Northern Ireland law
Northern Ireland law refers to the legal system of statute and common law operating in Northern Ireland since the partition of Ireland established Northern Ireland as a separate jurisdiction within the United Kingdom in 1921.
For the purposes of private international law the United Kingdom is divided into three distinct legal jurisdictions:Northern Ireland is a common law jurisdiction. Although its common law is similar to that in England and Wales, and partially derives from the same sources, there are some important differences in law and procedure between Northern Ireland and England and Wales. While influenced by English law, the Northern Ireland legal system is distinctive for a number of reasons: it has roots in Irish common law prior to Irish independence in 1921; following Irish independence, Northern Ireland became a devolved jurisdiction within the United Kingdom.
Irish issue in British politics
The Anglo-Irish War was fought between the forces of the provisional government of the Irish Republic and Britain, between January 1919 and July 1921. The British tried repressive force but the IRA under Michael Collins used about 3,000 fighters in asymmetric warfare. Prime Minister David Lloyd George presided over the Government of Ireland Act 1920 which partitioned Ireland into Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland in May 1921 during the Anglo-Irish War. Lloyd George used the threat of a massive war to force the Collins and his Irish negotiators to agree to the peace treaty in December 1922. It created a largely autonomous dominion, the Irish Free State, to replace the (failed) Southern Ireland. Meanwhile Northern Ireland, or Ulster, (with home rule) remained part of the United Kingdom. The Dail majority supported Collins and the treaty, but De Valera, President of the Dail, rejected it. De Valera led a civil war in Ireland that failed. The treaty with Britain went into effect and Northern Ireland remained with the UK.