thereto; and that the king’s majeſty, with the conſent of the lords and commons of Great Britain in parliament, hath power to make laws to bind the people of Ireland.
Thus we ſee how extenſively the laws of Ireland communicate with thoſe of England: and indeed ſuch communication is highly neceſſary, as the ultimate reſort from the courts of juſtice in Ireland is, as in Wales, to thoſe in England; a writ of error (in the nature of an appeal) lying from the king’s bench in Ireland to the king’s bench in England[1], as the appeal from the chancery in Ireland lies immediately to the houſe of lords here: it being expreſſly declared, by the ſame ſtatute 6 Geo. I. c. 5. that the peers of Ireland have no juriſdiction to affirm or reverſe any judgments or decrees whatſoever. The propriety, and even neceſſity, in all inferior dominions, of this conſtitution, “that, though juſtice be in general adminiſtred by courts of their own, yet that the appeal in the laſt reſort ought to be to the courts of the ſuperior ſtate,” is founded upon theſe two reaſons. 1. Becauſe otherwiſe the law, appointed or permitted to ſuch inferior dominion, might be inſenſibly changed within itſelf, without the aſſent of the ſuperior. 2. Becauſe otherwiſe judgments might be given to the diſadvantage or diminution of the ſuperiority; or to make the dependence to be only of the perſon of the king, and not of the crown of England[2].
With regard to the other adjacent iſlands which are ſubject to the crown of Great Britain, ſome of them (as the iſle of Wight, of Portland, of Thanet, &c.) are comprized within ſome neighbouring county, and are therefore to be looked upon as annexed to the mother iſland, and part of the kingdom of England. But there are others, which require a more particular conſideration.
