Constitution of 1782

These changes were promoted, under the name legislative independence,[1] by the Irish Patriot Party, a loose alliance with Henry Grattan as its leading orator.

The constitution did not create a responsible executive, as the Dublin Castle administration remained under the control of a Lord Lieutenant acting as a representative of the British government.

In 1719, the Parliament of Great Britain passed the Declaratory Act which further restricted Irish legal independence by declaring that the British Parliament could directly pass laws in Ireland and that the British House of Lords was the highest court of appeal for Ireland.

These laws gave the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the representative in Ireland of the British government, control over the agenda of the Irish Parliament and authority to restrict its ability to legislate contrary to the objectives of the British government in London.

From 1782, Grattan – the leader of the Patriot Party – led a series of legal changes which produced a period of novel legislative freedom.