The Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act 1936 was an amendment to the

Constitution of the Irish Free State The Constitution of the Irish Free State ( ga, Bunreacht Shaorstát Eireann) was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution,King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, to the office of

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

, and almost completely eliminated the King's constitutional role in the state. Under the Act most of the functions previously performed by the King and his Governor-General were transferred to various other organs of the Irish government. The only role retained by the King was as representative of the state in foreign affairs. The amendment passed through the Oireachtas at the same time as the

External Relations Act The Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936 (No. 58 of 1936) was an Act of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament). The Act, which was signed into law on 12 December 1936, was one of two passed hurriedly in the aftermath of the Edward VIII a ...

, becoming law on 11 December 1936. Its long title was: Due to deficiencies in the External Relations Act, the

Executive Powers (Consequential Provisions) Act 1937 The Executive Powers (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937 was an Act of the Oireachtas which retrospectively completed the abolition of the Governor-General of the Irish Free State. In December 1936, then President of the Executive Council of t ...

was passed in the following year to finally eliminate the office of Governor-General.

Timing

The opportunity for this amendment arose because the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

was then a member of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

, and each of its members had to assent to the

abdication of Edward VIII In early December 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire arose when King-Emperor Edward VIII proposed to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who was divorced from her first husband and was pursuing the divorce of her secon ...

on 10 December 1936. The amendment was passed before the passing of the Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936 on 12 December which assented to the abdication. The policy of the

Irish government The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The governm ...

was to reduce any remaining British links in the political system of the Irish Free State and to turn it into a republic.

Transfer of royal competences

After the adoption of the Act the duties usually performed by a

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

were distributed among a number of organs. Most importantly, the power to exercise the executive authority was vested explicitly in the Executive Council (cabinet), the right to appoint the President of the Executive Council (prime minister) was transferred to

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

(the sole house of the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...

or parliament), and the duty of promulgating the law was vested in the

Ceann Comhairle The (; "Head of heCouncil"; plural usually ) is the chairperson (or speaker) of , the lower house of the (parliament) of Ireland. The person who holds the position is elected by members of the from among their number in the first session a ...

, chairman of the Dáil. The King retained only a role in foreign affairs.

Governor-General

The Act purported to abolish the office of Governor-General. However

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of governm ...

was advised by his Attorney-General,

James Geoghegan James Geoghegan (8 December 1886 – 27 March 1951) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, barrister and judge who served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 1936 to 1950, Attorney General of Ireland from November 1936 to December 1936 and Mini ...

, the Secretary to the Executive Council,

Maurice Moynihan Maurice Gerard Moynihan, (14 December 1902 – 21 August 1999) was an Irish economist and civil servant who served as the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland from 1960 to 1969. He was also a co-drafter of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, ...

, and Mr Matheson of the Parliamentary Draftsman's office that that Act did not actually abolish the office as it had an existence independent of the Constitution; to conclusively abolish the office, a blanket transfer of any remaining powers of the Governor-General would be necessary, and remaining references to the Governor-Generalship would need to be removed from Acts of the Oireachtas. In May 1937 de Valera introduced the

to do just that, as well as to validate the installation of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who had failed (or declined) to make the legally required declaration of office in front of the Governor-General, and to validate the appointment of a new Attorney-General, who under existing law could only be appointed by the Governor-General.

Foreign affairs

After the enactment of the Act, the King was no longer specifically mentioned in the Constitution. However, the amendment introduced a new provision that, without explicitly referring to the King, allowed the state to continue to use him as its representative in foreign affairs by passing a law allowing him to perform this function. A law for this purpose, the

, was passed shortly after the amendment was enacted. Thus, after December 1936 treaties continued to be signed in the name of the King, and the King continued to accredit Irish ambassadors and high commissioners and to receive the

Letters of Credence A letter of credence (french: Lettre de créance) is a formal diplomatic letter that designates a diplomat as ambassador to another sovereign state. Commonly known as diplomatic credentials, the letter is addressed from one head of state to anot ...

of foreign diplomats. The provision allowing the King to do this was inserted in Article 51 and read: The current

Constitution of Ireland The Constitution of Ireland ( ga, Bunreacht na hÉireann, ) is the constitution, fundamental law of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democra ...

enacted in 1937, created the position of

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can ...

as head of state, but did not give the position any external functions. The External Relations Act thus created, for a number of years, a situation in which it was unclear whether the King remained the head of state for external purposes. This situation came to an end in 1949 when the

Republic of Ireland Act The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 (No. 22 of 1948) is an Act of the Oireachtas which declared that the description of Ireland was to be the Republic of Ireland, and vested in the president of Ireland the power to exercise the executive authority ...

came into force, removing the King's role in foreign affairs and making the President of Ireland

for all purposes. This new status was celebrated by President

Seán T. O'Kelly Seán Thomas O'Kelly ( ga, Seán Tomás Ó Ceallaigh; 25 August 1882 – 23 November 1966), originally John T. O'Kelly, was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as the second president of Ireland from June 1945 to June 1959. He also serve ...

paying the first ever state visit by an Irish president abroad.

Expiry

The Amendment became obsolete on the repeal of the 1922 Constitution on the

adoption of the Constitution of Ireland The current Constitution of Ireland came into effect on 29 December 1937, repealing and replacing the Constitution of the Irish Free State, having been approved in a national plebiscite on 1 July 1937 with the support of 56.5% of voters in the ...

in 1937, and was repealed as

spent law In British law and in some related legal systems, an enactment is spent if it is "exhausted in operation by the accomplishment of the purposes for which it was enacted". United Kingdom The scope of Statute Law Revision Bills includes the repeal ...

by the

Statute Law Revision Act 2016 The Statute Law Revision Act 2016 is a Statute Law Revision Act enacted by the Oireachtas in Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Gre ...

References

External links

Text of the Act
from

Irish Statute Book The Irish Statute Book, also known as the electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB), is a database produced by the Office of the Attorney General of Ireland. It contains copies of Acts of the Oireachtas and statutory instruments.

{{Irish Free State 1936 in Irish law Acts of the Oireachtas of the 1930s Abdication of Edward VIII Government in the Irish Free State Monarchy in the Irish Free State 1936 in international relations Governors-General of the Irish Free State Amendments to the Constitution of the Irish Free State