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( Partition of Ireland)
The Partition of Ireland took place on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920.[1] The entire island of Ireland provisionally became the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922. However, the Parliament of Northern Ireland exercised its right to opt out of the new Dominion the following day. The Government of Ireland Act 1920 partitioned the island into two autonomous regions Northern Ireland (six northeastern counties) and Southern Ireland (the rest of the island).[2] However, only the entity of Northern Ireland became established (on 3 May 1921),[3] and institutions of state and a government for Northern Ireland were quickly established there. The institutions of state for 'Southern Ireland' failed to function or take root because the very large majority of Irish Members of Parliament ignored it, giving their allegiance to Dáil Éireann and supporting the Irish War of Independence. That war ultimately led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty which envisaged the establishment of an independent Dominion, the Irish Free State, provisionally for the entire island of Ireland. All the Irish Unionist MPs in the London parliament also voted against the Act. The Treaty was given legal effect in the United Kingdom through the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. That Act established, on 6 December 1922, the new Dominion for the whole island of Ireland. Legally therefore, on 6 December 1922, Northern Ireland stopped being part of the United Kingdom and became an autonomous region of the newly created Irish Free State. However, the Treaty and the laws which implemented it also allowed Northern Ireland to opt out of the Irish Free State.[4] Under Article 12 of the Treaty, Northern Ireland could exercise its opt out by presenting an address to the King requesting not to be part of the Irish Free State. Once the Treaty was ratified, the Parliament of Northern Ireland had one month (dubbed the Ulster month) to exercise this opt out during which month the Irish Free State Government could not legislate for Northern Ireland, holding the Free State’s effective jurisdiction in abeyance for a month. For three days from midnight on 6 December 1922 Northern Ireland stopped being part of the United Kingdom and became part of the newly created Irish Free State.[5] This remarkable constitutional episode arose because of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the legislation introduced to give that Treaty legal effect.[6]
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