The Colonial Laws Validity Act and the Irish Free State

This article examines the relationship between Irish law and British Imperial law in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary focus concerns the question of whether the Colonial Laws Validity Act, 1865 applied to the Irish Free State as a Dominion of the British Empire. This important piece of legislation ensured that British Imperial statutes overrode the laws of British colonies and Dominions. This article will examine the importance of the 1865 Act as a means of preventing the Irish Free State from making unilateral changes to the settlement imposed by the Anglo Irish Treaty of 1921. It will also analyse the arguments put forward by the British and Irish governments as to the relationship between Irish law and the Colonial Laws Validity Act. It will conclude by examining the changes made by the Statute of Westminster which ensured that the Irish Free State finally achieved a position of undisputed legislative sovereignty.