The Executive Government of Ireland is vested in the Queen, but is carried on by the Lord-Lieutenant and a Council.[56] Though the formation and powers of the Executive are under the Constitution left very much at large, we may fairly assume that the authors of the Constitution intend that the Lord-Lieutenant should occupy the position in substance of Colonial Governor, and rule Ireland through a ministry appointed nominally by the Lord-Lieutenant, but in reality selected by the Irish legislative body.  In this manner the Irish Constitution is, like that of Victoria, a copy of the English original.

There is created—­and this, of course, is the vital provision of the Constitution—­an Irish legislature, which I shall take leave hereafter to call by its proper name, the “Irish Parliament,” consisting of the Queen and an Irish legislative body, which we may call a House of Parliament or a Chamber, made up itself of two orders.[57]

The Irish Parliament, subject to certain restrictions, has authority to make or repeal any laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland; it is in fact in the strictest sense what I have termed it, an Irish Parliament.  It is the body which indirectly appoints and controls the Executive, and directly legislates for Ireland.  It can repeal laws which have been passed by the existing Parliament of the United Kingdom in so far as they are in force in Ireland.

The powers of the Irish Parliament are, it should be noted, indefinite.  The Parliament, that is to say, may pass any law which it is not, under the Constitution, forbidden to pass.  In this respect it stands in the position not like that of the American Congress, which can legislate only on certain topics, which are expressly placed within the competence of Congress, but in a position like that occupied by the Parliament of the Canadian 1 Dominion, which can legislate on all topics not expressly excepted from its competence.  The difference between a legislature of definite and a legislature of indefinite powers is important.  In the one case changes of circumstances may diminish but cannot increase the authority of the legislature; in the other case changes of circumstances may increase but cannot diminish that authority.  The Irish Parliament is a body whose authority will, from the necessity of things, tend constantly to increase.

If the authority given to the Irish Parliament is indefinite, it is not unlimited.  A large number of exceptions and restrictions are imposed upon its freedom of action.  It is hard to point to any clear principle on which they rest.  Their object undoubtedly is to guard against legislation about subjects such as the armed forces, the coinage, and the like, which are of Imperial rather than of local concern.  But we can hardly say that the line between the things which the Irish Parliament can do, and the things which it cannot do, exactly coincides with the line which divides Imperial from local legislation.