The Gazette 1972

inent, the British Government and the Irish Free State

transferred certain powers connected with the defunct

Council of Ireland to the Government and Parliament

of Northern Ireland. The Agreement of 1921, including

Article 12, remains in force and is included in the Index

to British Treaties (HMSO).

Has the 1921 Agreement the status of an international

treaty? This question has caused controversy before.

Anglo-Irish Treaty registered with League of Nations

In 1923 the Irish Government registered the Treaty

of 1921 with the League of Nations. The U.K. at once

protested, arguing that the Agreement was not regis-

terable as an international treaty.

The Irish Government maintained it was and in the

opinion of some international lawyers, the International

Court would have preferred the arguments of the Irish.

Despite its initial protest, the British Government's

view of the Treaty had clearly changed by the following

decade. During debates on moves by the Free State to

abandon the Oath of Allegiance contained in the

Treaty, the binding and international character of the

1921 Agreement was emphasised.

In May 1933, in the House of Lords, Viscount Hail-

sham, father of the present British Lord Chancellor,

described the Treaty as a bargain between his country

and the Irish Free State. Neither country party to the

bargain can, by unilateral action, alter the terms of the

bargain and it, therefore, follows that even if one party

or the other purports to alter the bargain, that attempt

has no legal or no international effect at all.

The clearest recognition that the Treaty had inter-

national effect is contained in Viscount Hailsham's

answer to his own query : "But what is the effect in

international law on the Treaty which is the arrange-

ment, the bargain made between the Irish Free State

and this country?

"I have no hesitation in saying that a Treaty between

two nations—I do not care what exact descriptions

you give them, whether dominions, foreign nations,

subordinate states, or whatever they may be—an agree-

ment between two different entities of that character

cannot be altered without the consent of both and any

attempt by one to make an alteration is inoperative,

unless agreed by .the other."

Irish Government should protest

What steps might the Irish Government now take,

forty years later, in the light of the breach of the

Treaty by Britain ? Clearly it has cause for protest.

At a time when the Stormont Parliament is being boy-

cotted by the minority's representatives, who are calling

for a suspension, the U.K. Government has chosen to

strengthen that Parliament without consultation or

agreement with the Irish Government.

By virtue of the Northern Ireland Act, 1972, the

British Government and Parliament has passed over to

Stormont, power relating to the military, which the

original British participants in the Treaty flatly refused

to the Unionists, and rightly considered as their most

fundamental reserved matters.

The Irish Republic is clearly free to protest through

diplomatic channels at the action of the British Govern-

ment. They may also initiate proceedings in the inter-

national court at The Hague.

However, since the Irish Government has not accep-

ted the compulsory jurisdiction of the World Court, the

U.K. could stop proceedings.

If the U.K. did not object to the course of jurisidc-

tion, the court could proceed to interpret the Treaty

and pronounce on its breach.

The Irish Government has since announced that it is

bringing forward the breach of the Anglo-Irish Treaty

as an additional ground to be determined by the

Commission of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Irish Press

(5th March 1972)

THE INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY

OF IRELAND

ASSISTANT EXAMINERS

Applications are invited from solicitors and barristers

for the posts of assistant examiners in the following

subjects :

1st Law Examination

Paper 1. The Law of Tort.

Paper

The Law of Contract.

Paper 3. The Law of Real Property.

2nd Law Examination

Paper 4. Equity.

Paper 5. Company Law and Partnership.

Paper 6. Conveyancing and Registration of Title.

Paper 7. The Practice and Procedure of the Superior

Courts (including bankruptcy).

Paper 8. Criminal Law and the Law of Evidence.

3rd Law Examination

Paper 9. Tax Law.

Paper 10. Commercial Law.

Paper 11. The Law and Practice in Connection with

Wills and the Administration of Estates.

Paper 13. Land Law.

Further particulars may be obtained from :

The Secretary,

Incorporated Law Society of Ireland,

Solicitors Buildings,

Four Courts,

Dublin 7.