ABSTRACT
Henry II after extended English common law to Ireland and he provided for the creation of an Irish parliament modelled on that at Westminster, with its own House of Commons and House of Lords. It would legislate as a sovereign body for Ireland, just as its counterpart at Westminster did for England. Politically and constitutionally, much had changed in England as well as Ireland since the days of Henry II. Concerned Irishmen knew that when the Stamp Act for Americans was being shaped, George Grenville had asserted Westminster's right to tax Ireland as well as the colonies. George Townshend, the lord lieutenant of Ireland, had put himself under political siege. He came to Dublin in 1767 intending to improve the management of Ireland and its parliament by residing on the island virtually full-time, unlike previous lords lieutenant.
