to it, by the laws before-cited of Edward the firſt and his grandſon.
But as Ireland was a diſtinct dominion, and had parliaments of it’s own, it is to be obſerved, that though the immemorial cuſtoms, or common law, of England were made the rule of juſtice in Ireland alſo, yet no acts of the Engliſh parliament, ſince the twelfth of king John, extended into that kingdom; unleſs it were ſpecially named, or included under general words, ſuch as, “within any of the king’s dominions.” And this is particularly expreſſed, and the reaſon given in the year books[1]: “a tax granted by the parliament of England ſhall not bind thoſe of Ireland, becauſe they are not ſummoned to our parliament:” and again, “Ireland hath a parliament of it’s own, and maketh and altereth laws; and our ſtatutes do not bind them, becauſe they do not ſend knights to our parliament: but their perſons are the king’s ſubjects, like as the inhabitants of Calais, Gaſcoigny, and Guienne, while they continued under the king’s ſubjection.” The general run of laws, enacted by the ſuperior ſtate, are ſuppoſed to be calculated for it’s own internal government, and do not extend to it’s diſtant dependent countries; which, bearing no part in the legiſlature, are not therefore in it’s ordinary and daily contemplation. But, when the ſovereign legiſlative power ſees it neceſſary to extend it’s care to any of it’s ſubordinate dominions, and mentions them expreſſly by name or includes them under general words, there can be no doubt but then they are bound by it’s laws[2].
The original method of paſſing ſtatutes in Ireland was nearly the ſame as in England, the chief governor holding parliaments at his pleaſure, which enacted ſuch laws as they thought proper[3]. But an ill uſe being made of this liberty, particularly by lord Gormanſtown, deputy-lieutenant in the reign of Edward IV[4],
