Regulating Northern Ireland: The Special Powers acts, 1922-1972

Historical Journal

Volumn 41, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 1089-1120

  Donohue, Laura K ^a  

^a CHURCHILL COLLEGE   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 77950065963     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X98008188     Document Type: Article

References (149)

1. Mr Megaw, House of Commons Debates Northern Ireland (hereafter HC Debs. NI), 21 Mar. 1922, col. 89.
2. Mr Lynn, HC Debs. NI, 21 Mar. 1922, col. 91.
3. Dr Morrison, HC Debs. NI, 21 Mar. 1922, col. 104.
4. Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland) (SPA), 1922, 12 & 13 Geo. V, c. 5. The 1922 legislation was renewed annually from 1923 until 1927 (Expiring Laws Continuance Act (Northern Ireland), 1923, 13 & 14 Geo. V, c. 25;
5. Expiring Laws Continuance Act (Northern Ireland), 1924, 14 & 15 Geo. V, c. 28;
6. Expiring Laws Continuance Act (Northern Ireland), 1925, 15 & 16 Geo. V, c. 19;
7. Expiring Laws Continuance Act (Northern Ireland), 1926, 16 & 17 Geo. V, c. 20;
8. and Expiring Laws Continuance Act (Northern Ireland), 1927, 17 & 18 Geo. V, c. 14), extended through the SPA, 1928, 18 & 19 Geo. V, c. 15, made permanent in the SPA, 1933, 23 & 24 Geo. V, c. 12, and amended via the SPA, 1943, 7 & 8 Geo. VI, c. 2.
9. See, for example, John Darby, ed., Northern Ireland: the background to the conflict (Belfast, 1987), pp. 22, 38, 41;
10. Michael Farrell, Northern Ireland: the Orange State (London, 1980);
11. Sabine Wichert, Northern Ireland since 1945 (Harlow, 1991);
12. and David Harkness, Northern Ireland since 1920 (Dublin, 1983).
13. For discussion of the 1922 SPA and some of the regulations introduced under its auspices see Colm Campbell, Emergency law in Ireland 1918-1925 (Oxford, 1994);
14. Bryan A. Follis, A state under siege: the establishment of Northern Ireland 1920-25 (Oxford, 1995);
15. Farrell, Northern Ireland;
16. Dermot Walsh, The use and abuse of emergency legislation in Northern Ireland (London, 1983).
17. A broader examination of the use of emergency law in Northern Ireland can be found in Patrick Bukland, A history of Northern Ireland (Dublin, 1981);
18. Cornelius P. Cotter, 'Constitutionalizing emergency powers: the British experience', Stanford Law Review, 5 (1952/3), pp. 282-417;
19. and Stanley deSmith and Rodney Brazier, Constitutional and administrative law (London, 1971).
20. Restoration of Order in Ireland Act (ROIA), 1920, 10 & 11 Geo. V, c. 31.
21. Ibid., section 25.
22. SPA, 1922, 12 & 13 Geo. V, c. 5, para. 1. A slight caveat was added providing that the ordinary course of law and the enjoyment of property bear minimal disturbance according to the exigencies of the situation in question. This clause was drawn from the ROIA, 1920, 10 & 11 Geo. V, c. 31, section 1.
23. All new regulations made had to be laid before both houses of parliament 'as soon as may be' after their creation, at which time each House had fourteen days to dispute the provision. (The publication of regulations was subject both to section 1 (4) of the 1922 SPA and to section 4 (1) of the Rules Publication Act (Northern Ireland), 1925, 15 & 16 Geo. V, c. 6.) The legislature, however, had no right to disallow any of the minister's regulations. It was merely provided that parliament had the option of petitioning for their revocation. The authority to annul measures rested in the hands of the lord lieutenant, who, in any event, was advised by the executive whether to accept or decline the petition. The power of annulment was never used during the operation of the northern parliament.
24. The vast bulk of these were applied to Belfast, with only six addressed to areas outside the city or to Northern Ireland as a whole.
25. Although a Lower Falls curfew was declared again in 1970, its enforcement by the British army was later declared illegal.
26. Letter marked 'Confidential' from the divisional commissioner's office, Royal Irish Constabulary Belfast, to the secretary, ministry of home affairs, 1 May 1922, Ref. S/153/2, Public Record Office Northern Ireland (hereafter PRONI) HA/32/1/30.
27. HC Debs. NI, 23 Mar. 1922, col. 173. The corresponding Regulation 10 of the ROIA had been used extensively. Such closures were expected to serve as an intermediary step after curfew in returning order to the North.
28. Standing Rules and Orders (hereafter SRO) 147/1949, 20.8.49.
29. Report on internments in Northern Ireland 1922-4, p. 1, PRONI HA/32/1/46.
30. Farrell, Northern Ireland, p. 64;
31. minute sheet, 11 Jan. 1923, PRONI HA/32/1/3g;
32. and report on internments in Northern Ireland 1922-4, p. 5, PRONI HA/32/1/46.
33. PRONI HA/32/1/308.
34. Letter from the imperial secretary to the under secretary of state, home affairs, 21 June 1923, Public Record Office (hereafter PRO) HO 267/362.
35. See, for example, Senate Debates Northern Ireland (hereafter Senate Debs. NI), 25 Apr. 1933, col. 166.
36. Second reading, 1928, PRONI HA/32/1/619.
37. Statement from the ministry of home affairs regarding the SPAs, c. 1938, PRONI HA/32/1/619.
38. 'The Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act was passed by the parliament of Northern Ireland in April 1922 and within six months republican activity had been almost wholly suppressed as is indicated by the fact that the weekly number of murders due to political crime fell to zero, and of woundings to less than one. Since then, although there have been sporadic outbursts which the civil authority by the use of the powers which the act confers, has been able to suppress with all speed, there has been nothing approaching the return of the appalling conditions which prevailed in the first half of 1922 (Civil Authorities (Emergency Powers) Acts, 22 June 1936, PRONI HA/32/1/619).
39. SRO 80/1933, 30 June 33. For example, in July 1931 and 1932 an IRA camp was run by the McKelvey Club near Carnlough. It was terminated the second year by the police when members of the group were seen drilling in the nearby hills. The leader of the group was sentenced to a month's imprisonment for illegal drilling as specified by Regulation 5 of the 1922-33 SPAs. In 1933 Charles Wickham, Royal Ulster Constabulary (hereafter RUC) inspector general, received information that the annual training would be conducted again in early July. The government's subsequent decision to ban the club from camping near Carnlough in 1933, however, was not based on the substance of the exercises; rather, the concern was that it might agitate the local Protestant Defence League (letter from Col Wickham to the ministry of home affairs, 23 July 1933, PRONI HA/32/1/596). In order to ban the gathering, on 30 June 1933 Regulation 4 was amended and a draft order made; however, on 8 July it was discovered that the meeting was not going to be held and as a result the order was never issued. Nevertheless, Regulation 4, as amended, remained in place.
40. Regulation 4 was revoked by SRO 187/1951, 12 Oct. 1951, at which time marches and procession became governed by the Public Order Act (Northern Ireland), 1951, 14 & 15 Geo. VI, c. 19. For the banning of public meetings under the 1951 statute see, for instance, orders issued 13 Nov. 1968, Belfast Gazette (hereafter BG), 15 Nov. 1968 and 11 July 1970, BG, 17 July 1970.
41. SRO 198/1970, 23 July 1970.
42. SRO 173/1966, 26 July 1966. Regulation 38 was later amended to prevent conflict with section 20 (1) of the 1954 Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) via SRO 214/1970, 7 Aug. 1970.
43. SRO 312/1969, BG, 28 Nov. 1969.
44. Suggestions that loyalist marches should be banned were swiftly scotched. For instance, in response to a question by Eddie McAteer (nationalist MP) in the Northern Ireland House of Commons with regard to a unionist demonstration which was to be held in an overwhelmingly nationalist area, the minister of home affairs replied, 'I am aware of the meeting referred to, but there is no reason why it should not be held' (HC Debs. NI, 16 Mar. 1948, PRONI HA/32/1/467).
45. Initial re-routing concerning September 1948 plans to commemorate 1798 Rebellion, PRONI HA/32/1/467.
46. Impetus for the renewal of these orders stemmed not just from the original republican object of the 1925 meeting, but also from changes in the South, which caused increasing fear among northern unionists. See, for example, 'A necessary precaution', in the Northern Whig, 29 Mar. 1932.
47. Ordinary publication of [orders] is withheld until the last minute in order to give the IRA, etc. the minimum space of time in which to adapt' (minute sheet S.558, 31 Mar. 1938, PRONI HA/32/1/466).
48. See also memo from the ministry of home affairs, S.558, 11 Mar. 1948, PRONI HA/32/1/467.
49. The police frequently removed posters even when meetings were not banned, if the object of the proposed meeting was nationalist in character. See for instance inspector general's report 27 Mar. 1928, PRONI HA/32/1/465, and HC Debs. NI, vol. 14, no. 9, 22 Mar. 1932, cols. 537-46.
50. A symbol of both the Easter Rising and the republican flag, lilies were sold over the holiday to raise money for the republican movement. The police were instructed to prohibit the public sale and, in many instances, the wearing or distribution of these items (memo marked' Secret' from the assistant secretary, ministry of home affairs to the RUC inspector general, S. 558, 31 Mar. 1928, PRONI HA/32/1/465, and RUC county inspector's report 26/593, 10 Apr. 1930, PRONI HA/32/1/465). A draft order banning the use of the lilies as a symbol of republicanism or of a proscribed organization was abandoned in 1928 after the ministry of home affairs concluded that it was impossible to define the emblem which the government aimed to prohibit. In addition, it was considered that the issuance of the order might actually weaken the government's hand in banning the emblem, as it prohibited the wearing of lilies on only one day, 8 April 1928, whereas by section 2 (4) of the 1922 Act such attire was an offence at any time. Instead of issuing the order, E. W. Shewell instructed that the police advise the organizers of nationalist or republican demonstrations in advance that any similar emblem would be prejudicial to the preservation of the peace, so that the police would have the complete authority then not only to insist on its removal, but to prosecute anyone wearing, selling, or distributing it (minute sheet, ministry of home affairs, 30 Mar. 1928, PRONI HA/32/1/465).
51. See, for instance, reports from the inspector general's office of the RUC to the secretary, ministry of home affairs series 26/593 dated 9 Apr. 1934, 2 May 1935, 23 Apr. 1936, 9 Apr. 1937, 2 May 1938, 20 Apr. 1939, 6 May 1939, 8 Apr. 1940, 6 May 1941, 20 Apr. 1942, 5 May 1943, 18 Apr. 1944, 3 May 1946, 14 Apr. 1947, and 4 May 1949, PRONI HA/32/1/467.
52. See, for instance, the Northern Whig, 18 Jan. 1935, Belfast News-Letter, 13 Apr. 1937, Northern Whig, 29 Mar. 1937, Irish News, 12 Feb. 1940, Belfast News-Letter, 12 Feb. 1940, and the reports from the inspector general's office of the RUC to the secretary, ministry of home affairs, 26/593, 5 May 1943 and 14 Apr. 1947.
53. During the Second World War, the Public Security Order, SRO 69/1940, issued under the Ministries Act (Northern Ireland), banned all processions in Northern Ireland. The 1922-33 SPAs, however, continued to be used for meetings which did not fall under the order's guidelines. Under pressure from the RUC and immediately prior to this order a number of Orange Lodges suspended marches. The County Grand Orange Lodges of Belfast, Tyrone, Armagh, and Antrim agreed to smaller demonstrations and church services wherever possible. See the Belfast News-Letter, 31 May 1940, Irish News, 28 May 1940, and Northern Whig, 24 May 1940.
54. PRONI HA/32/1/471 and HA/32/1/475.
55. Londonderry Sentinel, 10 Dec. 1938, p. 7.
56. PRONI HA/32/1/473.
57. Letter from one of the meeting participants to R. Gransden, Stormont Castle, 2 Dec. 1938, PRONI HA/32/1/473 (emphasis added).
58. Report from RUC inspector general to ministry of home affairs, 13 Mar. 1939, 24/7508/5, PRONI HA/32/1/476.
59. Extract from a speech made by Richard Dawson Bates, minister of home affairs, to the Victoria Unionist Association, 14 Dec. 1938 and quoted in the Irish News, 15 Dec. 1938.
60. PRONI HA/32/1/465.
61. Notation on back of letter to district inspector in Armagh from the county inspector of the RUC, PRONI HA/32/1/468.
62. Report from the RUC inspector general to the ministry of home affairs, 2 Oct. 1934, 26/1021/7, PRONI HA/32/1/469.
63. Internal memo from the ministry of home affairs, 4 Oct. 1934, S.558, PRONI HA/32/1/469.
64. Report marked 'Secret' and 'Crime Special' from Ewing Gilfillan, for the RUC inspector general, to the minister of home affairs, 27 Feb. 1928, PRONI HA/32/1/295.
65. Report from Ewing Gilfillan to the ministry of home affairs, 6 Mar. 1926, PRONI HA/32/1/295.
66. See PRONI HA/32/1/465.
67. Extract of letter from 'RBP' 286 to minister of home affairs, 8 Mar. 1948, PRONI HA/32/1/475.
68. Extract of letter from Brown's Dental Depot to minister of home affairs, 9 Mar. 1948, PRONI HA/32/1/475.
69. Extract of letter from the Mitchelburne Club Apprentice Boys of Derry to the minister of home affairs, 13 Mar. 1948, PRONI HA/32/1/475.
70. For instance, 'I am proud to see that you...have got the guts to defy those who would desecrate the walls of the maiden city by their filthy flags and their disloyal music' (extract of letter from D. G. Evans to the minister of home affairs, 4 Mar. 1948, PRONI HA/32/1/475).
71. Questions in the Northern Ireland House of Common, Thursday, 8 Dec. 1938.
72. This statute replaced the Public Meeting Act, 1908, 8 Edw. VII, c. 66.
73. Public Order (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland), 1970, Eliz. II, c. 4. This statute was later amended by the Public Order (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland), 1971, 19 & 20 Eliz. II, c. 12.
74. Two marches, one republican and one Protestant, which had been arranged to take place in the traditional Loup area near Moneymore, Co. Londonderry, were banned during this period.
75. Statement issued on 23 Jan. 1972 and quoted in Fortnight, 9 Feb. 1972, p. 14.
76. In addition to its concern with republican propaganda, in 1934 the government considered banning fascist literature. For a discussion of this point see James Loughlin, 'Northern Ireland and British fascism in the inter-war years', Irish Historical Studies, 29 (1995), p. 549.
77. Regulation 26 (1) and 26 (2), SRO 137/1943, 13 Dec. 1943.
78. SRO 147/1949, 20 Aug. 1949.
79. SRO 179/1954, 21 Dec. 1954.
80. SRO 40/1971, 29 Jan. 1971.
81. The exception to this was the ban placed in June 1940 on the Deny Journal, the main nationalist local newspaper in Derry. Due to widespread protest, the ban was lifted after a fortnight.
82. The police force did not always wait for an order to be issued before seizing printed materials. For instance, in 1924 posters announcing a nationalist meeting at which Eamonn de Valera would be in attendance were removed, as were numerous other posters announcing nationalist meetings - even when the gatherings were not banned - while in 1933 the police confiscated the Dungannon Observer for printing an 'in memoriam' to the 1916 rebels (Northern Whig, 17 Apr. 1933).
83. Memo from attorney general, S.1223, 9 Nov. 1943, PRONI HA/32/1/874.
84. SRO 137/1943, 13 Dec. 1943.
85. SRO 147/1949, 20 Aug. 1949.
86. SRO 179/1954, 21 Dec. 1954.
87. On 1 February 1971 Chichester Clark, prime minister, announced that the newspaper, The United Irishman, which had been banned 1955-71, was no longer considered subversive and that proceedings would not be taken against those who sold it. He also stated that the law would be changed to enable police to take action against any newspaper publishing 'subversive or seditious' material (Fortnight, 19 Feb. 1971).
88. SRO 58/1930, 2 May 1930.
89. Memo at the ministry of home affairs, 27 May 1930, PRONI HA/32/1/627.
90. Memo from E. \V. Shewell at the ministry of home affairs, 27 May 1930, PRONI HA/32/1/569.
91. Northern Whig, 24 May 1930.
92. PRONI HA/32/1/569.
93. Letter from the ministry of home affairs to the RUC inspector general, 13 June 1930, PRONI HA/32/1/640.
94. Belfast News-Letter, 28 Nov. 1936 and Irish News, 30 Nov. 1936.
95. SRO 85/1931, 25 July 1931, supplement to BG, 27 July 1931.
96. Letter from Samuel J. Baird, secretary of the Newry Unionist Association to James Brown, MP, Warrenpoint, 11 Oct. 1938, PRONI HA/32/1/69.
97. SRO 127/1933, 14 Dec. 1933, BG, 15 Dec. 1933.
98. Circular 26/1480, 12 Feb. 1934, PRONI HA/32/1/603, replaced by a circular of 2 Mar. 1948 (PRONI HA/32/1/603).
99. See also letter from RUC to ministry of home affairs, CS.26/148o/16 (A), PRONI HA/32/1/603.
100. The RUC inspector general instructed police to comply with this request (circular 24/8960, 5 Mar. 1934, responding to circular 26/1480, 12 Feb. 1934, PRONI HA/32/1/621).
101. For example, letters were sent to the ministry from the Cookstown District LOL, West Down Unionist Association, City of Londonderry and Foyle Unionist Association, General Committee of the Apprentice Boys of Derry, Tempo Unionist Association, Fermanagh Unionist Association, County of Londonderry Grand Orange Lodge, No Surrender Branch Club of the Apprentice Boys of Derry, Ulster Orange and Protestant Committee, Mid-Down Unionist Association, Lecale District Royal Black Chapter No. 2, Mourne Unionist Association, Strabane District LOL, and County Tyrone Grand Orange Lodge.
102. See, for example, resolution passed by the Strabane District Loyal Orange Lodge, no. 14, 10 Sept. 1954, PRONI HA/32/1/603, letter from Thomas Nelson to Brian Maginess, minister of home affairs, 4 Sept. 1951, PRONI HA/32/1/603, and letter from the City of Londonderry and Foyle Unionist Association to Brian Maginess, minister of home affairs, 6 Apr. 1951, PRONI HA/32/1/603.
103. Decisions to ban parades and marches included consideration of whether the flag would be flown. In referring to one of the bannings of a St Patrick's Day parade, Edmond Warnock stated at Stormont, 'So long as this government lasts and so long as I am Minister of Home Affairs, I shall not permit the Republican flag to be carried through Derry City... No Surrender' (HC Debs. NI, Mar. 1948, vol. 32, col. 488).
104. Letter from Brian Maginess, minister of home affairs, to 'Brother Burdge' of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, 9 Dec. 1949, PRONI HA/32/1/603.
105. Letter from Brian Maginess, minister of home affairs, to the City of Londonderry and Foyle Unionist Association, 13 Apr. 1951, PRONI HA/32/1/603.
106. See, for instance, Belfast Telegraph, 7 Jan. 1947
107. Belfast News-Letter, 20Nov. 1946
108. Belfast News-Letter, 14 Aug. 1946
109. Irish News, 31 Oct. 1938
110. Belfast News-Leiter, 13 July 1938
111. Belfast News-Letter, 9 Mar. 1938
112. Irish News, 4 June 1937
113. Belfast News- Letter, 29 Nov. 1935
114. Belfast News-Letter, 16 July 1935
115. Belfast News-Letter, 8 May 1935
116. Northern Whig, 26 Apr. 1935
117. Belfast News-Letter, 23 Nov. 1933
118. Northern Whig, 14 Sept. 1934
119. Belfast News-Letter, 21 Sept. 1934
120. Belfast News-Letter, 27 June 1934, and
121. Belfast News-Letter, 26 June 1934.
122. Letter from George Hanna, ministry of home affairs to James Gregg, 6 Sept. 1954, PRONI HA/32/1/603.
123. Flags and Emblems (Display) Act (Northern Ireland) 1954, 2 & 3 Eliz. II, c. 10.
124. Circular issued by the RUC inspector general, 19 May 1954, PRONI HA/32/1/603.
125. Letter from RUC inspector general to the ministry of home affairs, 9 Nov. 1935, PRONI HA/32/1/621.
126. Letter from the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, 27 Nov. 1935, PRONI HA/32/1/621.
127. See draft documents, PRONI HA/32/1/603.
128. Letter marked 'Secret' from Charles Wickham, RUC inspector general to the ministry of home affairs, 19 May 1938, PRONI HA/32/1/603. These same sentiments were again repeated in a letter from the RUC inspector general to the ministry of home affairs, 3 Dec. 1938, PRONI HA/32/1/621.
129. Letter marked 'Secret' from the ministry of home affairs to the RUC inspector general, S.721, 22 Jan. 1938, PRONI HA/32/1/621.
130. See for example the Irish News, 15 Nov. 1935
131. the Belfast News-Letter, 1 Nov. 1935
132. the Belfast News-Letter, 29 Nov. 1935
133. and the Irish News, 9 May 1938.
134. Dublin Gazette, 3 July 1918, p. 1123.
135. SRO 1530/1920, 13 Aug. 1920.
136. 'Unlawful associations' were defined by section 7 of the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1887, 50 & 51 Vict., c. 62 and addressed by SRO 35/1922, 22 May 1922.
137. Similarly, the owners or occupants of any premises involved in crimes committed under the SPAs also became subject to penalties provided for by the legislation (SRO 33/1922, 18 May 1922, BG, 26 May 1922).
138. SRO 11/1933, 14 Jan. 1933, BG, 20 Jan. 1933. Later in the year Regulation 24C made it an offence to display the tricolour as an emblem, flag, or symbol of the IRA, and Irish Republic, or an unlawful association (SRO 127/1933, 14 Dec. 1933, BG, 15 Dec. 1933).
139. SRO 147/1949, 20 Aug. 1949, and SRO 187/1951, 12 Oct. 1951.
140. Minute sheet at the ministry of home affairs, S.200, 20 May 1922, PRONI HA/32/1/54.
141. SRO 35/1922, 22 May 1922, BG, 26 May 1922.
142. SRO 47/1936, 8 Apr. 1936.
143. SRO 119/1931, 26 Oct. 1931;
144. SRO 88/1933, 22 July 1933.
145. SRO 176/1955, 30 Nov. 1955;
146. SRO 199/1956, 21 Dec. 1956.
147. Quoted in Patrick Bishop and Eamonn Mallie, The Provisional IRA (London, 1987), p. 62.
148. SRO 146/1966, 28 June 1966. In his address to the Northern Ireland House of Commons announcing the banning of the Ulster Volunteer Force, O'Neill stated, 'Let no one imagine there is any connection whatever between the [1920 UVF and the present UVF]; between men who were ready to die for their country on the fields of France, and a sordid conspiracy of criminals prepared to take up arms against unprotected fellow citizens. No, this organization now takes its proper place alongside the IRA in the schedule of illegal bodies' (HC Debs. NI, 28 June 1966; reprinted in Steve Bruce, The Red Hand: Protestant paramilitaries in Northern Ireland (Oxford, 1992), p. 14.)
149. SRO 42/1967. 7 Feb. 1967.