The Legal History of Religion in Ireland

This book is not a general history of the lived experience of religion in Ireland. Its unique contribution is that it is a legal history of religion in Ireland. It demonstrates how matters of religion were legislated for, and they played out in the courts; it examines the legalities of the penal code and disestablishment and it considers the legal position of the Presbyterian Church and the constitutional status of religion in early twentieth-century Ireland. There are a series of legal events which make up some of the principal episodes in the legal history of religion in Ireland. The penal laws affected religious liberty in Ireland and also had an impact on the real property rights of Catholic landowners. Concurrent with the legal campaign against Catholics were the disabilities against dissenters, and, in particular, Presbyterians. The disestablishment of the Church of Ireland had financial, political and social consequences. It also had significant legal consequences. In the twentieth century, religion in Ireland occupied a unique constitutional position.