Irish to repeal old English laws

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More than 3,000 laws passed before the Republic of Ireland gained independence from Britain are to be repealed, the Irish government has said.

The list of obsolete Acts, enacted between 1066 and 1922, was drawn up by Attorney General Rory Brady.

Among the laws repealed are the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which partitioned the island.

Another is an act of 1542 which made Henry VIII and his heirs the holders of the kingship of Ireland.

Another is the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922, which gave the 1921 Treaty - when Ireland achieved independence - the force of law.

These measures have become obsolete but have never been formally repealed.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said: "This bill is the single biggest repealing measure in the state's history, and will remove almost as many laws from the statute book as have been enacted in the years since independence.

"It is important that we keep our statute book up to date and relevant and that we clear from the statute book any laws which are obsolete, as well as identifying those which are still of relevance."

Staff in the attorney general's office checked 26,371 laws enacted before 1922, the first comprehensive examination of all statutes in the history of the Republic.

Some 1,350 will be retained for the time being.

This white-list contains laws found to have some degree of modern relevance, and must be replaced with modern laws before they can be repealed.

Within the next number of years, the Irish government intends for all pre-independence legislation to be repealed and replaced with modern laws.

Some of the laws pre-date the Norman conquest of 1169 as all the laws of England were later transported wholesale to Ireland in 1494 in an effort by King Henry VII to stabilise Ireland.

In 1542, King Henry VIII tried to put the Irish question beyond doubt by having the Irish parliament pass a law declaring him to be the King of Ireland.

In 1962 this law was repealed but research revealed a second law of 1542, which restated and expanded on the first declaring King Henry to be the King of Ireland.