In 1709 the Irish Court of Exchequer heard a lawsuit between Maurice Annesley and his cousin Hester Sherlock over which of them had the right to possession of certain lands at Naas, County Kildare.

The political uproar was out of all proportion to the importance of the lawsuit itself: in the words of John Pocklington, one of the imprisoned Barons, "a flame broke forth, arousing the country's last resentment (i.e. against the judges)".

The bill had its second reading in the Commons on 4 March 1719, where it was chiefly opposed on the grounds that it appeared to have no purpose beyond increasing the power of the House of Lords.

[4] The Irish House of Lords was understandably infuriated by the curtailment of its powers, and the Barons of the Exchequer, though they were soon released from custody, were subject to intense vilification.

While many people thought that the Irish House of Lords had brought about the crisis by its own high-handed behaviour, the "Sixth of George I" remained a source of grievance for decades.