The Declaratory Act 1719 declared that the king and parliament of Great Britain had "full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient validity to bind the Kingdom and people of Ireland", and that the Irish House of Lords had no power to hear appeals from Irish courts.

In the early 1780s, the combination of political pressure from individuals such as Henry Grattan and Henry Flood and the conventions of the Irish Volunteers, at a time when Britain was involved in the American Revolutionary War, led to the passing of the Repeal Act 1782, which granted legislative independence to the Kingdom of Ireland.

[3] A small number of Irish politicians believed that repeal of the act did not imply that the British parliament could not assume the right to legislate for Ireland.

"[4] Flood became convinced that it was necessary that the British parliament pass an act specifically renouncing any right to legislate for Ireland.

Later that year, however, Lord Mansfield heard an appeal from an Irish court in the English King's Bench.