Re: CHAT National toponyms (was: OT Caution!! IRA funding)

Joe wrote at 2004-09-17 07:12:01 (+0100)
 >
 > I don't think so:
 >
 > That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st
 > May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into
 > One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN
 >
 > Thus there is only one Kingdom.

I'm not really sure that that follows self-evidently from the text,
but I'm not interested in contemplating alternative possible readings
of 18th-century legal documents any further.

 > Well, the Government of Ireland Act a)Is repealed, and b)Predated
 > the Anglo-Irish Treaty.  I'd say it suggests that it was considered
 > a Province of the part called Ireland(along with Southern Ireland).
 > The current 'constitution' of Northern Ireland refers to it as a
 > part.

The Northern Ireland Act 1998 says that it "remains part of the United
Kingdom" and mentions the possibility that it might in future "form
part of a united Ireland", but I don't see any reference to it as "a
part", or as anything else.  Clearly the term "Province of Northern
Ireland" has been widely used - Google turns up over 13000 hits,
including Microsoft Encarta, the Royal Mail and reports from
parliamentary committees - but I'm unable to determine its official
status before or after the 1998 act.  Frankly I'm coming to the
conclusion that the constitution of the UK does not care to offer a
classification of its constituent territories, either individually or
collectively.

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