jan. 1, 1801, be united into one kingdom; and that the titles appertaining to the crown, &c. shall be such as his Majesty shall be pleased to appoint. E+W+S

That it be the First Article of the Union of the kingdoms of Great 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 E+W+S

That the succession to the crown shall continue limited and settled as at present. E+W+S

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 of Great 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 E+W+S

That the United Kingdom be represented in one Parliament. E+W+S

That it be the Third Article of Union, that the said United Kingdom be represented in one and the same Parliament, to be stiled the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Article Fourth E+W+S

†That such Act as shall be passed in Ireland to regulate the mode of summoning and returning the lords and commoners to serve in the united Parliament of the United Kingdom, shall be considered as part of the treaty of union. E+W+S

. . . F1 That such Act as shall be passed in the Parliament of Ireland previous to the union, to regulate the mode by which the lords spiritual and tbemporal 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: . . . F1

Textual Amendments

F1 Words repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971 (c. 52), Sch. Pt. I

†That any peer of Ireland may be elected to serve in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, unless previously elected to sit in the House of Lords, but shall not be entitled to the privilege of peerage, etc. E+W+S

That any person holding any peerage of Ireland 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 . . . F2 , in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, . . . F3 ; 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, . . . F4

Textual Amendments

F2 Words repealed by Peerage Act 1963 (c. 48), Sch. 2

F3 Words repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971 (c. 52), Sch. Pt. I

F4 Words repealed by virtue of repeal by Criminal Justice Act 1948 (c. 58), Sch. 10 Pt. III of s. 1 of this Act so far as it ratifies those words and by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971 (c. 52), Sch. Pt. I

His Majesty may create peers, and make promotions in the peerage of Ireland after the union, under certain regulations. E+W+S

That it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs and successors, to create peers of Ireland, 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 Ireland; and in like manner so often as three peerages of 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 Ireland shall, by extinction of peerages or otherwise, be reduced to the number of one hundred exclusive of all such peers of 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 Ireland, as often as any one of such one hundred peerages shall fail by extinction, or as often as any one peer of 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 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:

Peerages in abeyance to be deemed existing peerages, and no peerage to be deemed extinct but on default of claim for a year after the death of the late possessor. If a claim be after that period made and allowed, and a new creation shall have taken place in the interval, no new right of creation shall accrue to his Majesty on the next extinction of a peerage. E+W+S

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 judgement 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 Ireland 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 Ireland:

Questions touching the election of members to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on the part of Ireland shall be decided as questions touching such elections in Great Britain. E+W+S

That all questions touching the election of members to sit on the part of Ireland 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: . . . F5

Textual Amendments

F5 Words repealed by Act 21 & 22 Vict. c. 26

When his Majesty shall declare his pleasure for holding a Parliament of the United Kingdom, a proclamation shall issue to cause the lords and commons, who are to serve on the part of Ireland to be returned as shall be provided by any Act of the present session in Ireland. E+W+S

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 the United Kingdom, to cause the . . . F6 commons, who are to serve in the Parliament thereof on the part of Ireland, to be returned in such manner as by any Act of this present session of the Parliament of Ireland shall be provided; and that the lords spiritual and temporal and commons of Great Britain shall, together with the . . . F6 commons so returned as aforesaid on the part of Ireland, constitute the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom: . . . F7

Textual Amendments

F6 Words repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1953 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2 c. 5), Sch. 1 and Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971 (c. 52), Sch. Pt. I

F7 Words repealed by virtue of repeal by Statue Law Revision Act 1871 (c. 116) of s. 1 of this Act so far as it relates to those words

†The lords of Parliament on the part of Ireland shall have the same privileges as the lords on the part of Great Britain, and all lords spiritual of Ireland shall have rank next after the lords spiritual of the same rank of Great Britain, and shall enjoy the same privileges, (except those depending upon sitting in the House of Lords), and the temporal peers of Ireland shall have rank next after the peers of the like rank in Great Britain at the time of the union; and all peerages of Ireland and of the United Kingdom created after the union shall have rank according to creation; and all peerages of Great Britain and of Ireland shall, in all other respects, be considered as peerages of the United Kingdom, and the peers of Ireland shall enjoy the same privileges, except those depending upon sitting in the House of Lords. E+W+S

. . . F8 ; and that the persons holding any temporal peerages of Ireland existing at the time of the union shall, from and after the union, have rank and precedency next and immediately after all the persons holding peerages of the like orders and degrees in Great Britain subsisting at the time of the union; and that all peerages of Ireland created after the union shall have rank and precedency with the peerages of the United Kingdom so created, according to the dates of their creations; and that all peerages both of Great Britain and Ireland now subsisting or hereafter to be created shall in all other respects from the date of the union be considered as peerages of the United Kingdom; and that the peers of Ireland shall, as peers of the United Kingdom . . . F9 enjoy all privileges of peers as fully as the peers of Great Britain, the right and privilege of sitting in the House of Lords and the privileges depending thereon, . . . F9 only excepted.

Textual Amendments

F8 Words repealed by virtue of repeal by Criminal Justice Act 1948 (c. 58), Sch. 10 Pt. III of s. 1 of this Act so far as it ratifies those words, by Statute Law Revision Act 1953 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2 c. 5), Sch. 1 and Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971 (c. 52), Sch. Pt. I

F9 Words repealed by virtue of repeal by Criminal Justice Act 1948 (c. 58), Sch. 10 Pt. III of s. 1 of this Act so far as it ratifies those words

Article Fifth E+W+S

†The churches of England and Ireland to be united into one Protestant Episcopal Church, and the doctrine of the Church of Scotland to remain as now established. E+W+S

That it be the Fifth Article of Union, that . . . F10 the doctrine, worship, discipline and government of the Church of Scotland shall remain and be preserved as the same are now established by law and by the Acts for the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland.

Textual Amendments

F10 Words repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1953 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2 c. 5), Sch. 1

Article Sixth E+W+S

†The subjects of Great Britain and Ireland shall be on the same footing in respect of trade and navigation, and in all treaties with foreign powers the subjects of Ireland shall have the same privileges as British subject. E+W+S

That it be the Sixth Article of Union, that his Majesty’s subjects of Great Britain and Ireland shall from and after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and one be entitled to the same privileges and be on the same footing, as to encouragements and bounties on the like articles, being the growth, produce or manufacture of either country respectively, and generally in respect of trade and navigation in all ports and places in the United Kingdom and its dependencies; and that in all treaties made by his Majesty his heirs and successors, with any foreign power, his Majesty’s subjects of Ireland shall have the same privileges and be on the same footing as his Majesty’s subjects of Great Britain.

From January 1, 1801, all prohibitions and bounties on the export of articles the produce or manufacture of either country to the other shall cease. E+W+S

That from the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and one all prohibitions and bounties on the export of articles, the growth, produce or manufacture of either country, to the other shall cease and determine; and that the said articles shall thenceforth be exported from one country to the other without duty or bounty on such export:

All articles the produce or manufacture of either country, not herein-after enumerated as subject to specific duties, shall be imported into each country from the other, duty free, other than the countervailing duties in the Schedule No. 1. or to such as shall hereafter be imposed by the united Parliament; E+W+S

That all articles, the Growth, Produce or Manufacture of either Country (not herein-after enumerated as subject to specific duties), shall from thenceforth be imported into each country from the other free from duty other than such countervailing duties . . . F11 as shall hereafter be imposed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in the manner herein-after provided; . . . F12

Textual Amendments

F11 Words repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1948 (c. 62), Sch. 1

F12 Words repealed by virtue of repeal by Statue Law Revision Act 1871 (c. 116) of s. 1 of this Act so far as it relates to those words

Articles of the produce or manufacture of either country, subject to internal duty, or to duty on the materials, may be subjected on importation into each country to countervailing duties, and upon their export a drawback of the duty shall be allowed. E+W+S

That any articles of the growth, produce or manufacture of either country, which are or may be subject to internal duty or to duty on the materials of which they are composed, may be made subject, on their importation into each country respectively from the other, to such countervailing duty as shall appear to be just and reasonable in respect of such internal duty or duties on the materials; . . . F13 and that upon the export of the said articles from each country to the other respectively, a drawback shall be given equal in amount to the countervailing duty payable on such articles on the import thereof into the same country from the other; and that in like manner in future it shall be competent to the united Parliament to impose any new or additional countervailing duties, or to take off or diminish such existing countervailing duties as may appear, on like principles, to be just and reasonable in respect of any future or additional internal duty on any article of the growth, produce or manufacture of either country, or of any new or additional duty on any materials of which such article may be composed, or of any abatement of duty on the same; and that when any such new or additional countervailing duty shall be so imposed on the import of any article into either country from the other, a drawback, equal in amount to such countervailing duty, shall be given in like manner on the export of every such article respectively from the same country to the other:

Textual Amendments

F13 Words repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1948 (c. 62), Sch. 1

Articles the produce or manufacture of either country when exported through the other, shall be subject to the same charges as if exported directly from the country of which they were the produce or manufacture. E+W+S

That all articles, the growth, produce or manufacture of either country, when exported through the other, shall in all cases be exported subject to the same charges as if they had been exported directly from the country of which they were the growth, produce or manufacture: . . . F14

Textual Amendments

F14 Words (including Schs. to Article Sixth) repealed by virtue of repeal by Statute Law Revision Act 1871 (c. 116) of s. 1 of this Act so far as it relates to those words

F15 Article Seventh E+W+S

Textual Amendments

F15 Art. 7 repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1953 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2 c. 5)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15 E+W

Article Eight E+W+S

All laws in force at the union, and all courts of jurisdiction within the respective kingdoms, shall remain, subject to such alterations as may appear proper to the united Parliament. †All appeals to be finally decided by the peers of the United Kingdom. There shall remain in Ireland a Court of Admiralty, and appeals therefrom shall be to the delegates in Chancery there. All laws contrary to the provisions enacted for carrying these articles into effect to be repealed. E+W+S

That it be the Eighth Article of Union, that all laws in force at the time of the union, and all the courts of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the respective kingdoms, shall remain as now by law established within the same, subject only to such alterations and regulations from time to time as circumstances may appear to the Parliament of the United Kingdom to require; . . . F16 provided that from and after the union there shall remain in Ireland an Instance Court of Admiralty for the determination of causes civil and maritime only, and that the appeal from sentences of the said court shall be to his Majesty’s Delegates in his Court of Chancery in Ireland; and that all laws at present in force in either kingdom, which shall be contrary to any of the provisions which may be enacted by any Act for carrying these Articles into effect, be from and after the union repealed.

Textual Amendments

F16 Words repealed by Northern Ireland Act 1962 (c. 30), Sch 4 Pt. I

His Majesty having been pleased to approve of the foregoing articles, it is enacted, that they shall be the articles of union, and be in force for ever, from Jan. 1, 1801; provided that before that period an Act shall have been passed in Ireland for carrying them into effect. E+W+S

And whereas the said Articles having, by address of the respective Houses of Parliament in Great Britain and Ireland, been humbly laid before his Majesty, his Majesty has been graciously pleased to approve the same, and to recommend it to his two Houses of Parliament in Great Britain and Ireland to consider of such measures as may be necessary for giving effect to the said Articles: In order therefore to give full effect and validity to the same, be it enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the said foregoing recited Articles, each and every one of them, according to the true import and tenor thereof, be ratified, confirmed and approved, and be and they are hereby declared to be the Articles of the Union of Great Britain and Ireland, and the same shall be in force and have effect for ever, from the first day of January which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one; provided that before that period an Act shall have been passed by the Parliament of Ireland, for carrying into effect in the like manner the said foregoing recited Articles.

2 X1 Recital of an Act of the Parliament of Ireland to regulate the mode by which the lords and the commons, to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned. E+W+S

And whereas an Act, intituled “An Act 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,” has been passed by the Parliament of Ireland, the tenor whereof is as follows:

An Act 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 . . . F17

In case of the summoning of a new Parliament, or if the seat of any of the . . . F18 commoners shall become vacant by death or otherwise, then the . . . F18 counties, cities or boroughs, or any of them, as the case may be, shall proceed to a new election; . . . F18 and no meeting shall at any time hereafter be summoned, called, convened or held for the purpose of electing any person or persons to serve or act or be considered as representative or representatives of X2 any other place, town, city, corporation or borough, . . . F18 or as representative or representatives of the freemen, freeholders, householders or inhabitants thereof, either in the Parliament of the United Kingdom or elsewhere (unless it shall hereafter be otherwise provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom); . . . F19

Whenever his Majesty, his heirs and successors, shall by proclamation under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom summon a new Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Chancellor, Keeper or Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland, shall cause writs to be issued to the several counties, cities, and boroughs in Ireland . . . F18 , for the election of members to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom . . . F18 , and whenever any vacancy of a seat in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for any of the said counties, cities or boroughs, shall arise by death or otherwise, the Chancellor, Keeper or Commissioners of the Great Seal, upon such vacancy being certified to them respectively by the proper warrant, shall forthwith cause a writ to issue for the election of a person to fill up such vacancy; . . . F20

Editorial Information

X1 Unreliable marginal note

X2 ''Any other place, town, city, corporation or borough'' means any not theretofore named in the recited Act

Textual Amendments

F17 Words repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1953 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2 c. 5), Sch. 1 and Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971 (c. 52), Sch. Pt. I

F18 Words repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1953 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2 c. 5), Sch. 1

F19 Words repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1953 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2 c. 5), Sch. 1, Criminal Law Act 1967 (c. 58), s. 13, Sch. 4 Pt. II and Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971 (c. 52), Sch. Pt. I

F20 Words repealed with savings by Representation of the People Act 1949 (c. 68), s. 175, Sch. 9

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C3 Great Seal of Northern Ireland now used for all matters in Northern Ireland for which Great Seal of Ireland was formerly used, and kept by Secrtetary of State: Government of Ireland Act 1920 (c. 67), s. 44, Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act 1922 (13 Geo. 5 Sess. 2 c. 2), Sch. 1 paras. 1, 2(4) and Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 (c. 36), Sch. 5 para. 4

Recited Act to be taken as a part of this Act. E+W+S

Be it enacted, that the said Act so herein recited be taken as a part of this Act, and be deemed to all intents and purposes incorporated within the same.

F21 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E+W+S

Textual Amendments

F21 S. 3 repealed (5.11.1993) by 1993 (c. 50), s. 1(1), Sch. 1 Pt. XI Group2