Statute Law Repeals - Law Commission - Ministry of Justice

PART 4
IRELAND (DUBLIN CITY)
INTRODUCTION
4.1 The 40 Acts proposed for repeal in this part focus on selected areas of the city of
Dublin’s municipal and service functions during the 19 th and early 20 th centuries.
Dublin has for centuries been the capital city of Ireland. From 1801 to 1922 the
United Kingdom Parliament was the sole legislative body for Ireland. Since 1949
Ireland (minus the UK province of Northern Ireland) has been a republic with
independent sovereign status. 1
4.2 The repeal candidates span the years 1807 to 1920 and have been grouped
under six headings: steam packet company, hospitals, police and justice, general
post and record offices, public carriage, and Dublin corporation. 2 The individuals
and organisations consulted about these proposals are set out in Appendix 3.
GROUP 1 - DUBLIN STEAM PACKET COMPANY
4.3 The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company was founded (for the carriage of
cargo, mail and passengers) in 1822, and functioned for 102 years. The company
became a formal partnership in 1828 and, later in the same year, under specific
legislation, a joint stock company. 3
4.4 The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company Act 1833 4 gave the company various
powers relating to steam navigation and shipping and, amongst other things,
authorised it to raise additional capital by share issue to facilitate navigation on
the river Shannon. Land could be purchased for wharfage and warehousing
purposes. The 1833 Act was time-limited to expire in 1932, 5 but it was neither
extended nor repealed.
1 From 1922 until 1937 the Irish Free State had the status of a dominion under the UK
Crown. In 1937 Eire became an independent sovereign state and subsequently, in 1949,
Ireland became a republic. As a consequence, UK legislation relating to what territorially is
now Ireland (as opposed to Northern Ireland) has ceased to have any practical utility within
the UK, and can be removed from the UK statute book.
2 More detailed background on each of these topics is to be found in the Law Commission’s
Statute Law Repeals Consultation Paper: City of Dublin (SLR 01/08) published in August
2008 and available on the Law Commission’s website.
3 See 9 Geo.4 c.lxvi (1828) (“The 1828 Act”), repealed in 1833 (see below). This Act was the
first in a series of 12 statutes passed to govern the affairs of the packet company (of which
11 remain live on the statute book).
4 3 & 4 Will.4 c.cxv (1833) (“The 1833 Act”). The Act was not assigned a short title: the title
used informally here derives from the Chronological Table of Local Acts 1797-2008.
5
The 1833 Act, s 63. Section 1 of the Act repealed the 1828 Act, subject to savings for
matters already transacted.
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