Act of Union 1800

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Kingdom of Great Britain before the Act of Union 1800 Kingdom of Ireland before the Act of Union 1800


The Act of Union 1800 ( German  Association Act ) was actually two bills that were passed by the parliaments of the Kingdom of Great Britain ( Union with Ireland Act 1800 , passed on July 2, 1800) and of the Kingdom of Ireland ( Act of Union (Ireland) 1800 , adopted on August 1, 1800). The content of the two laws was the state unification of the two kingdoms to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , which came into force on January 1, 1801.

The treaty provided for the previously independent Parliament of Ireland to be dissolved and instead the two chambers of the existing Parliament of the United Kingdom in the Palace of Westminster to be expanded to include Irish MPs. Instead of the Irish House of Lords , four Bishops of the Church of Ireland and 28 Representative Peers to be elected from the ranks of the Peerage of Ireland were sent to the British House of Lords . Instead of the Irish House of Commons , 100 Irish MPs were sent to the British House of Commons , which has a total of 658 MPs . There were significantly fewer MPs than Ireland's share of the total population of the new Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , which at that time made up about a third. Also part of the treaty was Catholic emancipation , although it was not included in the text of the Act, as major protests from the Irish Protestant opposition were feared. Because of the belief of King George III. however, no further action was taken as this would have violated his oath taken at the coronation.

As the flag of the new kingdom, the Union Jack was supplemented by the St. Patrick's Cross for Ireland.

  • George Cross (England)

  • St. Andrew's Cross (Scotland)

  • St. Patrick's Cross (Ireland)

  • The Union Jack from 1707 to 1800 (with interruptions since 1606)

  • The Union Jack since 1801

literature

  • Alan J. Ward: The Irish Constitutional Tradition: Responsible Government and Modern Ireland 1782–1992 . Irish Academic Press, 1994, ISBN 0-7165-2519-4 .
  • Brian Lalor (Ed.): The Encyclopaedia of Ireland . Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, Ireland 2003, ISBN 0-7171-3000-2 , p. 7.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Bill. Bill 4 of 2003-4. (PDF) www.parliament.uk, accessed on July 28, 2013 (English).