The government is planning on revoking nearly 4,500 pre-independence regulations and orders, in an effort to clear some of the more old-fashioned laws from our statute books.
It's all part of Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin's plan to make way for statutes that modernise and simplify Ireland's legal system.
As you would expect from pieces of legislation that old, some of them are rather bizarre by modern standards. We’re talking about declarations of war with European neighbours, how Sunday drinking was hard to swallow, and who gets to legally eat porridge.
Here are some of the most unusual laws that are on the chopping block.
1: A Proclamation of 1661 prohibiting drunkenness, cursing, swearing and profaning on the Lords’ Day
2: A Proclamation of 1817 reserving oatmeal and potatoes for consumption by the 'lower orders of people’
3: A Proclamation of 1690 prohibiting officers and soldiers from engaging in duels
4: Declarations of war against Denmark in 1666 and against France in 1744
(Image: VisitDenmark)
5: An Order of 1801 providing for a general fast and thanksgiving in England and Ireland
6: An Order of 1815 providing that a prayer of thanksgiving be offered for the victory at the Battle of Waterloo
7: A Proclamation of 1665 appointing the first Wednesday of every month as a day of fasting & humiliation on account of the bubonic plague in London
8: A Proclamation of 1661 asserting the debt due to adventurers
9: A Proclamation of 1663 requiring army officers to return to their quarters and attend to their duties
10: An order of 1805 for reprisals against the King of Spain
(Image: WikipediaCommons)
If you’d rather cut the King of Spain some slack, you can make submissions before the 15/10/14 by emailing slrp@per.gov.ie.
