Page:The Irish Parliament; what it was, and what it did.djvu/41

35 THE RELATION OF THE IRISH TO THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT.

The claim of the English Parliament to legislate for Ireland was hotly contested, and formed the basis of the great constitutional struggle which terminated in 1782. As this claim was absolutely renounced by England in 1783 it will not be necessary to enter minutely into the question. The English contention was that the dependence of the Irish Parliament on the English Parliament followed as a corollary from the dependence of the Irish on the English Crown. The 6 Geo. I., cap. 5 (English) enacts "That the kingdom of Ireland has been, is, and of right ought to be subordinate unto and dependent upon the imperial crown of Great Britain as being inseparably united and annexed thereunto, and that the King's Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of Great Britain in Parliament assembled, had, hath, and of right ought to have full power and authority' to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the people and kingdom of Ireland. It v/as further enacted that the House of Lords of Ireland have not, nor of right ought to have, any jurisdiction to judge of, affirm, or remove any judgment, sentence,