More than 3,300 obsolete laws enacted in the 19th century are to be repealed under a Bill due to go before the Dáil next week.
They include orders and proclamations that date from between 1821 and 1861, during British rule in Ireland.
They include more than 2,500 proclamations offering rewards for apprehending suspects for offences such as setting fire to houses, cow houses, ricks of hay, barns and flax and oat-mills; breaking eggs; and carrying out beatings with sticks, stones and nettles.
The incident that saw a beating with nettles happened in Mayo in 1834 after the attackers ordered two men to “sell potatoes on credit”. It is one of a number of potato-related incidents referred to among the obsolete proclamations in the Bill.
A proclamation from 1836 was “for apprehending the persons who broke open the vaults under the churches of St Andrew and St Mark in the city of Dublin, and opened several coffins and extracted the teeth from the bodies contained in them”.
The Bill includes an 1843 order “cautioning all persons to abstain from attending a meeting” being organised by lawyer and politician Daniel O’Connell to be held in Contarf on repealing the Act of Union between Britain and Ireland which had abolished the Irish parliament.
He ultimately cancelled the meeting to avoid bloodshed and lodged a complaint.
There is also an 1846 famine-era order on “preparing a form of prayer to be used throughout Ireland for relief from the dearth and scarcity now existing in parts of the United Kingdom through failure of crops”.
An 1856 proclamation calls for “a general thanksgiving” for the “restoration of peace in Europe” following the end of the Crimean War.
The measures are to be revoked under the proposed Statute Law Revision Bill 2024, as they have ceased to be in force due to changes in circumstances or the passage of time or have been superseded by subsequent legislation.
The Bill being progressed by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Jack Chambers is expected to be debated in the Dáil on Tuesday.
He told The Irish Times the Bill “offers a fascinating window into Irish history, revealing another aspect of life, society and the system of law and order from centuries past.
“In particular, the laws that were deemed necessary by the authorities at the time show the growing public attitude towards Irish liberty.”
He said the new legislation is “also practical and incredibly important for the modernisation of our Irish laws”, adding: “The progression of this legislation ensures our Statute book is up to date and fit for purpose.”
Previous Acts have repealed all obsolete primary legislation enacted before independence and revoked all obsolete secondary legislation made up to January 1st, 1821.
Many of the items set to be revoked relate to the British Empire or military including a warrant “fixing the rates of postage on letters transmitted to and from certain French, Dutch and British colonies in the West Indies” and “revised regulations on punishments in Her Majesty’s Navy”.
The process leading to the Bill involved a review carried out by the Law Reform Commission and of more than 40,000 secondary instruments to ascertain if they were obsolete or were to be repealed or retained.
