Constitutional Developments in Saorstát Eireann and the Constitution of Éire: I, External Affairs

1937 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 842-861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur W. Bromage
Keyword(s):  
Free State ◽  
Constituent Assembly ◽  
Good Government ◽  
The Status ◽  
Irish Free State ◽  
Commonwealth Of Nations ◽  
British Commonwealth ◽  
British Commonwealth Of Nations ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Under terms of the Treaty of 1921 between Great Britain and Ireland, it was agreed that: “Ireland shall have the same constitutional status in the Community of Nations known as the British Empire as the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa, with a Parliament having powers to make laws for the peace, order and good government of Ireland and an Executive responsible to that Parliament, and shall be styled and known as the Irish Free State.” The status of the Irish Free State was further defined by this language: “Subject to the provisions hereinafter set out, the position of the Irish Free State in relation to the Imperial Parliament and Government and otherwise shall be that of the Dominion of Canada, and the law, practice and constitutional usage governing the relationship of the Crown or the representative of the Crown and of the Imperial Parliament to the Dominion of Canada shall govern their relationship to the Irish Free State.” The Imperial Government gave this treaty the force of law by the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act of March 31, 1922. To implement the treaty, Dáil Eireann, sitting as a constituent assembly, enacted a constitution for the Irish Free State in 1922. This constitution declared: “The Irish Free State (otherwise hereinafter called or sometimes called Saorstát Eireann) is a co-equal member of the Community of Nations forming the British Commonwealth of Nations.” It was given the force of law by the Imperial Government in the Irish Free State Constitution Act of December 5, 1922.

Newfoundland Reverts to the Status of a Colony

1934 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 895-900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. MacKay
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
British Empire ◽  
West Indian ◽  
Responsible Government ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Commonwealth Of Nations ◽  
British Commonwealth ◽  
British Commonwealth Of Nations

Newfoundland, which proudly boasts that she is “Britain's oldest colony,” which has enjoyed responsible government since 1855, and which has been ranked by the Statute of Westminister as one of the Dominions of the British Commonwealth of Nations, voluntarily reverted to the status of a crown colony governed by a commission responsible to Whitehall. The event is without precedent in the history of the Empire. While certain West Indian colonies which have enjoyed representative assemblies have voluntarily given up their elected legislatures, no colony which had attained responsible government has ever before renounced it. The incident is sufficiently unique to be of interest alike to students of the history of the British Empire and of political science in general.

The Irish Free State passport and the question of citizenship, 1921–4

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (104) ◽  
pp. 396-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph P. O’Grady
Keyword(s):  
British Empire ◽  
The Other ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Free State ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
The Status ◽  
Irish Free State ◽  
British Commonwealth ◽  
Direct Answer

The issue of citizenship played a major role in the negotiations that led to the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921; but that point was overshadowed by the tendency of those who negotiated the treaty (and the authors who have written about it) to see the issue of ‘common citizenship’ as only one point under the heading of allegiance to the crown and membership of the British Empire. That it was a central issue is clear, however, for at one point in the 1921 negotiations Lloyd George asked, ‘to put it bluntly will you be British subjects or foreigners? You must be either one or the other.’ Arthur Griffith, the leader of the Irish delegation, answered: ‘in our proposal we have agreed to “reciprocity of civic rights”. We should be Irish and you would be British and each would have equal rights as citizens in the country of the other.’ That exchange caused the British to ask the Irish for a direct answer to the question, would they ‘acknowledge this common citizenship?’. The Irish, however, only responded with the words, ‘Ireland would undertake such obligations as are compatible with the status of a free partner’ in ‘the community of nations known as the British Commonwealth’. Those words did not satisfy the English negotiators, but in the end the Irish accepted an agreement in which the words ‘common citizenship’ appeared in the oath to the king which all members of Dáil Éireann would have to take. That satisfied the British demands on allegiance to the crown.

The British Dominions and Neutrality

1940 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 737-749 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. McD. Clokie
Keyword(s):  
National Pride ◽  
The Status ◽  
Political Associations ◽  
Commonwealth Of Nations ◽  
British Commonwealth ◽  
The Individual ◽  
British Commonwealth Of Nations ◽  
War Power ◽  
Legal Consequences

Under the ordinary circumstances of peaceful relations with other states, the peculiar position of the Dominions in the British Commonwealth of Nations may be of little importance. Except to those insistent on the point of national pride, it makes little difference whether foreign Powers have or have not recognized the independent and sovereign character of the Dominions so long as they understand that the responsible governments with which they are dealing are the several ministries in the Dominions. Both external and internal autonomy has undoubtedly been attained by the Dominions in all normal peace-time affairs, and this situation has been recognized by other states. It matters little whether other states take seriously the symbolism of the Crown and the unity of the kingship or whether they regard these as among the odd aberrations of British illogicality. In war-time, however, a very different position is presented when one considers the status of the individual members of the Commonwealth.The sovereign rights of war and neutrality are not necessarily two aspects of the same power. The war power is capable of unilateral exercise; a state of war is brought into existence by the action of one state, and the legal consequences of belligerency follow automatically and indeed may be claimed by political associations or communities which are not recognized as sovereign states.

‘It was then I knew life’: Political Critique and Moral Debate in Teresa Deevy's Temporal Powers (1932)

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-355
Author(s):  
Caoilfhionn Ní Bheacháin
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Politics ◽  
Free State ◽  
Abbey Theatre ◽  
Political Critique ◽  
Dramatic Structure ◽  
Moral Debate ◽  
Irish Free State ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article argues that Teresa Deevy's early plays for the Abbey Theatre deliberately intervened in the cultural politics of the Irish Free State. While the focus here is on Temporal Powers (1932), Deevy's first two Abbey productions, The Reapers (1930) and A Disciple (1931), are also considered. Taken together, this article demonstrates how these plays present a striking critique of the new state under the Cumann na nGaedhael administration. Set in 1927, during the Land Annuities crisis, Temporal Powers meditates on the relationship of poor tenant labourers to the land and society they inhabit. In it, Deevy explores themes such as eviction, homelessness, emigration, justice, religion, grief, and poverty. This article introduces this little-known play, contextualises it, and discusses her treatment of key themes through an examination of characters, Shavian influences, dramatic structure and form.

Migrant Fiction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Innes
Keyword(s):  
Professional Training ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
World War One ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
British And Irish Literature ◽  
Commonwealth Of Nations ◽  
British Commonwealth ◽  
British Commonwealth Of Nations ◽  
Second World

This chapter discusses migrant fiction in British and Irish literature. The end of the Second World War and the closing stages of the British empire brought significant changes, making more complex the ambivalent attitudes of the British towards the peoples of what now became (in 1948) the British Commonwealth of Nations. As it was gradually acknowledged that the expatriate professional and administrative classes in the former empire would be replaced by indigenous persons, increasingly large numbers were sent from the colonies to acquire the British professional training and higher education often required for an appointment in their home countries. It is in this context that migrant fiction, both by and about immigrant communities, was created in Britain in the decades immediately following the Second World War. One response to the disorientation experienced in Britain was to recreate the community back home, to rediscover and understand what one had left.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document