Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973

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Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act to make provision with respect to the following matters in Northern Ireland, that is to say, proceedings for and the punishment of certain offences, the detention of terrorists, the preservation of the peace, the maintenance of order and the detection of crime and to proscribe and make other provision in connection with certain organisations there, and for connected purposes.
Citation1973 c. 53
Introduced byWilliam Whitelaw
Territorial extent Northern Ireland
Dates
Royal assent25 July 1973
Commencement8 August 1973
Other legislation
Amended byNorthern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) (Amendment) Act 1975, Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978, Criminal Justice (Children) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998, Life Sentences (Northern Ireland) Order 2001, Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.
Relates toDefence of the Realm Act 1914; Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920; Emergency Powers Act 1920; Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939; Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965; Civil Contingencies Act 2004
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973 (c. 53) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which abolished the death penalty for murder in Northern Ireland, and established the Diplock courts in which terrorist offences were tried by a judge without a jury. It has mostly been repealed, the anti-terrorism provisions having been superseded by subsequent legislation. The death penalty had not been used in Northern Ireland since 1961, when Robert McGladdery was hanged.

The act banned membership under penalty of law in the following organisations:

The subsequent Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act 1989 would require oaths renouncing these organisations (except Sinn Féin).

See also[edit]