the british parliament passed the indian independence bill on 26 november 1949.
the british parliament passed the indian independence bill on 26 november 1949.
when did the british parliament pass the indian independence bill?
26 november 1949
on 20 february 1947, the british government announced its intention to transfer power in british india to indian hands by june 1948. however, the cabinet mission plan on 16 may 1947 failed to evolve a constitution for india acceptable to all contending parties. subsequently, the british government announced on 3 june 1947 its intention to partition british india into two dominions. on 15 july 1947, the house of commons passed the india independence bill 1947, to divide british india into the dominions of india and pakistan. the house of lords followed suit the next day. the bill received the royal assent on 18 july 1947. from this day the suzerainty of the british crown over the indian princely states lapsed as per 7(b) of the india independence act 1947, and with it all treaties between the british crown and the indian states also had a legal quietus. the rulers of the indian states became sovereign rulers from 18 july 1947, and in principle they were free to accede to either of the two dominions or to remain independent. as per the provisions of the act, on 15 august 1947 two independent dominions of india and pakistan were established. the leaders in the indian independence movement put strong pressure on the indian rulers to accede their states to the dominion of india. by 15 august 1947 virtually all of the rulers had signed an instrument of accession with the governor-general of india, giving power to the dominion government to make laws on the three subjects of foreign policy, communication and defence, and otherwise they remained sovereign rulers. these rulers also signed another agreement known as the "stand still agreement", to provide continuity to any existing agreements between british india and their states.
rajpramukh
the declaratory act 1719 declared that the king and parliament of great britain had "full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient validity to bind the kingdom and people of ireland", and that the irish house of lords had no power to hear appeals from irish courts. this was greatly resented by the irish parliament. in the early 1780s, the combination of political pressure from individuals such as henry grattan and henry flood and the conventions of the irish volunteers, at a time when britain was involved in the american revolutionary war, led to the passing of the repeal act of 1782, which granted legislative independence to the kingdom of ireland. a small number of irish politicians believed that repeal of the act did not imply that the british parliament could not "assume" the right to legislate for ireland. as w. e. h. lecky put it, "the declaratory act had not made the right, and therefore its repeal could not destroy it." flood became convinced that it was necessary that the british parliament pass an act specifically renouncing any right to legislate for ireland. initially the majority of the irish parliament, including grattan, opposed such a move. later that year, however, lord mansfield heard an appeal from an irish court in the english king's bench. this had the effect of strengthening flood's hand, and the result was the passage, on 17 april 1783, of the renunciation act.
irish appeals act 1783