Royal assent

Royal assent is the method by which a country's constitutional monarch (possibly through a delegated official) formally approves an act of that nation's parliament, thus making it a law or letting it be promulgated as law. In the vast majority of contemporary monarchies, this act is considered to be little more than a formality; even in those nations which still permit their ruler to withhold the royal assent (such as the United Kingdom, Norway, and Liechtenstein), the monarch almost never does so, save in a dire political emergency or upon the advice of their government. While the power to withhold royal assent was once exercised often in European monarchies, it is exceedingly rare in the modern, democratic political atmosphere that has developed there since the 18th century.

Royal assent is sometimes associated with elaborate ceremonies. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the sovereign may appear personally in the House of Lords or may appoint Lords Commissioners, who announce that royal assent has been granted at a ceremony held at the Palace of Westminster. However, royal assent is usually granted less ceremonially by letters patent. In other nations, such as Australia, the governor-general merely signs the bill. In Canada, the governor general may give assent either in person at a ceremony held in the Senate or by a written declaration notifying parliament of his or her agreement to the bill.

Royal Assent (Ireland)

The granting, reserving or withholding of the Royal Assent was one of the key roles, and potentially one of the key powers, possessed by the Governor-General of the Irish Free State. Until it was granted, no bill passed by the Oireachtas (composed of the Dáil and the Seanad) could complete its passage of enactment and become law.

Origins of the power

The power was created in Article 41 of the Irish Free State Constitution (Saorstát Éireann) Act, 1922 enacted both by the Third Dáil meeting as a constituent assembly and by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and brought into force by a royal proclamation of 6 December 1922.

Anglo-Irish Treaty

The role of the Governor-General in legislative enactment was initially defined in the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in 1921 between plenipotentiaries of the UDI Irish Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and which was ratified by three bodies; the United Kingdom parliament, the Second Dáil and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland in December 1921 – January 1922.