Party Processions Act 1850

Party Processions Act 1850

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to restrain Party Processions in Ireland.
Citation	13 & 14 Vict. c. 2
Territorial extent	Ireland
Dates
Royal assent	12 March 1850
Repealed	27 June 1872
Other legislation
Repealed by	Party Processions Act (Ireland) Repeal Act 1872
Status: Repealed

Party Processions Act (Ireland) Repeal Act 1872
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to repeal an Act, intituled "An Act to restrain Party Processions in Ireland."
Citation	35 & 36 Vict. c. 22
Dates
Royal assent	27 June 1872
Commencement	27 June 1872
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Party Processions Act 1850
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Party Processions Act (13 & 14 Vict. c. 2) was an 1850 Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which prohibited open marching, organised parades and sectarian meetings in Ireland in order to outlaw provocative movements in the wake of the Dolly's Brae fighting of 1849. Written on 8 February, the Act was assembled against people "in the practice of assembling and marching together in procession in Ireland in a manner calculated to create and perpetuate animosities between different classes of Her Majesty's Subjects, and to endanger the public peace."^[1] Actions such as using banners, emblems and flags constituted an offence, as did music "calculated or tend to provoke animosity". Violation of the Act was classed as a misdemeanor.^[1] The Act was strongly supported by Sir Robert Peel however opposed by other politicians such as Lord Claude Hamilton who argued that religious parades would also be outlawed, yet posed no threat.^[2] The Party Emblems Act was passed in 1860 to further support this measure following further riots at Derrymacash. The Act was "grudgingly" accepted by the Orangemen, however both the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Young Ireland movement,^[2] and related Fenian movements were less placated. William Johnston of Ballykilbeg led a radical Orangemen group in defiance of the act during the 1860s, and was imprisoned – prompting strong demand for its repeal in 1867, which succeeded in 1872.^[3] The issue and repeal of the Act is viewed as an important milestone by nationalist historians of Ireland, and is said to be an example of Irish suppression by the "English" government.^[3] Peel, however, was one of a number of Members of Parliament who viewed the Act as a necessity to prevent Catholic and Protestant in-fighting rather than Irish nationalism as a whole.^[2] Traditional, revisionist and post-revisionist historians have subsequently supported either viewpoint and the Act remains a controversial one.^[3]