ction; and at length in a
parliament holden at Kilkenny, 40 Edw. III, under Lionel duke of
Clarence, the then lieutenant of Ireland, the Brehon law was formally
abolished, it being unanimously declared to be indeed no law, but a
lewd custom crept in of later times. And yet, even in the reign of
queen Elizabeth, the wild natives still kept and preserved their
Brehon law; which is described[m] to have been "a rule of right
unwritten, but delivered by tradition from one to another, in which
oftentimes there appeared great shew of equity in determining the
right between party and party, but in many things repugnant quite
both to God's law and man's." The latter part of which character is
alone allowed it under Edward the first and his grandson.

[Footnote g: 4 Inst. 358. Edm. Spenser's state of Ireland. p. 1513.
edit. Hughes.]

[Footnote h: Vaugh. 294. 2 Pryn. Rec. 85.]

[Footnote i: 1 Inst. 341.]

[Footnote k: _A.R._ 30. 1 Rym. _Foed._ 442.]

[Footnote l: _A.R._ 5.--_pro eo quod leges quibus utuntur Hybernici
Deo detestabiles existunt, et omni juri dissonant, adeo quod leges
censeri non debeant--nobis et consilio nostro satis videtur expediens
eisdem utendas concedere leges Anglicanas._ 3 Pryn. Rec. 1218.]

[Footnote m: Edm. Spenser. _ibid._]

BUT as Ireland was a distinct dominion, and had parliaments of it's
own, it is to be observed, that though the immemorial customs, or
common law, of England were made the rule of justice in Ireland also,
yet no acts of the English parliament, since the twelfth of king John,
extended into that kingdom; unless it were specially named, or
included under general words, such as, "within any of the king's
dominions." And this is particularly expressed, and the reason given
in the year book[n]: "Ireland hath a parliament of it's own, and
maketh and altereth laws; and our statutes do not bind them, because
they do not send representatives to our parliament: but their persons
are the king's subjects, like as the inhabitants of Calais, Gascoigny,
and Guienne, while they continued under the king's subjection." The
method made use of in Ireland, as stated by sir Edward Coke[o], of
making statutes in their parliaments, according to Poynings' law, of
which hereafter, is this: 1. The lord lieutenant and council of
Ireland must certify to the king under the great seal of Ireland the
acts proposed to be passed. 2. The king and council of England are to
consider, approve, alter, or reject the