legislative independence

legislative independence, a term used to describe the changes in the constitutional relationship between Great Britain and Ireland introduced in 1782.

Following the granting of ‘free trade’ in 1779, some patriot politicians took up the issue of Ireland's subordination to Great Britain. The earl of Carlisle, lord lieutenant 1780–2, and William Eden, chief secretary 1780–2, though ordered to resist all agitation on constitutional issues, chose not to oppose heads of a bill for what became Yelverton's Act, as well as other heads clarifying habeas corpus and giving judges security of tenure. Popular agitation following the Volunteer Convention of Dungannon (15 Feb. 1782) increased the pressure for change. In March Lord North, prime minister since 1770, was replaced by a Whig ministry under the marquis of Rockingham, leading figures in which had already expressed sympathy with Irish grievances. On 16 April the Commons unanimously accepted Grattan's amendment to the address to the throne asserting Ireland's constitutional rights. The British Declaratory Act was repealed on 21 June, Yelverton's Act (27 July) modified Poynings's Law, and other measures secured the independence of judges, declared the Irish House of Lords a court of final appeal, and made the legal basis of army discipline dependent on regular parliamentary renewal by limiting the duration of the Mutiny Act.

Contemporaries, and later constitutional nationalists, liked to speak of the ‘constitution of 1782’. In fact the patriot leaders ignored the new ministry's appeals for time to negotiate a comprehensive redefinition of constitutional relationships. The loose ends left by the resulting settlement were revealed in subsequent uncertainties as to the role of the Irish parliament in foreign affairs, in the failure to agree the Commercial Propositions, and in the regency crisis. The term ‘legislative independence’ is also misleading. Under Yelverton's Act Irish bills could still be vetoed by the English privy council, though this power, already employed sparingly before 1782, was used only four times during 1782–1800. More important, the Irish executive continued to be headed by British politicians, the lord lieutenant and chief secretary, accountable to the British cabinet rather than to the Irish parliament.