Great Seal of the Irish Free State

Reverse of the Great Seal of the Irish Free State

The Great Seal of the Irish Free State (Irish: Séala Mór do Shaorstát Éireann) is the seal which was used to seal official documents of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) by the Governor-General. The physical seal is currently on public display at National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks, Dublin.[1]

Both sides of the Great Seal feature an image of the harp surrounded by the words "SAORSTÁT ÉIREANN" in Gaelic script. One side is engraved in silver, the other in copper.

After the 1937 Constitution of Ireland was enacted the Seal of the President of Ireland was struck as a replacement to the Great Seal. It is substantially the same as the former Seal but features the word "ÉIRE" instead of "SAORSTÁT ÉIREANN".

Origins

In August 1922 civil servants in the Provisional Government sought Ministerial approval to adopt a seal. It was thought a seal was necessary for legal reasons.[2] The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty and the draft Constitution of the Irish Free State specified that the Irish Free State would have the same constitutional status as Canada, which had its own Great Seal since its Confederation in 1867. The letters patent issued on 6 December 1922 constituting the office of Governor-General said:[3]

There shall be a Great Seal of and for the said State which We do hereby authorise and empower Our said Governor-General to keep and use for sealing all things whatsoever that shall pass the said Great Seal. Provided that, until a Great Seal shall be provided, the private seal of the Governor-General may be used as the Great Seal of the said State.

Regarding the design of the Great Seal, an approach was made by Hugh Kennedy, the Attorney General, to Thomas Sadleir, Registrar of the Office of Arms at Dublin Castle. In his reply Sadlier noted that he was "satisfied that the harp was very early in the 12th century an Irish badge...". George Sigerson, the President of the National Literary Society, recommended to Tim Healy, the new Governor-General, that the harp should be adopted as the symbol of the Free State. His view was that:[2]

The harp was the common and sacred symbol of the Protestant Volunteer of 1782, of the Presbyterian and Catholic United Irishmen of 1798, of old and young Ireland and of men of after days – it is in no sense a party or sectional symbol but one which represents the entire Nation... It is now within the power of an Irish Independent Government to place this emblem of humanising harmony in its high place of honour, unique and not undistinguished amongst the lions, the leopards, and the single and double headed Eagles of the rest of the world.

On 28 December 1922 a meeting of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State decided that the Celtic harp should be adopted.[2] Later, in August 1923 the Executive Council determined that the "Brian Ború" harp in Trinity College Dublin would be the basis of the new seal. Archibald McGoogan of the Art Department of the National Museum perfected the design.[2] Elements of the Ardagh Chalice were incorporated into the design of the Great Seal. Final authorisation was given by the Executive Council on 17 October 1924 for the provision of the various seals, including ministerial seals which had the Brian Ború harp circumscribed with "Saorstát Éireann" and the ministerial title in Irish and English. The rope pattern was a direct copy of the base of the Ardagh Chalice.[2]

External Great Seal

In 1931, a separate External Great Seal or Royal Great Seal[nb 1] was created to be used on diplomatic documents which required the signature of the monarch in London rather than the Governor General in Dublin. Up to 1931, such documents had been transmitted to the Dominions Office and the British Great Seal of the Realm was applied alongside the signature.[9] At the 1930 Imperial Conference, the Free State proposed that a Dominion should be allowed to send documents via its High Commissioner in London, bypassing the British government, and to affix its own seal rather than the British one.[10] The conference subcommittee on seals resolved, "The subject should be postponed on the understanding that the whole question should be left for further discussion between Governments should occasion arise".[10] In January 1931 the Free State government tested its proposed procedure; it applied the Free State seal to the instrument of ratification for a 1929 treaty between the Free State and Portugal, and sent it to commissioner John W. Dulanty to transmit to King George V.[11] Dulanty was refused an audience, the British objecting on the grounds that the change in procedure had not been agreed.[10][12] A compromise was negotiated whereby the Free State would use a separate "external seal" in the custody of its Minister for External Affairs.[13] The external seal, designed by Percy Metcalfe, had on its obverse the same harp image as the Great Seal, and on its reverse the same image of the monarch enthroned as the British Great Seal of the Realm.[14] George V formally presented the external seal to John W. Dulanty on 18 January 1932 at Sandringham House.[15]

The External Great Seal was used only on ratifications and Full Powers, and not always on the latter.[16] Lesser seals were used on lesser documents:[5]

The first use of the External Great Seal was not until 1937, for ratifying the Montreux Convention Regarding the Abolition of the Capitulations in Egypt.[17] Successive governments minimised the use of monarch and the External Great Seal.[18] The state typically conducted bilateral agreements at inter-government level rather than the nominally more prestigious head-of-state level, so that the Minister for External Affairs would use the internal Great Seal for any documents.[19] After signing some multilateral treaties that would have required the External Great Seal for ratification, the state chose instead to wait until the treaty had come into force and then become a party to it by accession rather than ratification, as the internal Great Seal would suffice for accession.[20]

After the Statute of Westminster 1931, following the Free State's lead, the Union of South Africa in 1934[6] and Canada in 1939[21] passed laws permitting themselves to use their own Great Seals for diplomatic functions.[8]

Supersession

The Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act 1936 abolished the office of Governor General and transferred his functions to the Executive Council, which thereafter used the internal Great Seal directly rather than advising the Governor General to use it. The Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936 continued the use of the External Great Seal by the King.[5]

The 1937 Constitution of Ireland created the office of President of Ireland, and the Seal of the President was created for formal signature of official documents in the same manner as the internal Great Seal of the Irish Free State. The British monarch (now George VI) continued to sign diplomatic documents using the External Great Seal. This dichotomy reflected ambiguity over who was head of state. The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 transferred diplomatic functions to the President, rendering the External Great Seal obsolete.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The form "External Great Seal" was used in internal government documents when needed to distinguish it from the pre-existing "internal" Great Seal.[4][5] The form "Royal Great Seal" was used in South Africa's 1934 statute creating a similar seal,[6] and adopted by foreign scholars to describe the equivalent seal in any Commonwealth Dominion including the Irish Free State.[7][8]

References

Sources

  • Hanley, Hugh (2015). "'The Last Shadow': Negotiating the Great Seal and Direct Access to the King, 1931". Irish Studies in International Affairs. Royal Irish Academy. 26: 257–274. doi:10.3318/isia.2015.26.13. JSTOR 10.3318/isia.2015.26.13.
  • Morris, Ewan (2005). "'Silent ambassadors of national taste': seals, stamps, banknotes and coins of the Irish Free State". Our Own Devices: National Symbols and Political Conflict in Twentieth-century Ireland. New directions in Irish history. Irish Academic Press. ISBN 9780716526636.
  • Stewart, Robert B. (1938). "Treaty-Making Procedure in the British Dominions". The American Journal of International Law. Cambridge University Press. 32 (3): 467–487 : 480–485. doi:10.2307/2191164. ISSN 0002-9300. JSTOR 2191164.

Citations

  1. ↑ Decorative Arts & History (PDF). Guide to the National Museum of Ireland. National Museum of Ireland. pp. 27, 26. ISBN 0-901777-55-2. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Swan, Ciarán (2008-03-28). "Design and change: The Oireachtas Harp and an historical heritage". Design Research Group. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
  3. ↑ Sexton, Brendan (1989). "Appendix A". Ireland and the crown, 1922-1936: the Governor-Generalship of the Irish Free State. Irish Academic Press. pp. 181–182. ISBN 9780716524489.
  4. ↑ DIFP 1937 No.96
  5. 1 2 3 DIFP 1937, No.97
  6. 1 2 "Royal Executive Functions and Seals Act, 1934". Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  7. ↑ Stewart 1938 pp.481–482 "Ireland was the first of the Dominions to possess a separate Royal Great Seal of its own."
  8. 1 2 Jones, J. Mervyn (1946). Full Powers and Ratification. A study in the development of treaty-making procedure. Cambridge University Press. pp. 45–46, fn.4.
  9. ↑ DIFP 1931, No.539
  10. 1 2 3 DIFP 1931, No.513
  11. ↑ DIFP 1931, No.527
  12. ↑ DIFP 1931, No.523
  13. ↑ "Irish Free State — To Have Its Own Seal". The Argus. Melbourne. 30 March 1931.
  14. ↑ DIFP 1931, No.536; DIFP 1931, No.550
  15. ↑ DIFP 1932, No.625
  16. ↑ Stewart 1938 p.484 "In certain instances governmental full powers of Ireland ... are exchanged against heads-of-states full powers of other countries"
  17. ↑ Stewart 1938 p.485
  18. ↑ Stewart 1938 p.483 "It is a policy of the Irish Government to avoid the use of the King in treaty-making wherever possible."
  19. ↑ Stewart 1938 pp.482–483
  20. ↑ Stewart 1938 p.484
  21. ↑ "The Seals Act, 1939 [3 George VI c.22]". Retrieved 2 November 2017.
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