(9 Geo. IV. c. 29. s. 22), having regained that ancient title. They hold their office for life, and must be advocates of three years' standing. '

Ireland remained a distinct kingdom until January 1801. It was styled the lordship of Ireland until the 33d year of king Henry VIII., who assumed the title of king, which is recognised by the statute 35 Henry VIII. Ireland was conquered by king Henry II., who planted a great part of it as a kind of colony of England; and the laws of England were then received and sworn to by the Irish nation, assembled at the council of Lismore.2 At the time of the Conquest it was governed by an ancient custom, called Brehon law, which was with difficulty abolished by the endeavours of king John, Henry III., Edward I., and Edward III., and the common law fully established in its stead.

Parliaments were held in Ireland by the chief governor, and statutes enacted there as in that of England; but an ill use having been made of that power, particularly by Lord Gormanston, deputylieutenant in the reign of Edward IV., certain statutes, called Poyning's laws, from the name of the lord-deputy in office at the time, were enacted; one of which, to restrain the power as well of the deputy as of the Irish parliament, enacts, that, before the holding of any parliament in Ireland, the chief governor and council shall certify to the king, under the great seal of Ireland, the causes thereof, and also the articles of the acts to be proposed therein; and that the articles, having been examined by the king of England in his council, and altered according to his pleasure, they being certified back under the great seal of England, with license to hold the parliament, those acts so certified, and no others, should be proposed therein. Another of Poyning's laws enacted, that all acts of parliament already made in England should be in force within the realm of Ireland; and the dependency of Ireland upon the English legislature was declared by the English statute 6 Geo. I. c. 5. Poyning's law was, however, repealed in 1782, by the Irish act 21 & 22 Geo. III. c. 47. "

Erskine, Inst. b. i. tit. 4. § 11.

2 Lord Mansfield says, in Hall v. Campbell: "The fact, in truth, after all the researches that have been made, comes out clearly to be, as it is laid down by Lord Chief Justice Vaughan (Vaughan, Rep. 292.), that Ireland received the laws of England by the charters and commands of Henry II., king John, Henry III., and he adds an et cætera to take in Edward I. and the subsequent kings. And he shows clearly the mistake of imagining that the charters of the 12th of king John were by the assent of a parliament of Ireland. Whenever the first parliament was called in Ireland, that change was introduced without the interposition of the parliament of England, and must therefore be derived from the crown. Hall v. Campbell Cowper, 210.

3 Coke says, that "sometimes the king of England called his nobles of Ireland to

All this, however, became mere matter of history by the parliaments of both countries agreeing to the eight articles of union, which are enacted by the British statute 39 & 40 Geo. III. c. 67., and the Irish statute 4 Geo. III. c. 38. The most important of those articles are as follows:

1. "That on the 1st day of January 1801, and for ever after, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall be united into one kingdom, by the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

2. "That the succession to the imperial crown of the said United Kingdom shall continue limited, in the same manner as the succession to the crown of the two kingdoms was before settled, and according to the terms of the union between England and Scotland.

3. "That the United Kingdom shall be represented in one and the same parliament, to be called the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.'

4. "That four lords spiritual, by rotation of sessions, and twentyeight lords temporal of Ireland, elected for life by the peers of Ireland, shall sit and vote, on the part of Ireland, in the House of Lords; and that one hundred commoners (two for each county, two for Dublin and Cork each, 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 said United Kingdom." But by stat. 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 88. s. 11., the number of commoners has been increased to 105.

Irish peers, not being elected to sit in the House of Lords, may be elected members of the Commons' House for any place in Great Britain; in which case they shall be considered merely as commoners.

His majesty may create one peerage of Ireland for every three that become extinct; and when the peerage of Ireland shall be reduced to one hundred, a peerage may be created for every one that becomes extinct, so that the peerage of Ireland may be kept up to one hundred over and above those Irish peers who are also peers of Great Britain or England.

5. "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; that the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the said united Church shall be and remain the same as already established for the Church of

come to his parliament of England" (4 Inst. c. lxxvi. p. 350.); and adds, that it is an excellent precedent to be followed whenever any act of parliament is made in England concerning the state of Ireland.

England; and that its continuance as the Established Church of England and Ireland shall be an essential and fundamental part of the union; and that the Church of Scotland shall continue as established by law and the Scotch union.

6. "That the subjects of Great Britain and Ireland shall be on the same footing in respect of trade and navigation in all ports and places in the United Kingdom and its dependencies, and in all treaties made by his majesty with foreign powers.

8. "That the laws and courts of the respective kingdoms shall remain as by law established, subject to the regulations of parliament from time to time; provided, however, that all writs of error and appeals, which might have been decided in the respective Houses of Lords of the two kingdoms, shall be decided by the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; and provided also, that there shall be an instance-court of admiralty in Ireland, the appeal from which shall be to his majesty's delegates in the Irish court of chancery; and that all existing laws contrary to these articles shall be repealed." Since the union, all acts of parliament extend to Ireland, whether expressly mentioned or not, unless that portion of the United Kingdom be excepted either expressly or by implication.

1

Thus were the power and greatness of the whole nation increased and secured by the thorough consolidation of the three kingdoms under one imperial crown and parliament.

It must, however, be admitted, that the preponderance which the numbers of the English members of the House of Commons give to that portion of the United Kingdom, may, in particular instances, afford a ground, or at least a colour, for Scotland or Ireland to consider themselves neglected or unfairly treated. But, on the other hand, if parties are pretty equally divided among the English members, the Scotch and Irish may be enabled to turn the scale on every important question, so as to decide, in fact, which party shall have possession of the government of the empire. To decide that question is, virtually, to govern the empire. The Irish, being now represented by 105 members, and being also particularly disposed to unite in defence of their peculiar objects or interests, are more able to exercise that power than the Scotch, who, besides that they have only 50 representatives, are less likely to make any question a national one, because their objects are more in unison with those of England.

But the strongest reason in favour of a union of the legislatures of the three kingdoms is, that they are all so powerful, and in such close vicinity to each other, that it would be impossible for any one

1 Stephen, Comm. 95.

of the three to govern the other two like colonies, by means of a governor and ministers, responsible only to the parliament of the principal kingdom, and not to the provincial parliaments. They could not be made to submit to such a condition, except by a standing army, which would destroy all liberty. Such a connexion would be a source of weakness and decay to all the parties concerned. But the extensive colonies and foreign relations of this country would still further increase these difficulties. The three parliaments might adopt directly opposite lines of colonial policy; and it might be disputed, indeed, which of the three kingdoms stood in a nearer relation to a given colony.

Again; the legislature of one country might support the minister in going to war, while that of another kingdom might impeach him for not remaining at peace. Thus, the queen might have a ministry carrying on war with the support of the parliament in England, and another ministry in Ireland, supported by the Irish parliament, advising her majesty to remain at peace. To which of the two sets of advisers should her majesty listen? Could she prudently go to war without the support of the resources of her whole empire? There would be this additional difficulty in such a case, the crown. would have to decide between two or three sets of advisers, and would thus be placed in an invidious and dangerous, if not an unconstitutional position.

Again; there might be a whig or a radical ministry in Ireland, with a strong majority in the Irish parliament, and an equally powerful conservative or tory administration in England. The policy of the empire would thereby be rendered weak and temporising, and its weight and influence with foreign nations would be materially injured.

No system can preserve the unity of the empire, which is so essential to its greatness and prosperity, excepting either the thorough union of the three kingdoms under one crown and parliament, or the subordination of two among them as colonies, under the supreme government of the remaining kingdom.

The consideration of the remaining portion of the British empire must be reserved for the ensuing chapter.

CHAPTER IV.

OF THE COLONIES, PLANTATIONS, AND OTHER FOREIGN
POSSESSIONS OF THE CROWN.

THE imperial crown of Great Britain and Ireland has many important dominions, besides the United Kingdom, from whence the whole empire is governed.

Such are the colonies or plantations, and other foreign possessions of the crown, in each of the four continents.

None of these are represented in the imperial parliament, or take any direct share in the government of the parent state; but it is impossible to omit, in a commentary on the British Constitution, some account of territories which add so much to the power and prosperity of the empire, and perform so important a part in its politics.

The colonies or plantations are divided into three classes, with reference to the mode by which they were orginally acquired and annexed to the crown.

Those modes are 1st, conquest; 2dly, cession by treaty; and, 3dly, occupancy.

And, first, of those which are acquired by conquest from an enemy. By the law of nations, not only the property in things movable and immovable, taken in lawful war, is thereby transferred, but the sovereignty over towns, territories, provinces, and states, is acquired, by their being forcibly taken possession of by a lawful belligerent, and the dominion over them renounced by the person or body in whom it was vested before the conquest, and ceded to the conqueror at the conclusion of the war.1

In those cases where the title of the belligerents to the conquered territory was the question at issue between them in the war, it is clear, that as war is a mode by which disputes are decided among those who have no common tribunal to which they can resort for justice, the unsuccessful belligerent is bound, when he has been compelled to make peace, to acquiesce in the result of that trial on which he put himself.

Where the title to the conquered territory was not the question at issue in the war, the title of the conqueror arises from the ordinary

1 Vattel, Dr. des Gens, 1. iii. c. xiii. Pufendorf, Dr. des Gens, 1. vii. c. vii.§ 3, 4. ; and 1. viii. c. vi. § 21. n. Grotius, Dr. de la G. et de la P. 1. iii. c. viii.