PARLIAI ENT OF IRELAND. In Ireland, as in England, from the conquest of the country by Henry 11. fu the latter part of the 12th century, meetings of the barons were occasionally summoned to consult on public affairs, to which the old historians sometimes give the name of parliaments. But parliaments, in the modern sense, cannot be traced back in Ireland farther than to the latter end of the 13th century, or to a date about thirty years subsequent to that of the earliest parliament which is ascertained to have consisted both of lords and commons in England. Simon do Moutfort's celebrated parliament, the first for which writs are extant summoning repre sentatives of the counties and boroughs, met at Westminster in 1265 ; and the first Irish parliament to which, as far as is known, the sheriffs were directed to return two representatives for each county was held in 1295. Representatives of boroughs in Ireland cannot be traced lunch higher than to the middle of the 14th century. They first make their appearance in 1341, and in an act or ordinance of 1359 they are spoken of as forming an essential part of the parliament.
At this time, however, and down to a much later date, it was only the small portion of Ireland occupied by the English settlers that was represented in the legislature. Even in the reign of Edward III. only the province of Munster and a part of Lein eter wore considered as abiro-land ; they were divided into twelve counties. But in the course of the 15th century much the greater part of these districts had become to all intents and purposes independent of the English crown ; and in the reign of Henry II. the English dominion and the par liamentary representation were alike confined to the counties coins paling what was called the Pale, that is, to those of Dublin, Louth, Kildare, and Month (then comprehending both East and West Meath), with a very few seaports beyond these limits. The vigorous measures taken under Henry VIII. and succeeding kings however gradually extended the authority of the English institutions and laws. The possessors of some of the original Irish peerage., after maintaining for centuries an independence as complete as that of the native chieftains themselves, were Induced to give their attendance in the House of Lords, and many new peerages were conferred, some on Englishmen or persons of English descent, some on the heads of the 9ld Irish families. The twelve ancient counties were all reclaimed in the reign of Henry Vill., and others were added by Mary, Elizabeth, and James, till, In the time of the last-mentioned king, the whole island was divided into thirty-two counties, as at present, each returning two representatives. Of these thirty-two counties however it is said there
were seventeen in which there was not a single parliamentary borough, while in the remaining fifteen there were only about thirty. But either this account must bo wrong or the common statement that JaMes added only forty new boroughs must be an under statement, if, as appears, the cutire number of the Irish common's in 1613 was 232. In this number however would be included the two repre sentatives of Trinity College, Dublin. Subsequent new charters to' boroughs augmented the house by the year 1692 to 800, at which number it remained stationary. In 1634 the number of peers was 122, and more than 500 Irish peerages were created between that date and the Union. Of course however some also became extinct.
It was only for a very short period of its existence that the Irish parliament was held to be a supreme legislature. Ireland being regarded as a conquered dependency, it was maintained that its par liament was in all respects subordinate to that of England, and subsequently to that of Great Britain, which might make laws to bind the people of the one country as well as of the other. The received legal doctrine used to be, that King John, in the 12th year of his reign (ass 1210), ordained by letters-patent, In right of dominion of conquest, that Ireland should be governed by the laws of England ; in consequence of which both the common law of England and all English statutes enacted prior to that date were held to be of the same authority in Ireland as in England. With regard to English acts passed subsequently to that date, it was also held, in the first place, that Ireland was bound by all of them in which it was either 'specially named or included under general words. But further, inasmuch as one of the Irish acts called Poyning's Laws, passed in the tenth year of Henry VII. (e.n. 1495), in the lord-lieutenancy of Sir Edward Poyning, or Poynings, declared that all statutes "lately" made in England should be deemed also good and effectual in Ireland, it was held that this established the authority in Ireland of all preceding English statutes whatsoever; making those of the 12th of John of the same force with those enacted before that date. This however was admitted to be the last general imposition of the laws of England upon IreLand. Of the English statutes passed since the 10th of Henry VII., it was allowed that those only were binding upon Ireland in which that country was specially named or included under general words.