Editing Acts of Union 1800

{{Short description|Acts of the Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland which united those two Kingdoms}}
{{Distinguish|Acts of Union 1707}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2022}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| parliament           = Parliament of Great Britain
| long_title           = An Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland
| short_title          = Union with Ireland Act 1800
| type                 = Act
| year                 = 1800
| territorial_extent   = 
| royal_assent         = 2 July 1800
| commencement         = 31 December 1800 – 1 January 1801
| repeal_date          = 
| amendments           = [[Statute Law Revision 1871]]
| repealing_legislation= 
| related_legislation  = {{ubli|[[Government of Ireland Act 1920]]|[[Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922]]|[[Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act 1922]]|[[Ireland Act 1949]]|[[Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973]]|[[Northern Ireland Act 1998]]}}
| status_IE=Repealed by the [[Statute Law Revision Act 1983]]
| status_NI=Still in force with amendments
| status_EW             = Still in force with amendments
| status_Scot           = Still in force with amendments
| original_text         = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210007001348&seq=772
| legislation_history   = 
| revised_text          = http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo3/39-40/67
| use_new_UK-LEG        =
| citation              = [[39 & 40 Geo. 3]]. c. 67
}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
|short_title          = Act of Union (Ireland) 1800
|type                 = Act
|parliament           = Parliament of Ireland
|long_title           = An Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland
|year                 = 1800
|introduced_by        = [[John Toler, 1st Earl of Norbury|John Toler]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/ild/?func=advanced_search&search=true&bill_number=4098|title=Bill 4098: For the union of Great Britain and Ireland|work=Irish Legislation Database|publisher=[[Queen's University Belfast|Queen's University]]|location=Belfast|access-date=28 April 2015|archive-date=25 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225212434/http://www.qub.ac.uk/ild/?func=advanced_search&search=true&bill_number=4098|url-status=live}}</ref>
|territorial_extent   = [[Ireland]]
|royal_assent         = 1 August 1800
|commencement         = 31 December 1800 – 1 January 1801
|repeal_date          = 24 November 1962
|amendments           = [[Statute Law Revision (Ireland) Act 1879]]
|repealing_legislation= [[Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act, 1962]]
|related_legislation  = {{ubli|[[Government of Ireland Act 1920]]|[[Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922]]|[[Constitution of Ireland]]|[[Republic of Ireland Act 1948]]}}
|status_IE=Repealed by the [[Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act 1962]]
|status_NI=Still in force with amendments
|original_text        = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433035269780&seq=496
|legislation_history  = https://www.qub.ac.uk/ild/?func=advanced_search&search=true&bill_number=4098
|revised_text         = http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aip/Geo3/40/38
|use_new_UK-LEG       =
|statute_book_chapter = 40 Geo. 3. c. 38 (I)
}}
{{United Kingdom constitutional formation}}

The '''Acts of Union 1800''' were parallel acts of the [[Parliament of Great Britain]] and the [[Parliament of Ireland]] which united the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] and the [[Kingdom of Ireland]] (previously in [[personal union]]) to create the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]. The acts [[came into force]] between 31 December 1800 and 1 January 1801, and the merged [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] had its [[First Parliament of the United Kingdom|first meeting]] on 22 January 1801.

Provisions of the acts remain in force, with amendments and some Articles repealed, in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|United Kingdom]],<ref>From [[legislation.gov.uk]]:
* {{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aip/Geo3/40/38/contents|title=Act of Union (Ireland) 1800|access-date=2 November 2017|archive-date=17 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617044729/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aip/Geo3/40/38/contents|url-status=live}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo3/39-40/67|title=Union with Ireland Act 1800|access-date=2 November 2017|archive-date=6 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706230038/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo3/39-40/67|url-status=live}}</ref> but they have been repealed in their entirety in the [[Republic of Ireland]].<ref>From [[Irish Statute Book]]:
* {{cite web |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1962/act/29/schedule/enacted/en/html#sched |title=Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act, 1962, Schedule |access-date=2 November 2017 |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710142135/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1962/act/29/schedule/enacted/en/html#sched |url-status=live }}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1983/act/11/schedule/enacted/en/html#sched-part3 |title=Statute Law Revision Act, 1983, Schedule Part III: English and British Statutes Extended to Ireland, 1495-1800 |access-date=2 November 2017 |archive-date=31 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331091602/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1983/act/11/schedule/enacted/en/html#sched-part3 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Name==
Two acts were passed in 1800 with the same [[long title]]: ''An Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland''. The [[short title]] of the act of the British Parliament is '''Union with Ireland Act 1800''' ([[39 & 40 Geo. 3]]. c. 67), assigned by the [[Short Titles Act 1896]]. The short title of the act of the Irish Parliament is '''Act of Union (Ireland) 1800''' (40 Geo. 3. c. 38 (I)), assigned by a 1951 act of the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]], and hence not effective in the Republic of Ireland, where it was referred to by its long title when repealed in 1962.

==Background==
Before these acts, Ireland had been in [[personal union]] with England since 1542, when the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] had passed the [[Crown of Ireland Act 1542]], proclaiming King [[Henry VIII]] of England to be [[King of Ireland]]. Since the 12th century, the King of England had been technical overlord of the [[Lordship of Ireland]], a papal possession. Both the Kingdoms of Ireland and England later came into personal union with that of [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] upon the [[Union of the Crowns]] in 1603.

In 1707, the [[Kingdom of England]] and the Kingdom of Scotland were united into a single kingdom: the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]. Upon that union, each House of the [[Parliament of Ireland]] passed a congratulatory address to [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], praying her: "May God put it in your royal heart to add greater strength and lustre to your crown, by a still more comprehensive Union".<ref>Journals of the Irish Commons, vol. iii. p. 421</ref> The Irish Parliament was both before then subject to [[Poynings' Law (on certification of acts)|certain restrictions]] that made it subordinate to the [[Parliament of England]] and after then, to the [[Parliament of Great Britain]]; however, Ireland gained effective legislative independence from Great Britain through the [[Constitution of 1782]].

By this time access to institutional power in Ireland was restricted to a small minority: the [[Anglo-Irish]] of the [[Protestant Ascendancy]]. Frustration at the lack of reform among the Catholic majority eventually led, along with other reasons, to a [[1798 Rebellion|rebellion in 1798]], involving a [[French expedition to Ireland (1796)|French invasion of Ireland]] and the seeking of complete independence from Great Britain. This rebellion was crushed with much bloodshed, and the motion for union was motivated at least in part by the belief that the union would alleviate the political rancour that led to the rebellion. The rebellion was felt to have been exacerbated as much by brutally reactionary loyalists as by [[Society of United Irishmen|United Irishmen]] (anti-unionists).{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}

Furthermore, [[Catholic emancipation]] was being discussed in Great Britain, and fears that a newly enfranchised Catholic majority would drastically change the character of the Irish government and parliament also contributed to a desire from London to merge the Parliaments.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}

According to historian James Stafford, an Enlightenment critique of Empire in Ireland laid the intellectual foundations for the Acts of Union. He writes that Enlightenment thinkers connected "the exclusion of the Irish Kingdom from free participation in imperial and European trade with the exclusion of its Catholic subjects, under the terms of the 'Penal Laws', from the benefits of property and political representation." These critiques were used to justify a parliamentary union between Britain and Ireland.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Stafford|first=James|chapter=The Enlightenment Critique of Empire in Ireland, c. 1750–1776|date=2022|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/case-of-ireland/enlightenment-critique-of-empire-in-ireland-c-17501776/90D8FE772F7476552F18DC1CEED72360|title=The Case of Ireland: Commerce, Empire and the European Order, 1750–1848|pages=23–58|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-009-03345-9}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name
! Flag
! Population<br />
! Population<br />(%)
! Area<br />(km<sup>2</sup>)
! Area<br />(%)
! Pop.&nbsp;density<br />(per&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>)
|-
| align=center| [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]
| [[File:Flag of Great Britain (1707–1800).svg|border|70px]]
| align=right| 10,500,000
| align=right| 65%
| align=right| 230,977
| align=right| 73%
| align=right| 45.46
|-
| align=center| [[Kingdom of Ireland]]
| [[File:Royal_Standard_of_Ireland_(1542–1801).svg|border|70px]]
| align=right| 5,500,000
| align=right| 35%
| align=right| 84,421
| align=right| 27%
| align=right| 65.15
|-
| align=center| '''[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]'''
| align=right| [[File:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg|border|70px]]
| align=right| '''16,000,000'''
| align=right| '''100%'''
| align=right| '''315,093'''
| align=right| '''100%'''
| align=right| '''50.78'''
|}

== Passage ==
{{more citations needed section|date=December 2012}}

Complementary acts were enacted by the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland.

The Parliament of Ireland had recently gained a large measure of legislative independence under the [[Constitution of 1782]].  Many members of the Irish Parliament jealously guarded that autonomy (notably [[Henry Grattan]]), and a motion for union was legally rejected in 1799. Only [[Church of Ireland|Anglicans]] were permitted to become members of the Parliament of Ireland though the great majority of the Irish population were [[Roman Catholic]], with many [[Presbyterians]] in [[Ulster]]. Under the [[Roman Catholic Relief Act 1793]], Roman Catholics regained the right to vote if they owned or rented property worth £2 annually. Wealthy Catholics were strongly in favour of union in the hope for rapid [[Catholic emancipation|religious emancipation]] and the right to sit as MPs, which would only come to pass under the [[Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829]].

From the perspective of Great Britain's elites, the union was desirable because of the uncertainty that followed the [[French Revolution]] of 1789 and the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]]. If Ireland adopted Catholic emancipation willingly or not, a Roman Catholic Parliament could break away from Britain and ally with the French, but the same measure within the United Kingdom would exclude that possibility. Also, in creating a regency during King [[George III]]'s "madness", the Irish and British Parliaments gave the Prince Regent different powers. These considerations led Great Britain to decide to attempt the merger of both kingdoms and Parliaments.

The final passage of the Act in the [[Irish House of Commons]] turned on an about 16% relative majority, garnering 58% of the votes, and similar in the [[Irish House of Lords]], in part per contemporary accounts through bribery with the awarding of [[peerage]]s and [[honour]]s to critics to get votes.{{sfn|Ward|1994|p=28}} The first attempt had been defeated in the Irish House of Commons by 109 votes to 104, but the second vote in 1800 passed by 158 to 115.{{sfn|Ward|1994|p=28}}

==Provisions==
[[File:Order in Council, 5th November 1800 – illustrations of the new arms, flag, and standard of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (PC 2-157).jpg|thumb|[[Order in Council]] of November 1800, illustrating the new arms, flag, and royal standard of the United Kingdom]]
The Acts of Union were two complementary Acts, namely:

* The Union with Ireland Act 1800 (39 & 40 Geo. 3 c. 67),<ref>{{cite act | title = Union with Ireland Act 1800 | type =  | number = (39 & 40 Geo. 3 c. 67) | language = English | date = 2 July 1800 | url = http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo3/39-40/67 | access-date = 6 September 2015 }} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706230038/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo3/39-40/67 |date=6 July 2019 }} {{Cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo3/39-40/67 |title=Union with Ireland Act 1800 |access-date=2 November 2014 |archive-date=6 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706230038/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo3/39-40/67 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> an Act of the [[Parliament of Great Britain]], and
* The Act of Union (Ireland) 1800 (40 Geo. 3 c. 38),<ref>{{cite act | title = Act of Union (Ireland) 1800 | type =  | number = (40 Geo. 3 c. 38) | language = English | date = 1 August 1800 | url = http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aip/Geo3/40/38/contents | access-date = 6 September 2015 }} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617044729/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aip/Geo3/40/38/contents |date=17 June 2019 }} {{Cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aip/Geo3/40/38/contents |title=Act of Union (Ireland) 1800 |access-date=6 September 2015 |archive-date=17 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617044729/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aip/Geo3/40/38/contents |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> an Act of the [[Parliament of Ireland]].

They were passed on 2 July 1800 and 1 August 1800 respectively, and came into force on 1 January 1801. They ratified eight articles which had been previously agreed by the British and Irish parliaments:
* Articles I–IV dealt with the political aspects of the Union. It created a [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|united parliament]].
** In the House of Lords, the existing members of the Parliament of Great Britain were joined by, as [[Lords Spiritual]], four bishops of the [[Church of Ireland]], rotating among the dioceses in each session and as [[Lords Temporal]] 28 [[List of Irish representative peers|Irish representative peer]] elected for life by the [[Peerage of Ireland]].
** The House of Commons was to include the pre-union representation from Great Britain and 100 members from Ireland.
::{{See also|List of United Kingdom parliamentary constituencies in Ireland 1801–1885}}
* Article V united the established [[Church of England]] and Church of Ireland into "one Protestant Episcopal Church, to be called, The United Church of England and Ireland"; but also confirmed the independence of the [[Church of Scotland]].
* Article VI created a [[customs union]], with the exception that customs duties on certain British and Irish goods passing between the two countries would remain for 10 years (a consequence of having trade depressed by the ongoing war with revolutionary France). The High Court of Northern Ireland ruled that parts of this Article as it applied to the UK were "[[Implied repeal|impliedly repealed]]" by the passage of the [[European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020|European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2020]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=2021-06-30|title=Brexit: NI Protocol is lawful, High Court rules|language=en-GB|publisher=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-57666255|access-date=2021-07-02|archive-date=30 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630165358/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-57666255|url-status=live}}</ref> This decision was upheld on appeal by the [[Supreme Court of the United Kingdom]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Northern Ireland Protocol is lawful, Supreme Court rules |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-64558530 |access-date=10 March 2023 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=8 February 2023 |archive-date=8 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308135613/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-64558530 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite BAILII|litigants=In re Allister|court=UKSC|year=2023|num=5|parallelcite=[2023] 2 WLR 457}}</ref>
* Article VII stated that Ireland would have to contribute two-seventeenths towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom. The figure was a ratio of Irish to British foreign trade.
* Article VIII formalised the legal and judicial aspects of the Union.

Part of the appeal of the Union for many Irish Catholics was the promise of [[Catholic emancipation]], allowing [[Roman Catholic]] MPs, who had not been permitted to sit in the Irish Parliament, to sit in the United Kingdom Parliament. This was however blocked by King [[George III]] who argued that emancipating Roman Catholics would breach his [[Coronation of the British monarch#Recognition and oath|Coronation Oath]], and was not realised until the [[Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829]].

The traditionally separate [[Irish Army (Kingdom of Ireland)|Irish Army]], which had been funded by the Irish Parliament, was merged into the larger [[British Army]].

===The first parliament===
{{main|First Parliament of the United Kingdom}}
In the first Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the members of the House of Commons were not elected afresh. By royal proclamation authorised by the Act, all the members of the last House of Commons from Great Britain took seats in the new House, and from Ireland [[Members of the 1st UK Parliament from Ireland|100 members were chosen]] from the last Irish House of Commons: two members from each of the 32 counties and the two largest boroughs, and one from each of the next 31 largest boroughs and from [[Dublin University (constituency)|Dublin University]], chosen by lot. The other 84 Irish parliamentary boroughs were disfranchised; all were [[pocket borough]]s, whose patrons received £15,000 compensation for the loss of what was considered their property.

== Flags and styles==

{{multiple image
| header            = <big>Change in the [[Union Flag]]</big>
| image1            = Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg
| width1            = 150
| alt1              = Earlier Union Flag
| caption1          = Earlier [[flag of Great Britain]],<br/>prior to the union with Ireland
| image2            = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
| width2            = 179
| alt2              = Second Union Flag
| caption2          = The second [[Union Flag]],<br/>incorporating the Irish [[Saint Patrick's Saltire]]
}}
{{Main|Union Jack}}
The Union Flag, created as a consequence of the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800, still remains the [[flag of the United Kingdom]]. Called the Union Jack, it combined the flags of [[St George's Cross]] (which was deemed to include [[Wales]]) and the [[Flag of Scotland|St Andrew's Saltire]] of Scotland with the [[St Patrick's Saltire]] to represent Ireland.

At the same time, a new Royal Title was adopted ('GEORGE the THIRD by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith'), and a new shield of arms.<ref>[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/15325/page/23 ''The London Gazette'', issue 15325; 3 January 1801] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231116195611/https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/15325/page/23 |date=16 November 2023 }}, pp. 23–24</ref> In adopting these, the moribund [[English claims to the French throne]] were not continued: the title 'King of France' was abandoned and the [[fleur-de-lis]] were removed from the [[Royal Standard of the United Kingdom]] for the first time since the Middle Ages.

==Sources and citations==

=== Sources ===
;Primary:
* [http://rahbarnes.co.uk/union/the-united-kingdom-of-union-1800/union-with-ireland-act-1800/ Acts of Union – complete original text]
* {{UK-LEG|title=Act of Union (Ireland) 1800 (c.38)|path=aip/Geo3/40/38}}
* {{UK-LEG|title=Crown of Ireland Act 1542|path=aip/Hen8/33/1}}
* {{UK-LEG|title=Union with Ireland Act 1800 (c.67)|path=apgb/Geo3/39-40/67}}

;Secondary:
* {{cite book|last=Ward |first=Alan J. |title=The Irish Constitutional Tradition: Responsible Government and Modern Ireland 1782–1992 |publisher=Irish Academic Press |date=1994}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Lalor |editor-first=Brian |title=The Encyclopaedia of Ireland |publisher=[[Gill & Macmillan]] |location=[[Dublin]] |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-7171-3000-9|page=7 |ref=none}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Further reading ===
* {{cite journal|last=Kelly |first=James |title=The origins of the act of union: an examination of unionist opinion in Britain and Ireland, 1650–1800 |journal=Irish Historical Studies |volume=25 |issue=99 |year=1987 |pages=236–263|doi=10.1017/S0021121400026614 |s2cid=159653339 }}
* {{cite book|editor-last1=Keogh |editor-first=Dáire |editor-first2=Kevin |editor-last2=Whelan |title=Acts of Union: The causes, contexts, and consequences of the Act of Union |publisher=Four Courts Press |date=2001}}
* {{cite book|last=McDowell |first=R. B. |author-link=R. B. McDowell |title=Ireland in the Age of Imperialism and Revolution, 1760–1801 |date=1991 |pages=678–704}}

=== External links ===
* [http://www.actofunion.ac.uk/ Act of Union Virtual Library] from [[Queen's University Belfast]]
* [http://www.dippam.ac.uk/eppi/eppi_lc_subjects/2064 Ireland – History – The Union,1800/Ireland – Politics and government – 19th century] index of documents digitised by Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland
* [https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_HL_PO_PU_1_1800_39and40G3n241 Digital Reproduction of the Original Act (39&40 Geo. 3 c. 67) on the Parliamentary Archives catalogue]

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