Talk:Constitution of 1782

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Name change proposal[edit]

I was thinking of changing the name to "Grattan's Parliament". It's about more than 1 piece of legislation. Is there any citations for the name "Constitution of 1782"? @Jnestorius and Scolaire: What to you think? Laurel Lodged (talk) 17:17, 11 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't agree with a name change, though the article needs a lot of work in any case. The "constitution" was not a single piece of legislation, but rather the unwritten constitution of the Kingdom of Ireland between the "revolution of 1782" and the union of 1801. Just as Category:Constitutional laws of the United Kingdom includes some acts of parliament (as well as law of other types) so the constitution of the Kingdom of Ireland included some acts of parliament passed in 1782: several acts of the Irish Parliament and two of the British parliament (the second in 1783 rather than 1782 but no matter). Precisely which acts are part of the "constitution" or "revolution" is a matter of opinion. User:Jnestorius/Constitution of 1782#Table is a list from my jotter. Not all of these relate to the operation of the Parliament of Ireland. In brief, I think "Constitution of 1782" is the best name for what the good version of the present article would cover: the buildup to the 1782–3 changes; what changed in 1782–3; how the constitutional framework operated (and failed) up to the union; how the period was seen through rose-tinted lenses by later Irish nationalists. jnestorius^(talk) 17:45, 11 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Jnestorius (and I'm knocked out by the sandbox page!). This article is properly about the constitution, not about a period of time. Poynings' Law and the Sixth of George I should only be in a Background section, with all the things Jnestorius said in the main article body. ~~Can you please change~~ I have changed the first sentence back pending the outcome of this discussion.[edited 18:10, 14 February 2022 (UTC)]

By the way, I didn't get an alert; I only found this when I checked my watchlist. If you add a new username to a ping in a subsequent edit, you have to change the date and time stamp. Scolaire (talk) 11:32, 12 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Jnestorius and Scolaire: OK so. I don't really agree all that strongly. Personally I think that "constitution" in the case of the UK is a convenient legal fiction. Certainly to dignify any single piece of legislation with the title "The Constiitution of Foo" is to convey a weight, dignity and authority on it that it probably does not possess. Laurel Lodged (talk) 10:39, 17 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

First paragraph[edit]

The first paragraph was changed by this edit by Textorus with an edit summary of "clarify, wikify". To my mind, it does not clarify at all. Since Jnestorius linked to his sandbox page in the section above, I am going to copy the first paragraph of that draft to this article, as I believe it is much better than either the new or the previous version. Scolaire (talk) 11:02, 19 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]