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Statutes of Northern Ireland


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GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - LONG TITLE

An Act to provide for the better Government of Ireland.{1}
[23rd December 1920]
ESTABLISHMENT OF PARLIAMENT FOR NORTHERN IRELANDEstablishment of
Parliament of Northern Ireland.

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 1

1.Subs.(1) rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I

(2) For the purposes of this Act, Northern Ireland shall consist of
the parliamentary counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh,
Londonderry and Tyrone, and the parliamentary boroughs of Belfast and
Londonderry.

S.2 rep. by 1925 c.77 s.1(2). S.3 rep. by SLR 1927. S.4 rep. by
SLR 1927; 1963 c.31 s.65 sch.10 Pt.II; 1968 c.29 s.41(2) sch.2;
1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I. S.5 rep. by 1962 c.30 s.30(2)(d) sch.4
Pt.IV; 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I. S.6 rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6
Pt.I. S.7 rep. by 1925 c.77 s.1(2)

Executive powers.

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 8

8.Subs.(1)(6) rep. by SLR 1927; 1925 c.77 s.1(2); 1973 c.36 s.41
sch.6 Pts.I, II

(7) The seats of the Governments of Southern Ireland and Northern
Ireland shall be at Dublin and Belfast, respectively, or such places
as the Parliaments of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland may
respectively determine.

Subs.(8) rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.II

Establishment of Northern Ireland Exchequer.

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 20

20.Subs.(1)(2) rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.II

(3) Save as may be otherwise provided by Act of the Parliament
of... Northern Ireland, the existing law relating to the Exchequer
and Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom shall apply with the
necessary modifications to the Exchequer and Consolidated Fund of...
Northern Ireland,....

Subs.(4) rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.II; subs.(5) rep. by 1925
c.77 s.1(2)

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 21
Powers of taxation.

21.Subs.(1) rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I; subs.(2)(3) rep. by
SLR 1953; 1968 c.13 s.24 sch.6 Pt.II; 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I

(4) Any articles which are brought into Great Britain or the Isle
of Man from Ireland or into Ireland from Great Britain or the Isle
of Man, shall be deemed to be articles exported or imported for
the purposes of the forms to be used, and the information to be
furnished under the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, or any Act
amending that Act, but not for any other purpose.

Subs.(5) rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I Ss.2225 rep. by 1922
c.2 (13 Geo.5 (sess.2)) s.1 sch.1; SLR 1927; SLR 1953; 1973 c.36
s.41 sch.6 Pt.II

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 26
Provisions as to land purchase annuities.

26.(1) Purchase annuities payable in respect of land situate in
Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively, including any
arrears thereof due or accruing due on the appointed day, shall be
collected by the Governments of Southern Ireland and Northern
Ireland, and the amounts so collected shall be paid into their
respective Exchequers, but nothing in this Act shall confer on
either such Government any powers with respect to the redemption of
purchase annuities.

(2) In each year a sum equal to the amount payable in that year
in respect of purchase annuities shall be paid into the Irish Land
Purchase fund or account, or other appropriate fund or account, out
of moneys provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

(3) Where after the appointed day an existing purchase annuity is
redeemed, a sum equal to the annuity shall be paid out of moneys
provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to the Exchequer
of... Northern Ireland,... in each year so long as the purchase
annuity would, if not redeemed, have continued to be payable.

Subs.(4) rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.II

(5) For the purposes of this Act

the expression "purchase annuities", ..., includes annuities for the
repayment of advances made under any of the Land Purchase Acts
prior to the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, and annuities
for the repayment of advances made under the Labourers (Ireland)
Act, 1906, or under any other Act relating to land purchase in
Ireland;

the expression "existing purchase annuity" means a purchase annuity
payable in respect of an advance made in pursuance of a purchase
agreement entered into, or, in the case of a purchase annuity
payable under the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1906, in pursuance of a
scheme approved before the passing of this Act;

Definition spent

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 27
Existing public loans.

27.(1) The power of collecting and enforcing the payment of sums
due on account of loans made before the appointed day to
authorities and persons in Southern Ireland or Northern Ireland out
of the local loans fund, the development fund, the road improvement
fund or other similar public fund, shall be transferred to the
Governments of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively, and
the amounts so collected by them shall be paid into their
respective Exchequers:

Provided that this section shall not apply to advances out of the
local loans fund for the purposes of the enactments relating to
land purchase in Ireland.

(2) A sum equal to the amount due in respect of such loans shall
in each year be paid into the appropriate fund out of moneys
provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and shall, subject
to the deduction of such sum as the Joint Exchequer Board think
just to cover such loss as may be anticipated to result from
payments on account of any such loans proving to be irrecoverable,
be made good by deductions from the [Northern Ireland] residuary
share of reserved taxes in accordance with regulations made by the
Treasury.

S.28 rep. by SLR 1927; 1971 c.25 s.12 sch.2 Pt.I; 1975 c.7 s.59
sch.13 Pt.I

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 29
Provisions against double stamp duties.

29.(1) Where an instrument is chargeable with stamp duty in Great
Britain... and in Northern Ireland,... and has been stamped in any
one of those countries, the instrument shall, to the extent of the
duty it bears, be deemed to be stamped in the other country....

Provided that, if the stamp duty chargeable on any instrument in
such other country exceeds the stamp duty chargeable in respect of
that instrument in the country... in which the instrument has
previously been stamped, the instrument shall not be deemed to have
been duly stamped in such other country unless and until stamped in
accordance with the laws of that country with a stamp denoting an
amount equal to such excess.

(2) Where composition for stamp duty is made or agreed to be made
in any one of such countries, any instrument which by virtue of
the composition is exempt from the payment of duty in that country
shall, for the purposes of this section, be treated in any other
such country as having been stamped in the first-mentioned country
with a stamp denoting the amount of duty which, but for the
composition, would have been chargeable on that instrument:

Provided that, if the legislature of such other country has imposed
any conditions on the recognition therein of any composition made or
agreed to be made in the first-mentioned country, this subsection
shall not apply unless those conditions are complied with.

S.30 rep. by SLR 1927. S.31 rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I.
S.32 rep. by SLR 1927; SLR 1963; 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I. S.33
rep. by 1945 c.12 (8 & 9 Geo.6) s.12 sch. Pt.I. S.34 rep. by SLR
1953; SLR 1963; 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I. Ss.35, 36 rep. by SLR
1927. S.37 rep. by 1955 c.8 (3 & 4 Eliz.2) s.6(3) sch.; 1973 c.36
s.41 sch.6 Pt.I

S.38 rep. by 1978 c.23 s.122(2) sch.7 Pt.I. S.39 rep. by SLR 1927.
S.40 rep. by 1978 c.23 s.122(2) sch.7 Pt.I

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 41
Application of existing enactments and rules.

41.(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and any modifications
or adaptations made by Irish Transfer Orders under this Act, all
enactments relating to the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland
and the judges and officers thereof shall apply... to the Supreme
Court of Judicature in Northern Ireland... and the judges and
officers thereof, as they apply to the Supreme Court of Judicature
in Ireland and the judges and officers thereof, and as if for
references to the High Court of Justice in Ireland there were
substituted references to... the High Court of Justice in Northern
Ireland... and as if for references to the Court of Appeal in
Ireland there were substituted references to... the Court of Appeal
in Northern Ireland:

Proviso rep. by 1978 c.23 s.122(2) sch.7 Pt.I

Continuation of existing laws, institutions, &c.

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 61

61. All existing laws, institutions, and authorities in Ireland,
whether judicial, administrative, or ministerial, and all existing
taxes in Ireland, shall, except as otherwise provided by this Act,
continue as if this Act had not passed, but with the modifications
necessary for adapting them to this Act, ...

S.62 rep. by 1925 c.77 s.1(2); 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.II. S.63
rep. by 1925 c.77 s.1(2); SLR 1927; 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.II

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 64
Annual payment to Queen's University of Belfast.

64.Subs.(1) rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I; subs.(2) rep. by SLR
1927

(3) There shall be paid annually, out of moneys provided by the
Parliament of Northern Ireland to the Queen's University of Belfast,
a sum of twenty-six thousand pounds for the general purposes of the
University, and that sum, if and so far as not so paid, shall be
deducted on the order of the Joint Exchequer Board from the
[Northern Ireland] residuary share of reserved taxes and paid to the
University.

Subs.(4) rep. by SLR 1927

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 65
Special provisions as to Freemasons.

65.(1) It is hereby declared that existing enactments relative to
unlawful oaths or unlawful assemblies in Ireland do not apply to
the meetings or proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted
Masons of Ireland, or of any lodge or society recognised by that
Grand Lodge.

Subs.(2) rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I

Provisions as to certain officers of local authorities, universities
or colleges.

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 68

68.(1) No law made by... the Parliament of Northern Ireland... shall
have effect so as to prejudice or diminish the rights or privileges
of any existing or pensioned officer of a local authority under the
provisions of the Local Government (Ireland) Acts, 1898 to 1919, [or
any Act relating to superannuation or retiring allowance or of any
existing or pensioned officer of a university or college under the
provisions of subsection (8) of section sixteen of the Irish
Universities Act, 1908.]

Subs.(2) rep. by 1971 c.56 s.18(5) sch.8 Pt.II

Definitions.

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 74

74. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires

The expression "existing" means existing at the appointed day:

Definitions rep. by 1969 c.48 s.141 sch.11 Pt.II; 1973 c.36 s.41
sch.6 Pts.I, II

Definitions spent

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 75
Saving for supreme authority of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom.

75. Notwithstanding... anything contained in this Act, the supreme
authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall remain
unaffected and undiminished over all persons, matters, and things in
Ireland and every part thereof.

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT 1920 - SECT 76
Short title.

76.(1) This Act may be cited as the Government of Ireland Act,
1920.

Subs.(2) rep. by SLR 1927

First Schedule rep. by 1925 c.77 s.1(2). Second Schedule rep. by
SLR 1927. Third Schedule rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I. Fourth
Schedule rep. by SLR 1927; 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I. Fifth
Schedule rep. by SLR 1927; 1948 c.65 s.80 sch.13; 1973 c.36 s.41
sch.6 Pt.I. Sixth Schedule rep. by 1973 c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.II.
Seventh Schedule rep. by 1922 c.2 (13 Geo.5 (sess.2)) sch.1; SLR
1927; 1962 c.30 s.30(2)(d) sch.4 Pt.IV; 1968 c.5 s.1 sch.; 1973
c.36 s.41 sch.6 Pt.I; 1978 c.23 s.122(2) sch.7 Pt.I. Eighth Schedule
rep. by 1925 c.77 s.1(2); 1971 c.56 s.18(5) sch.8 Pt.II. Ninth
Schedule rep. by SLR 1927


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