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GAZETTE
B O O K
R E V I E W S
JULY 1996
A Textbook on Media Law
By Marie McGonagle, Gill &
Macmillan; 314pp; paperback;
£30.00.
The author comments that the
publication is not a traditional law
book because the topic is not a
traditional law subject. The late Dr.
John M. Kelly
may have had the same
reservations when his book on
Constitutional Law was published in
1961. Media law is here to stay and it
encompasses more than the law of
defamation and more than the various
matters covered by this book. For a
practitioner wishing to have a broader
perspective on media law (than that
given by the law of defamation) the
£30.00 called for to purchase this
book is a useful investment.
Maire McGonagle
unites many
strands of law not already included in
one publication under the title
"media
law".
Clients needs dictate that
lawyers and the judiciary must fill in
the gaps left between the Constitution
and legislation and this book draws
together such issues in relation to a
most dynamic industry.
The book is laid out with 288 pages of
text, 21 pages of indices and 22 pages
of tables of relevant case law and
Irish/UK statutes (to include the Rules
of Court and the Constitution). Heavy
tomes have already been published on
the law of defamation and related
subjects nonetheless 68 pages of this
book are allocated to that topic. For
practitioners who already have the
heavy tomes on defamation their
interest in this book will be attracted
by chapters dealings with privacy, the
media and the courts/parliament and
local government, issues of public
order and morality, the authority of
the State, media structures and
broadcasting complaints procedures.
The first three chapters deal with
historical developments and general
principles of media rights. Some
pages have been written with the
knowledge that some readers will
have little legal training and there
issues are addressed which solicitors
will have little interest in. This
comment does not take away from the
overall value of the book to
practitioners.
By this publication the author has
provided a guide and references
towards current legislation, case law
and towards published articles and
books on media matters. In any
instance a practitioner may wish to
examine source material and this book
is a useful investment for persons
wishing to find their way towards
such material. I have no doubt that in
subsequent editions this work will be
expanded on but as a first edition it
usefully fills a gap in a practitioners
library.
Eugene Murphy
Equity and the Law of
Trusts in Ireland
by Hilary Delany. Published by
Roundhall Sweet &Maxwell. 577 pp,
paperback £39.95, hardback £55.
In Mr. Justice Keane's work on this
subject, the law is stated as of
1 September, 1987. There is therefore
an interval of some nine years between
the two books. Any such interval will
witness considerable changes in the law
but the nine year period which has just
elapsed has been especially fruitful, at
least where equity is concerned.
Any decade in which
Owens v Greene
([1932] IR225) was overturned cannot be
regarded as uneventful. At the time of
publication of this work, judgment had
been reserved by the Supreme Court in
the appeal against O'Hanlon J's
decision . . . which followed
Owens
v
Greene
... in
Lynch v Burke.
([1990] l IR
l) However, in the book the subject
matter of the case is discussed
thoroughly and the actual result of the
appeal is advocated quite strongly
so our loss from not having the
appeal dealt with has been reduced to
the minimum.
To enable potential readers to
appreciate therich fare of which
Delany is the residuary legatee, the
reviewer may, perhaps, be permitted a
brief glance at some of the recent
landmark decisions in equity and trusts.
First of all, there is
Sen v Headley
([1991] Ch 425) which made it clear that a
donatio mortis causa
of land by
delivery of title deeds is feasible. Then,
there is the judgment of Keane J in
Re
Worth Library
([1994] l
ILRM
161) which
has, as the author says, "provided a
detailed and most useful overview of
the general principles relating to
charitable trusts and the exercise of cy-
pres jurisdiction." A nervous trustee
may well feel apprehensive on learning
from
Stacey
v
Branch
([1995] 2
ILRM
136)
that even the power to deal with trust
property as the trustee "in his absolute
discretion shall thinkfit" would not
necessarily relieve a trustee fromwhat
might be regarded as a breach of his
duty to take reasonable care. However,
Murphy J was in fact satisfied that the
defendant trustee's employment of a
caretaker for the property, instead of
letting it, over a period of 14 years, was
a
bona fide
exercise of his discretion.
Much of the case-law which has
punctuated, both here and abroad, the
development of the Mareva injunction .
.. the only one of the law's two
"nuclear" weapons to be reflected in
our law reports . . . has emerged since
Keane wasfirst published and is
recorded by Delany. Whilst in the area
of mutual wills,
Re Dale
([1993] 3
WLR
652) confirms that a constructive trust
can arise even where the survivor does
not take any benefit from the will of the
first testator to die.
In
Prendeville
v
Prendeville,
(H
.C.,
unrep., 5 Dec. 1990) a decision which the
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