Act of Union 1800

ANNO TRICESIMO NONO & QUADRAGESIMO GEORGII III. REGIS.

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CAP. LXVII.

AN ACT for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland [2nd July 1800].

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:

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 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
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
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
That it be the Fourth Article of Union, That Four Lords Spiritual of Ireland 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 of Ireland 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 of Ireland 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 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, 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 changed:

That it shall be lawful for His Majesty, his heirs and successors, to create Peers of that part of the United Kingdom called 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 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 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 ease any new creation of a Peerage of that part of the United Kingdom called 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 that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland:

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 hereinafter 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 of Ireland to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom shall be respectively the same as are now provided by law in the cases 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 the United Kingdom, to cause the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and 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 Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, so returned as aforesaid on the part of Ireland, constitute the Two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom:

That if His Majesty, on or before the First day of January One thousand Eight hundred and One, on which day the Union is to take place, shall declare, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, that it is expedient that the Lords and Commons of the present Parliament of Great Britain should be the Members of the respective Houses of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of  Great Britain; then the said Lords and Commons of the present Parliament of Great Britain shall accordingly be the Members of the respective Houses of the First Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Great Britain; and they, together with the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, so summoned and returned as above on the part of Ireland, shall be the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of the First Parliament of the United Kingdom; and such First Parliament may (in that case), if not sooner dissolved, continue to sit so long as the present Parliament of Great Britain may now by law continue to sit, if not sooner dissolved. Provided always, that until an Act shall have passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, providing in what cases persons holding offices or places of profit under the Crown in Ireland shall be incapable of being Members of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, no greater number of Members than Twenty, holding such offices or places as aforesaid, shall be capable of sitting in the said House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; and if such a number of Members shall be returned to serve in the said House as to make the whole number of Members of the said House holding such offices or places as aforesaid more than Twenty, then and in such case the seats or places of such Members as shall have last accepted such offices o r places shall be vacated, at the option of such Members, so as to reduce the number of Members holding such offices or places to the number of Twenty; and n o person holding any such office or place shall be capable of being elected or of sitting in the said House while there are Twenty persons holding such offices or places sitting in the said House; and that every one of the Lords of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and every Member of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, in the First and all succeeding Parliaments, shall, until the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall otherwise provide, take the Oaths, and make and subscribe the Declaration, and take and subscribe the Oath now by law enjoined to be taken, made, and subscribed by the Lords and Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain:

That the Lords of Parliament on the part of Ireland, in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, shall at all times have the same privileges of Parliament which shall belong to the Lords of Parliament on the part of Great Britain; and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal respectively on the part of Ireland shall at all times have the same rights in respect of their sitting and voting upon the trial of Peers, as the Lords Spiritual and Temporal respectively on the part of Great Britain; and that all Lords Spiritual of Ireland shall have rank and precedency next and immediately after the Lords Spiritual of the same rank and degree of Great Britain, and shall enjoy all privileges as fully as the Lords Spiritual of Great Britain do now or may hereafter enjoy the same (the right and privilege of sitting in the House of Lords, and the privileges depending thereon, and particularly the right of sitting on the trial of Peers, excepted); 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, be sued and tried as Peers, except as aforesaid, and shall enjoy all privileges as 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, and the right of sitting on the trial of Peers, only excepted.

ARTICLE FIFTH
That it be the Fifth Article of Union, That the Churches of England and Ireland, as now by law established, be united into one Protestant Episcopal Church; to be called the United Church of England and Ireland; and that the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the said United Church shall be and shall remain in full force for ever, as the same are now by law established for the Church of England; and that the continuance and preservation of the said United Church, as the Established Church of England and Ireland, shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental part of the Union; and that in like manner 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.

ARTICLE SIXTH
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:

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:

That all articles, the growth, produce or manufacture of either country (not hereinafter 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 on the several articles enumerated in the Schedule Number One, A. and B., hereunto annexed, as are therein specified, or to such other countervailing duties as shall hereafter be imposed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in the manner hereinafter provided; and that, for the period of Twenty years from the Union, the articles enumerated in the Schedule Number Two, hereunto annexed, shall be subject on importation into each country from the other to the duties specified in the said Schedule Number Two, and the woollen manufacturers, known by the names of Old and New Drapery, shall pay, on importation into each country from the other, the duties now payable on importation into Ireland; salt and hops, on importation into Ireland from Great Britain, duties not exceeding those which are now paid on importation into Ireland; and coals, on importation into Ireland from Great Britain, shall be subject to burthens and exceeding those to which they are now subject.

That callicoes and muslins shall, on their importation into either country from the other, be subject and liable to the duties now payable on the same on the importation thereof from Great Britain into Ireland, until the Fifth day of January One thousand Eight hundred and Eight, and from and after the said day the said duties shall be annually reduced, by equal proportions as near as may be in each year, so as that the said duties shall stand at Ten per centum from and after the Fifth day of January One thousand Eight hundred and Sixteen, until the Fifth day of January One thousand Eight hundred and Twenty-one; and that cotton yarn and cotton twist shall, on their importation into either country from the other, be subject and liable to the duties now payable upon the same on the importation thereof from Great Britain into Ireland, until the Fifth day of January One thousand Eight hundred and Eight; and  from and after the said day the said duties shall be annually reduced by equal proportions as near as may be in each year, so that as that all duties shall cease on the said articles from and after the Fifth day of January One thousand Eight hundred and Sixteen:

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, and that for the said purposes the articles specified in the said Schedule Number One, A. and B., shall be subject to the duties set forth therein, liable to be taken off, diminished, or increased, in the manner herein specified; 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:

That all articles, and 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:

That all duty charged on the import of foreign or colonial goods into either country shall, on their export to the other, be either drawn back or the amount (if any be retained) shall be placed to the credit of the country to which they shall be so exported, so long as the expenditure of the United Kingdom shall be defrayed by proportional contributions: Provided always, that nothing herein shall extend to take away any duty, bounty, or prohibition which exists with respect to corn, meal, malt, flour, or biscuit; but that all duties, bounties, or prohibitions on the said articles may be regulated, varied, or repealed, from time to time, as the United Parliament shall deem expedient.

ARTICLE SEVENTH
That it be the Seventh Article of Union, that the charge arising from the payment of the interest, and the Sinking Fund for the reduction of the principal, of the Debt incurred in either Kingdom before the Union, shall continue to be separately defrayed by Great Britain and Ireland respectively, except as hereinafter provided:

That for the space of twenty years after the Union shall take place, the contribution of Great Britain and Ireland respectively, towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom in each year, shall be defrayed in the proportion of fifteen parts for Great Britain, and two parts for Ireland; and that at the expiration of the said twenty years, the future expenditure of the United Kingdom (other than the interest and charges of the debt to which either country shall be separately liable) shall be defrayed in such proportion as the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall deem just and reasonable upon a comparison of the real value of the exports and imports of the respective countries, upon an average of the three years next preceding the period of revision; or on a comparison of the value of the quantities of the following articles consumed within the respective countries, on a similar average; videlicet, beer, spirits, sugar, wine, tea, tobacco, and malt; or according to the aggregate proportion resulting from both these considerations combined; or on a comparison of the amount of income in each country, estimated from the produce for the same period of a general tax, if such shall have been imposed on the same descriptions of income in both countries; and that the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall afterwards proceed in like manner to revise and fix the said proportions according to the same rules, or any of them, at periods not more distant than twenty years nor less than seven years from each other; unless, previous to any such period, the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall have declared, as hereinafter provided, that the expenditure of the United Kingdom shall be defrayed indiscriminately, by equal taxes imposed on  the like articles in both countries: That, for the defraying the said expenditure according to the rules above laid down, the revenues of Ireland shall hereafter constitute a Consolidated Fund, which shall be charged, in the first instance, with the interest of the Debt of Ireland, and with the Sinking Fund applicable to the reduction of the said Debt, and the remainder shall be applied towards defraying the proportion of the expenditure of the United Kingdom, to which Ireland may be liable in each year: That the proportion of contribution to which Great Britain and Ireland will be liable, shall be raised by such taxes in each country respectively, as the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall from time to time deem fit; provided always, that in regulating the taxes in each country, by which their respective proportions shall be levied, no article in Ireland shall be made liable to any new or additional duty, by which the whole amount of duty, payable thereon, would exceed the amount which will be hereafter payable in England on the like article: That, if at the end of any year any surplus shall accrue from the revenues of Ireland, after defraying the interest, Sinking Fund, and proportional contribution and separate charges to which the said country shall then be liable, taxes shall be taken off to the amount of such surplus, or the surplus shall be applied by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to local purposes in Ireland, or to make good any deficiency which may arise in the revenues of Ireland in time of peace, or be invested, by the Commissioners of the National Debt of Ireland, in the Funds,  to accumulate for the benefit of Ireland at compound interest, in case of the contribution of Ireland in time of war; provided that the surplus so to accumulate shall at no future period be suffered to exceed the sum of Five millions: That all monies to be raised after the Union, by loan, in peace or war, for the service of the United Kingdom by the Parliament thereof, shall be considered to be a joint debt, and the charges thereof shall be borne by the respective countries in the proportion of their respective contributions; provided that, if at any time in raising their respective contributions hereby fixed for each country, the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall judge it fit to raise a greater proportion of such respective contributions in one country within the year than in the other, or to set apart a greater proportion of Sinking Fund for the liquidation of the whole or any part of the loan raised on account of the one country than of that raise d on account of the other country, then such part of the said loan, for the liquidation of which different provisions shall have been made for the respective countries, shall be kept distinct, and shall be born by each separately, and only that part of the said loan be deemed joint and common, for the reduction of which the respective countries shall have made provision in the proportion of their respective contributions: That, if at any future day the separate debt of each country respectively shall have been liquidated, or, if the values of their respective debts (estimated according to the amount of the interest and annuities attending the same, and of the Sinking Fund applicable to the reduction thereof, and to the period within which the whole capital of such debt shall appear to be redeemable by such Sinking Fund) shall be to each other in the same proportion with the respective contributions of each country respectively; or if the amount by which the value of the larger of such debts shall vary from such proportion, shall not exceed One hundredth part of the said value; and if it shall appear to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that the respective circumstances of the two countries will thenceforth admit of their contributing indiscriminately, by equal taxes imposed on the same articles in each, to the future expenditure of the United Kingdom, it shall be competent to the Parliament of the United Kingdom to declare, that all future expense thenceforth to be incurred, together with the interest and charges of all joint debts contracted previous to such declaration, shall be so defrayed indiscriminately by equal taxes imposed on the same articles in each country, and thenceforth from time to time, as circumstances may require, to impose and apply such taxes accordingly, subject only to such particular exemptions or abatements in Ireland, and in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, as circumstances may appear from time to time to demand: That, from the period of such declaration, it shall no longer be necessary to regulate the contribution of the two countries towards the future expenditure of the United Kingdom, according to any specific proportion, or according to any of the rules hereinbefore prescribed; provided nevertheless that the interest or charges which may remain on account of any part of the separate debt with which either country shall be chargeable, and which shall not be liquidated or consolidated proportionably as above, shall, until extinguished, continue to be defrayed by separate taxes in each country: That a sum not less than the sum which has been granted by the Parliament of Ireland on the average of six years immediately preceding the First day of January in the year One thousand eight hundred, in premiums for the internal encouragement of agriculture or manufactures, or for the maintaining institutions for pious and charitable purposes, shall be applied, for the period of twenty years after the Union, to such local purposes in Ireland, in such manner as the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall direct: That, from and after the First day of January One thousand eight hundred and one, all public revenue arising to the United Kingdom from the territorial dependencies thereof, and applied to the general expenditure of the United Kingdom, shall be so applied in the proportions of the respective contributions of the two countries.

ARTICLE EIGHTH
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; provided that all writs of error and appeals, depending at the time of the Union, or hereafter to be brought, and which might now be finally decided by the House of Lords of either Kingdom, shall, from and after the Union be finally decided by the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; and 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 that part of the United Kingdom called 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.

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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.

II. 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. Whereas it is agreed by the Fourth Article of Union, that four Lords Spiritual of Ireland, 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 College of the Holy Trinity of Dublin, 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; 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 authority of the same, that the said four Lords Spiritual shall be taken from among the Lords Spiritual of Ireland in the manner following; that is to say, that one of the four archbishops of Ireland, and three of the eighteen bishops of Ireland, shall sit in the House of Lords of the United Parliament in each session thereof, the said right of sitting being regulated as between the said archbishops respectively by a rotation among the archiepiscopal sees from session to session, and in like manner that of the bishops by a like rotation among the episcopal sees: That the Primate of all Ireland for the time being shall sit in the first Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Archbishop of Dublin for the time being in the second, the Archbishop of Cashel for the time being in the third, the Archbishop of Tuam for the time being in the fourth, and so by rotation of sessions for ever, such rotation to proceed regularly and without interruption from session to session, notwithstanding any dissolution or expiration of Parliament: That three suffragan bishops shall in like manner sit according to rotation of their sees, from session to session, in the following order: the Lord Bishop of Meath, the Lord Bishop of Kildare, the Lord Bishop of Derry, in the first Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the Lord Bishop of Raphoe, the Lord Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe, the Lord Bishop of Dromore, in the second Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the Lord Bishop of Elphin, the Lord Bishop of Down and Connor, the Lord Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, in the third Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the Lord Bishop of Leiglin and Ferns, the Lord Bishop of Cloyne, the Lord Bishop of Cork and Ross, in the fourth Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the Lord Bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora, the Lord Bishop of Kilmore, the Lord Bishop of Clogher, in the fifth Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the Lord Bishop of Ossory, the Lord Bishop of Killala and Achonry, the Lord Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh, in the sixth Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the said rotation to be nevertheless subject to such variation therefrom from time to time as is hereinafter provided: that the said twenty-eight Lords Temporal shall be chosen by all the Temporal Peers of Ireland in the manner hereinafter provided; that each of the said Lords Temporal so chosen shall be entitled to sit in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom during his life; and in case of his death or forfeiture of any of the said Lords Temporal, the Temporal Peers of Ireland shall, in the manner hereinafter provided, choose another Peer out of their own number to supply the place so vacant. And be it enacted, That of the one hundred commoners to sit on the part of Ireland in the United Parliament, sixty-four shall be chosen for the counties, and thirty-six for the following cities and boroughs. videlicet: for each county of Ireland two; for the city of Dublin two; for the city of Cork two; for the College of the Holy Trinity of Dublin one; for the city of Waterford one; for the city of Limerick one; for the borough of Belfast one; for the county and town of Drogheda one; for the county and town of Carrickfergus one; for the borough of Newry one; for the city of Kilkenny one; for the city of Londonderry one; for the town of Galway one; for the borough of Clonmell one; for the town of Wexford one; for the town of Youghall one; for the town of Bandon Bridge one; for the borough of Armagh one; for the borough of Dundalk one; for the town of Kinsale one; for the borough of Lisburne one; for the borough of Sligo one; for the borough of Catherlough one; for the borough of Ennis one; for the borough of Dungarvan one; for the borough of Downpatrick one; for the borough of Colrain one; for the town of Mallow one; for the borough of Athlone one; for the town of New Ross one; for the borough of Tralee one; for the city of Cashel one; for the borough of Dungannon one; for the borough of Portarlington one; for the borough of Enniskillen one. And be it enacted, That in case of the summoning of a new Parliament, or if the seat of any of the said commoners shall become vacant by death or otherwise, then the said counties, cities, or boroughs, or any of them, asthe case may be, shall proceed to a new election: and that all the other towns, cities, corporations, or boroughs, other than the aforesaid, shall cease to elect representatives to serve in Parliament; 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 to serve in Parliament; 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 any other place, town, city, corporation, or borough, other than the aforesaid, 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); and every person summoning, calling, or holding any such meeting or assembly, or taking any part in any such election or pretended election, shall, being thereof duly convicted, incur and suffer the pains and penalties ordained and provided by the Statute of Provision and Praemunire, made in the sixteenth year of the Reign of Richard the Second. For the due election of the persons to be chosen to sit in the respective Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Ireland, be it enacted, That on the day following that on which the Act for establishing the Union shall have received the Royal Assent, the Primate of all Ireland, the Lord Bishop of Meath, the Lord Bishop of Kildare, and the Lord Bishop of Derry, shall be and they are hereby declared to be the representatives of the Lords Spiritual of Ireland in the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the first session thereof; and that the Temporal Peers of Ireland shall assemble at twelve of the clock on the same day as aforesaid, in the now accustomed place of meeting of the House of Lords of Ireland, and shall then and there proceed to elect twenty-eight Lords Temporal to represent the Peerage of Ireland in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in the following manner; that is to say, the names of the Peers shall be called over according to their rank by the Clerk of the Crown, or his deputy, who shall then and there attend for that purpose; and each of the said Peers, who, previous to the said day, and in the present Parliament shall have actually taken his seat in the House of Lords of Ireland, and who shall there have taken the oaths, and signed the declaration, which are or shall be by law required to be taken and signed by the Lords of the Parliament of Ireland before they can sit and vote in the Parliament hereof, shall, when his name is called, deliver, either by himself or by his proxy (the name of such proxy having been previously entered in the books of the House of Lords of Ireland, according to the present forms and usages thereof) to the Clerk of the Crown or his deputy (who shall then and there attend for that purpose), a list of twenty eight of the temporal peers of Ireland; and the Clerk of the Crown or his deputy shall then and there publicly read the said lists, and shall then and there cast up the said lists, and publicly declare the names of the twenty-eight lords who shall be chosen by the majority of votes in the said lists, and shall make a return of the said names to the House of Lords of the First Parliament of the United Kingdom; and the twenty-eight lords so chosen by the majority of votes in the said lists shall, during their respective lives, sit as representatives of the peers of Ireland in the House of Lords of  the united Kingdom, and be entitled to receive writs of summons to that and every succeeding Parliament; and in case a complete election shall not be made of the whole number of twenty eight peers, by reason of an equality of votes, the Clerk of the Crown shall return such number in favour of whom a complete election shall have been made in one list, and in a second list shall return the names of  those peers who shall have an equality of votes, but in favour of whom, by reason of such equality, a complete election shall not have been made, and the names of the peers in the second list, for whom an equal number of votes shall have been 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 Parliament of the United Kingdom at the Table of the House of Lords thereof, whilst the House is sitting, and the peer whose name shall be first drawn out by the Clerk of the Parliament, shall be deemed the peer elected; and so successively as often as the case may require; and whenever the seat of any of the twenty-eight lords temporal so elected shall be vacated by decease or forfeiture, the Chancellor, the Keeper or Commissioners of the Great Seal of the United Kingdom for the time being, upon receiving a certificate under the hand and seal of any two lords temporal of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, certifying the decease of such peer, or on view of the record of attainder of such peer, shall direct a writ to be issued under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, to the Chancellor, the Keeper or Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland for the time being, directing him or them to cause writs to be issued, by the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland, to every temporal peer of Ireland, who shall have sat and voted in the House of Lords of Ireland before the Union, or whose right to sit and vote therein, or to vote at such elections, shall, on claim made on his behalf, have been admitted by the House of Lords of Ireland before the Union or after the Union by the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; and notice shall forthwith be published by the said Clerk of the Crown, in the London and Dublin Gazettes, of the issuing of such writs, and of the names and titles of all peers to whom the same are directed; and to the said writs there shall be annexed a form of return thereof, in which a blank shall be left for the name of the peer to be elected, and the said writs shall enjoin each peer within fifty-two days from the teste of the writ, to return the same into the Crown Office of Ireland with the blank filled up, by inserting the name of the peer for whom he shall vote, as the peer to succeed to the vacancy made by the demise or forfeiture as aforesaid; and the said writs and returns shall be bipartite, so as that the name of the peer to be chosen shall be written twice; that is, once on each part of such writ and return, and so as that each part may also be subscribed by the peer to whom the same shall be directed, and likewise be sealed with his seal of arms; and one part of the said writs and returns so filled up, subscribed and sealed as above, shall remain of record in the Crown Office of Ireland, and the other part shall be certified by the Clerk of the Crown to the Clerk of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; and no peer of Ireland, except such as shall have been elected as representative peers on the part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, and shall there have taken the oaths, and signed the declaration prescribed by law, shall, under pain of suffering such punishment as the House of Lords of the United Kingdom may award and adjudge, make a return to such writ, unless he shall, after the issuing thereof, and before the day on which the writ is returnable have taken the oaths and signed the declaration which are or shall be by law required to be taken and signed by the Lords of the United Kingdom, before they can sit and vote in the Parliament thereof; which oaths and declaration shall be either taken and subscribed in the Court of Chancery of Ireland, or before on of His Majesty's justices of the peace of that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, a certificate whereof, signed by such justices of the peace, or by the register of the said Court of Chancery, shall be transmitted by such peer with the return, and shall be annexed to that part thereof remaining of record in the Crown Office of Ireland; and the Clerk of the Crown shall forthwith after the return day of the writs, cause to be published in the London and Dublin Gazettes, a notice of the name of the person chosen by the majority of votes; and the peer so chosen shall during his life be one of the peers to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; and in case the votes shall be equal, the names of such persons who have an equal number of votes in their favour, shall be written on pieces of paper of a similar form, and shall be put into a glass by the Clerk of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, at the Table of the House of Lords, whilst the House is sitting, and the peer whose name shall be first drawn out by the Clerk of the Parliament shall be deemed the peer elected. And be it enacted, That in case any lord spiritual, being a temporal peer of the United Kingdom, or being a temporal peer of that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, shall be chosen by the lords temporal to be one of the representatives of the lords temporal, in every such case, during the life of such spiritual peer, being a temporal peer of the United Kingdom, or being a temporal peer of that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, so chosen to represent the lords temporal, the rotation of representation of the spiritual lords shall proceed to the next spiritual lord, without regard to such spiritual lord so chosen a temporal peer; that is to say, if such spiritual lord shall be an archbishop, then the rotation shall proceed to the archbishop whose see is next in rotation, and if such spiritual lord shall be a suffragan bishop, then the rotation shall proceed to the suffragan bishop whose see is next in rotation. And whereas by the said Fourth Article of Union it is agreed, that, if His Majesty, shall, on or before the 1st day of January next, declare, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, that it is expedient that the Lords and Commons of the present Parliament of Great Britain should be the Members of the respective Houses of the First Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Great Britain, then the Lords and Commons of the present Parliament of Great Britain shall accordingly be the Members of the respective Houses of the First Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Great Britain; be it enacted, for and in that case only, that the present Members of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, and the two Members for the City of Dublin, and the two Members for the City of Cork, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be, by virtue of this Act, Members for the said counties and cities in the First Parliament of the United Kingdom; and that on a day and hour to be appointed by His Majesty under the Great Seal of Ireland, previous to the said First day of January One thousand Eight hundred and One, the Members then serving for the College of the Holy Trinity of Dublin, and for each of the following cities or boroughs; that is to say, the city of Waterford, city of Limerick, borough of Belfast, county and town of Drogheda, county and town of Carrickfergus, borough of Newry, city of Kilkenny, city of Londonderry, town of Galway, borough of Clonmell, town of Wexford, town of Youghall, town of Bandon Bridge, borough of Armagh, borough of Dundalk, town of Kinsale, borough of Lisburne, borough of Sligo, borough of Catherlough, borough of Ennis, borough of Dungarvan, borough of Downpatrick, borough of Colerain, town of Mallow, borough of Athlone, town of New Ross, borough of Tralee, city of Cashel, borough of Dungannon, borough of Portarlington, and borough of Enniskilen, or any five or more of them, shall meet in the now usual place of meeting of the House of Commons of Ireland, and the names of the Members then serving for the said places and boroughs, shall be written on separate pieces of paper, and the said papers being folded up, shall be placed in a glass or glasses, and shall successively be drawn thereout by the Clerk of the Crown, or his Deputy, who shall then and there attend for that purpose; and the first drawn name of a Member of each of the aforesaid places or boroughs shall be taken as the name of the Member to serve for the said place or borough in the First Parliament of the United Kingdom; and a return of the said names shall be made by the Clerk of the Crown, or his Deputy, to the House of Commons of the First Parliament of the United Kingdom, and a certificate thereof shall be given respectively by the said Clerk of the Crown, or his Deputy, to each of the Members whose names shall have been so drawn: Provided always, that it may be allowed to any Member of any of the said places or boroughs, by personal application, to be then and there made by him to the Clerk of the Crown, or his Deputy, or by declaration in writing, under his hand, or be transmitted by him to the Clerk of the Crown previous to the said day so appointed as above, to withdraw his name previous to the drawing of the names by lot; in which case, or in that of a vacancy by death or otherwise of one of the Members of any of the said places or boroughs, at the time of so drawing the names, the name of the other Member shall be returned as aforesaid as the name of the Member to serve for such place in the First Parliament of the United Kingdom; or if both Members for any such place or borough shall so withdraw their names, or if there shall be a vacancy of both Members at the time aforesaid, the Clerk of the Crown shall certify the same to the House of Commons of the First Parliament of the United Kingdom, and shall also express, in such Return, whether any writ shall then have issued for the election of a Member or Members to supply such vacancy; and, if a writ shall so have issued for the election of one Member only, such writ shall be superseded, and any election to be thereafter made thereupon shall be null and of no effect; and if such writ shall have issued for the election of two Members, the said two Members shall be chosen accordingly, and their names being returned by the Clerk of the Crown to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, one of the said names shall then be drawn, by lot, in such manner and time as the said House of Commons shall direct; and the person whose name shall be so drawn shall be deemed to be the Member to sit for such place in the First Parliament of the United Kingdom; but if, at the time aforesaid, no writ shall have issued to supply such vacancy, none shall thereafter issue until the same be ordered by Resolution of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, as in the case of any vacancy of a seat in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. And be it enacted, that 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, the College of the Holy Trinity of Dublin, and boroughs in that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, specified in this Act, for the election of Members to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, according to the numbers hereinbefore set forth; 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, or for the said College of the Holy Trinity of Dublin, 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; and such writs and the Returns thereon, respectively, being returned into the Crown Office in that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, shall from thence be transmitted to the Crown Office in that part of the United Kingdom called England, and be certified to the House of Commons in the same manner as the like Returns have been usually or shall hereafter be certified; and copies of the said writs and Returns, attested by the Chancellor, Keeper, or Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland for the time being, shall be preserved in the Crown Office of Ireland, and shall be evidence of such writs and Returns, in case the original writs and Returns shall be lost;' be in 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.

III. And be it enacted, that the Great Seal of Ireland may, if His Majesty shall so think fit, after the Union, be used in like manner as before the Union, except where it is otherwise provided by the foregoing articles, within that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland; and that His Majesty may, so long as he shall think fit, continue the Privy Council of Ireland to be his Privy Council for that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland.