The Prevention of Crime (Ireland) Act 1848 was a bill passed by the

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

regarding crime in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, which was then part of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

. The bill was introduced by Sir George Grey on 29 November 1847, and was passed by both houses; it received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

in December 1847 (11 & 12 Vic c. 2). It was passed because of growing Irish nationalist agitation that was causing the British government concern about a possible violent rebellion against

British rule in Ireland British rule in Ireland spanned several centuries and involved British control of parts, or entirety, of the island of Ireland. British involvement in Ireland began with the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. Most of Ireland gained indepe ...

.Woodham-Smith, Cecil ''The Great Hunger Ireland 1845 1849'' Harper and Row, New York, pages 326-327 The bill gave the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the King ...

the power to organise the island into districts and bring police forces into them at the districts' expense. It limited who could own guns, and under penalty, coerced all of the men to join in a type of

Posse comitatus The ''posse comitatus'' (from the Latin for "power of the county/community/guard"), frequently shortened to posse, is in common law a group of people mobilized by the conservator of peace – typically a reeve, sheriff, chief, or another speci ...

in each district between the ages of 16 and 60 to assist in apprehending suspected murderers when killings took place, or else be guilty of a misdemeanour themselves.

References

{{Young Ireland Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Ireland