The Superior Courts of Law


Book Description

Dr Hall provides a history of law reporting in Ireland from the mid 1800s. His work celebrates case law and the decisions of the judges, and describes tensions between judges and reporters about what ought to be reported in an official series of reports.










OSCOLA Ireland


Book Description

OSCOLA Ireland is a comprehensive citation system for Irish lawyers and law students, based on the OSCOLA (Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities) standard. OSCOLA has been adapted and amended in a manner which makes it relevant and useful in an Irish context, using, in the main, Irish examples.




The Irish Supreme Court


Book Description

This book examines the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Ireland since its creation in 1924. It sets out the origins of the Court, explains how it operated during the life of the Irish Free State (1922-1937), and considers how it has developed various fields of law under Ireland's 1937 Constitution, especially after the 're-creation' of the Court in 1961. As well as constitutional law, the book looks at the Court's views on the status and legal system of Northern Ireland, administrative law, criminal justice and personal and family law. There are also chapters on the Supreme Court's interaction with European Union law and with the European Convention on Human Rights. The argument throughout is that, while the Court has been well served by many of its judges, who on occasion have manifested a healthy degree of judicial activism, there are still several legal fields in which the Court has not developed its jurisprudence as clearly or as imaginatively as it might have done. It has often displayed undue conservatism and deference. For many years its performance was hampered by its extreme workload, generated by its inability to control the number of appeals brought to it. However, the creation of a new Court of Appeal in 2014 has freed up the Supreme Court to act in a manner more analogous to that adopted by supreme courts in other common law countries. The Court's future looks bright.




Irish Speakers, Interpreters, and the Courts, 1754 -1921


Book Description

The extent and duration of interpreter provision for Irish speakers appearing in court in the long nineteenth century have long been a conundrum. In 1737 the Administration of Justice (Language) Act stipulated that all legal proceedings in Ireland should take place in English, thus placing Irish speakers at a huge disadvantage, obliging them to communicate through others, and treating them as foreigners in their own country. Gradually, over time, legislation was passed to allow the grand juries, forerunners of county councils, to employ salaried interpreters. Drawing on extensive research on grand jury records held at national and local level, supplemented by records of correspondence with the Chief Secretary's Office in Dublin Castle, this book provides definitive answers on where, when, and until when, Irish language court interpreters were employed. Contemporaneous newspaper court reports are used to illustrate how exactly the system worked in practice and to explore official, primarily negative, attitudes towards Irish speakers. The famous Maamtrasna murders trials, where, most unusually for such a serious case, a police constable acted as court interpreter, are discussed. The book explains the appointment process for interpreters, discusses ethical issues that arose in court, and includes microhistories of some 90 interpreters.




Irish Law Reports


Book Description




Murdoch and Hunt’s Dictionary of Irish Law


Book Description

Murdoch and Hunt's Dictionary of Irish Law defines the principal words, concepts and phrases, their legal source, whether statutory or judicial, and gives a brief introduction to the law. Now in its sixth edition and with its definitions having been cited in the Supreme Court, this book remains essential to the understanding and practice of the law. The dictionary's usefulness lies in the wealth of related information that is pulled together under subject-matter headings. The entries are usually accompanied with the relevant statutory basis, as well as related acts and even, in the case of a major topic of law, noteworthy textbooks in the area. The dictionary draws information from a range of sources including the Rules of the Superior Courts, Law Reform commission Reports, as well as Gazette and Bar Review articles. In this way the dictionary can also be used as a subject-index of Irish law which reflects the up-to-date legislative and judicial developments in each area whilst also encompassing references to academic commentaries. The layout of the dictionary has been carefully designed with alphabetical physical tabulations and bold fonts for entry titles, to ensure the ease and speed of use. The sixth edition of Murdoch and Hunt's Dictionary of Irish Law contains over 10,300 legal definitions from “a coelo usque ad centrum” to “zoonoses”. This new edition adds 533 pages, incorporating 308 acts and 6335 SIs enacted since the 5th edition's publication eight years ago. The ongoing value of the work can be seen in the 23 instances it has been cited by the superior courts in recent years. This value will only grow in this newly expanded and updated edition.




The Irish Stage


Book Description

Drama, opera, ballet, circuses, concerts, and puppet-shows: down the years, all these species of live entertainment faced innumerable difficulties in Ireland. The challenges that are the focus in this unusual study are those that touched on matters of law. Assorted venues encountered episodes of censorship and of riot. Safety of buildings, performers' contracts, dramatic authors' performing rights, liquor licensing all merit attention too, as, indeed, necessarily must the issue of the lawfulness of any 'theatrical' activity itself, given the ill-defined powers of the Irish Master of the Revels (1638-1830) and the controls exerciseable under the Dublin Stage Regulation Act (1786-1997). (Series: Irish Legal History Society - Vol. 24) [Subject: Irish Studies, Legal History, Drama]




Contract Law in Ireland


Book Description

The eight edition of this bestselling Irish Contract Law text includes a number of important, and landmark, legislative changes that have taken place since the last edition, for example the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act from late 2015 and many more. Also included in this edition are developments in case law from Irish jurisdictions as well as England and Wales and elsewhere in the Commonwealth. The important doctrinal shifts marked in the previous edition on the convergence of principles that govern Judicial Review in public law and their influence over performance of private law obligations has continued to mark the emergence of good faith standards in the interpretation of promises that, at first, look to be void for uncertainty. There have been similar developments on good faith in regard to the performance of contracts. Changes in the fortunes of Lord Hoffmann's views on principles governing contractual interpretation and implied terms are traced and it will be interesting to see how the Irish courts will respond to such events. The final appellate courts in the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland have provided important decisions relating to statutory illegality, serving to make the law in all three jurisdictions more responsive to the imperatives that lie behind the statute in question. Recent case law from Ireland, England and Wales, Australia and New Zealand continues to develop the law on promissory estoppel in a contractual setting. Chapter 19, the law relating to damages following on from a breach of contract, has been expanded to take account of added complexities, the uncertainty surrounding the date of breach rule, and some hints about remoteness and consequential loss. Other areas include compensation for non-pecuniary loss, contributory negligence and penalty/liquidated damages clauses. Professor Clark provides a convenient and reliable guide to Irish Contract Law, as located in the context of the English (and Irish) common law tradition