Editing Statute of Westminster 1931 (section)

===Irish Free State===

The [[Irish Free State]] never formally adopted the Statute of Westminster, its [[Executive Council of the Irish Free State|Executive Council]] (cabinet) taking the view that the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] of 1921 had already ended Westminster's right to legislate for the Irish Free State.<ref name=Mohr2011>{{cite journal|last=Mohr|first=Thomas|year=2011|title=British Imperial Statutes and Irish Sovereignty: Statutes Passed After the Creation of the Irish Free State|journal=Journal of Legal History|volume=32|issue=1|pages=61–85|issn=0144-0365|doi=10.1080/01440365.2011.559120|url=http://researchrepository.ucd.ie/bitstream/handle/10197/6058/British_Imperial_Statutes_and_Irish_Sovereignty.pdf?sequence=1|hdl=10197/6058|s2cid=144062978|hdl-access=free|access-date=4 February 2015|archive-date=4 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204194448/http://researchrepository.ucd.ie/bitstream/handle/10197/6058/British_Imperial_Statutes_and_Irish_Sovereignty.pdf?sequence=1|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Constitution of the Irish Free State|Free State's constitution]] gave [[Oireachtas of the Irish Free State|the Oireachtas]] "sole and exclusive power of making laws". Hence, even before 1931, the Irish Free State did not arrest [[desertion|deserters]] from the [[British Army]] and [[Royal Air Force]] on its territory, even though the UK believed post-1922 British laws gave the Free State's [[Garda Síochána]] the power to do so.<ref name=Mohr2011/> The UK's [[Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922]] said, however, "{{nowrap|[n]othing}} in the [Free State] Constitution shall be construed as prejudicing the power of [the British] Parliament to make laws affecting the Irish Free State in any case where, in accordance with constitutional practice, Parliament would make laws affecting other self-governing Dominions".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mohr|first=Thomas|date=2010|title=British Imperial Statutes and Irish Law: Imperial Statutes Passed Before the Creation of the Irish Free State|journal=Journal of Legal History|volume=31|issue=3|pages=299–321|doi=10.1080/01440365.2010.525930|s2cid=144573032|url=http://researchrepository.ucd.ie/bitstream/handle/10197/6055/British_Imperial_Statutes_and_Irish_Law.pdf?sequence=1|hdl=10197/6055|hdl-access=free|access-date=12 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402124528/http://researchrepository.ucd.ie/bitstream/handle/10197/6055/British_Imperial_Statutes_and_Irish_Law.pdf?sequence=1|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1924, [[Kevin O'Higgins]], the Free State's [[Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State|Vice-President of the Executive Council]], declared that "Ireland secured by that 'surrender' [the Treaty] a constitutional status equal to that of Canada. 'Canada,' said the late Mr. [[Bonar Law]],' is by the full admission of British statesmen equal in status to Great Britain and as free as Great Britain'. The constitutional status of Ireland, therefore, as determined by the Treaty of 1921, is a status of co-equality with Britain within the British Commonwealth. The second Article of the Constitution of the Free State", he added, "declares that 'All powers of Government and all authority, legislative, executive and judicial, in Ireland are derived from the people of Ireland' ".<ref name="Three years">{{Cite book |last=Ó hUigín |first=Caoimhghín Críostóir |url=https://archive.org/details/threeyearshardla00ohig |title=THREE YEARS HARD LABOUR An Address Delivered to the Irish Society of Oxford University on the 31st October, 1924 |date=31 October 1924}}</ref>

Motions of approval of the Report of the Commonwealth Conference had been passed by the [[Dáil Éireann (Irish Free State)|Dáil]] and [[Seanad Éireann (Irish Free State)|Seanad]] in May 1931<ref name=Mohr2011/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1931-07-17/4/|title=Report of the Commonwealth Conference. – Motion of Approval (Resumed) – Vol. 39 No. 18|date=17 July 1931|website=[[Oireachtas]]|access-date=18 June 2023|archive-date=22 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322090546/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1931-07-17/4/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1931-07-23/2/|title=Report of Commonwealth Conference—Motion of Approval – Vol. 14 No. 30|date=23 July 1931|website=Oireachtas}}</ref> and the final form of the Statute of Westminster included the Irish Free State among the Dominions the British Parliament could not legislate for without the Dominion's request and consent.<ref>Statute of Westminster 1931, §§1,10</ref> Originally, the UK government had wanted to exclude from the Statute of Westminster the legislation underpinning the 1921 treaty, from which the Free State's constitution had emerged. [[President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State|Executive Council President]] (Prime Minister) [[W. T. Cosgrave]] objected, although he promised that the Executive Council would not amend the legislation unilaterally. The other Dominions backed Cosgrave and, when an amendment to similar effect was proposed at Westminster by [[John Gretton]], parliament duly voted it down.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1931/nov/24/new-clause-saving-with-respect-to-irish|title=NEW CLAUSE.—(Saving with respect to Irish Free State and Northern Ireland.)  |website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|access-date=18 March 2011|archive-date=20 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020182535/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1931/nov/24/new-clause-saving-with-respect-to-irish|date=24 November 1931|url-status=live}}</ref> When the statute became law in the UK, [[Patrick McGilligan (Fine Gael politician)|Patrick McGilligan]], the [[Minister for External Affairs (Ireland)|Free State Minister for External Affairs]], stated: "It is a solemn declaration by the British people through their representatives in Parliament that the powers inherent in the Treaty position are what we have proclaimed them to be for the last ten years."<ref name=difp1317>{{cite web |url=http://www.difp.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=1317 |title=Press statement by Patrick McGilligan on the Statute of Westminster, Dublin |date=11 December 1931 |no-pp=y |page=No. 617 NAI DFA 5/3 |work=Documents on Irish Foreign Policy |publisher=[[Royal Irish Academy]] |access-date=5 January 2015 |archive-date=23 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923214729/http://www.difp.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=1317 |url-status=live }}</ref> He went on to present the statute as largely the fruit of the Irish Free State's efforts to secure for the other Dominions the same benefits it already enjoyed under the treaty.<ref name=difp1317 /> The Statute of Westminster had the effect of granting the Irish Free State internationally recognised independence.

[[Éamon de Valera]] led [[Fianna Fáil]] to victory in the [[1932 Irish general election|Irish Free State election of 1932]] on a platform of republicanising the Irish Free State from within. Upon taking office, de Valera began removing the monarchical elements of the Constitution, beginning with the [[Oath of Allegiance (Ireland)|Oath of Allegiance]]. De Valera initially considered invoking the Statute of Westminster in making these changes, but [[John J. Hearne]] advised him not to.<ref name=Mohr2011/> Abolishing the Oath of Allegiance in effect [[Denunciation (international law)|abrogated]] the 1921 treaty. Generally, the British thought that this was morally objectionable but legally permitted by the Statute of Westminster. [[Robert Lyon Moore]], a [[Southern Irish Unionism|Southern Unionist]] from [[County Donegal]], challenged the legality of the abolition in the [[Courts of Justice Act 1924|Irish Free State's courts]] and then appealed to the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] (JCPC) in London.<ref name="moore_v_AG"/> However, the Irish Free State had also abolished the right of appeal to the JCPC.<ref>{{cite ISB|year=1933|num=45|title=[[Constitution (Amendment No. 22) Act 1933]]|parl=ifs|date=16 November 1933|access-date=18 March 2011|archive-date=19 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119061408/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1933/en/act/pub/0045/print.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1935, the JCPC ruled that both abolitions were valid under the Statute of Westminster.<ref name="moore_v_AG">[http://www.supremecourt.ie/supremecourt/sclibrary3.nsf/(WebFiles)/34740D4947655F668025765E0036AE51/$FILE/Moore%20v%20AG_1935.rtf ''Moore v Attorney General''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314144253/http://www.supremecourt.ie/supremecourt/sclibrary3.nsf/(WebFiles)/34740D4947655F668025765E0036AE51/$FILE/Moore%20v%20AG_1935.rtf |date=14 March 2012 }} [1935] 1 I.R.</ref> The Irish Free State, which [[Enactment of the Constitution of Ireland|in 1937]] was [[Names of the Irish state|renamed ''Ireland'']], left the Commonwealth on 18 April 1949 upon the [[coming into force]] of [[The Republic of Ireland Act 1948]].