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The Constitution of the Irish Free State was the second constitution of the independent Irish state. It was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922 and was proclaimed by Royal Proclamation〔Text of Royal Proclamation is contained in "SPECIAL ISSUE" Iris Oifigiúil (The Dublin Gazette), Published by Authority, Wednesday, 5 December 1922〕 on 6 December 1922 in accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution and came into operation on the issue of that Proclamation. On the previous day the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 of the British Parliament received the Royal Assent and gave effect to the Constitution under British law.〔(''Moore v Attorney General'' ) () 1 I.R.〕 In 1937 it was replaced by the modern Constitution of Ireland following a referendum. As originally enacted, the Constitution was firmly shaped by the requirements of the Anglo-Irish Treaty that had been negotiated between the British government and Irish leaders in 1921. However, following a change of government in 1932 and the adoption of the Statute of Westminster a series of amendments progressively removed many of the provisions that were required by the Treaty. The Constitution established a parliamentary system of government under a form of constitutional monarchy, and contained guarantees of certain fundamental rights. It was originally intended that the Constitution would be a rigid document that, after an initial period, could be amended only by referendum. However, ultimately amendments were made to the Constitution's amendment procedure so that all amendments were in fact made by a simple Act of the Oireachtas (parliament). ==A written Constitution?== Whether or not the Irish Free State would have a written Constitution was the subject of some debate when the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) Bill was introduced to the Provisional Parliament by President Cosgrave. The Labour leader, Thomas Johnson remarking: Another reason put forward not to adopt a written Constitution was that constitutional conventions between members of the British Commonwealth were evolving and there was likely to be an Imperial Conference on the matter before long. The Labour leader also objected to the manner in which the Provisional Parliament was being described as a "Constituent Assembly" when in fact it was not acting of its "free volition" and thereby at liberty to adopt a Constitution.〔(Dáil Éireann 18 Sept. 1922 )〕 He compared it to re-establishing Poynings' Law.〔(Dáil Éireann 18 Sept. 1922 )〕 Nonetheless, there were strong arguments in favour of adopting a written constitution. Irish nationalists who fought the War of Independence believed themselves to be fighting on behalf of a newly formed state called the Irish Republic. The Irish Republic had its own president, an elected assembly called Dáil Éireann, and a judicial system in the form of the Dáil Courts.This republic was recognized by the revolutionary government in Russia. In the negotiations leading to the Anglo-Irish Treaty the British government insisted that the new Irish state must remain within the Commonwealth and not be a republic. Furthermore, while the Irish Republic had a constitution, of sorts, in the form of the Dáil Constitution, this was a very brief document and had been intended to be only provisional. It was therefore the prevalent view that when, in 1921, the British government agreed to the creation of a largely independent Irish state, that a new constitution was needed. The Anglo-Irish Treaty made a number of requirements of the new constitution. Among these were that: *the new state would be called the Irish Free State and would be a dominion of the British Commonwealth; *the King would be the head of state and would be represented by a Governor General; *members of the Oireachtas (parliament) would swear an oath of allegiance to the Irish Free State and declare their fidelity to the King. This Free State Oath of Allegiance was controversial; and *Northern Ireland would be included in the Irish Free State unless its Parliament decided to ''opt out'' (which it ultimately did). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Constitution of the Irish Free State」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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