Central Aspects of the Eighteenth-Century Constitutional Framework in Ireland: The Government Supply Bill and Biennial Parliamentary Sessions, 1715-82

Abstract

In the period 1692-1714, the Irish constitution was redefined through a process of political conflict and compromise between the executive and legislature over the question of the provision of money for the government's financial needs. The conflict centred upon two central elements of the existing constitution: Poynings' law and the crown's prerogative in initiating supply legislation. The resulting compromise constitutional framework was characterised by five principles, two of which concerned the government supply bill in the first session of a new parliament and the use by the House of Commons of supply legislation as a means of ensuring biennial parliamentary sessions. This article addresses the question of the application of these two principles in the period 1715-82, and examines the extent to which the politics of supply resulted in further alterations within the constitutional framework prior to legislative independence in 1782.