The Gazette 1994

397 / 432

GAZETTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1994
In Poetic Justice above, the poet
refers to litigants who found that on
leaving the courts, their stories were
preserved for posterity in the law
reports. The litigants may never have
understood fully the reasons why, (the
barristers and solicitors may not have
foreseen the consequences) but they
all did add to the law of the land. It
would be a trite cliché to say that
1992 was an exceptional year for law
cases; every year presents its own
surprises. Yet few will forget the X
Case - Attorney General v. X [1992]
ILRM 401; [1992] 1 IR 1 [1992]; 2
CMLR 277. Miss X, a 14 year-old
girl, a victim of sexual abuse, decided
with her parents she would go to
England for an abortion. The Attorney
General sought an injunction
restraining her from leaving the
jurisdiction and having an abortion.
The Supreme Court held by a
majority of four (Finlay CJ,
McCarthy, O'Flaherty and Egan JJ) to
one (Hederman J) that Article 40.3.3
permitted abortion where there was a
real and substantial risk to the life, as
distinct from the health, of the mother
which could only be avoided by an
abortion. The authors note that the
analysis and holding of Finlay CJ,
McCarthy, O'Flaherty and Egan JJ
"provoked an outpouring of public
controversy and legal and political
assessment".
The authors, Raymond Byrne,
barrister, lecturer in law at Dublin
City University and editor of The Irish
Law Times and Professor William
Binchy, Regius Professor of Laws at
j Trinity College, Dublin, are part of a
body of critics ever on the watch. The
authors criticise the opinions of the
Supreme Court in the X Case and of
judges in other cases.
Í A celebrated judge noted that he
remembered with a sense of great
relief, "of an incubus cast aside",
! when he passed his final examination
in law school. That was a chapter
closed. He might make mistakes in the
future but he would no longer make
them under the eyes of examiners
charged with the special duty of
exposing his failings and giving them
a quantitative value in comparison
with his virtues. Exposure, he said,
would be a matter of chance. "A class
of professional detectives would no
longer be on his tracks". The judge
continued by stating that once on the
Bench you may think you are safe.
Alas, it is not so! The examiners still
crowd about; the writers and
commentators in the law schools and
in the universities are waiting at
the door:
"Let there be a joint in your armour,
a flaw in your opinion, it will not be
long before probe and scalpel will
expose a gaping wound. The
examiner is near at hand".
The writer of this notice has sympathy
and understanding for the judges who
must decide cases quickly without the
benefit of the leisure of some scholars
in their study. Nevertheless, we
should welcome the increasing
influence of the extra-judicial
agencies - the scholars and
commentators in the universities and
other institutes of learning.
Vinogradoff in Common Sense in Law
tells us that in former times the
practice was followed by German
Courts "of sending up the documents
of a case to the law faculty of a
university of some standing" - in
order to obtain a consultation "as to
the proper decision". It is by analysis
and criticism together with intellectual
honesty that the law will grow in
respectability. We owe a debt of
gratitude to Raymond Byrne and
Professor Binchy.
The Annual Review is a treasury of
scholarship and practical guidance.
The authors are masters of juristic
thought. But let no one consider that
this is an esoteric publication. Issues
from employer's liability, schools'
negligence, liability for dogs - matters
of everyday significance for lawyers -
i to pre-incorporation contracts and
liquidator's powers to ratify them are
all considered by influential
commentators in a lucid and
: impressive manner.
Dr. Eamonn G. Hall
N e w Pub l i c
Re l a t i o ns
E x e c u t i ve
a p p o i n t ed
Catherine Dolan has been appointed
by the Society as Public Relations
Executive and Editor of the Gazette.
She took up her position Monday,
14 November 1994. She is formerly of
Park Public Relations, Merrion
Square. Catherine came first in the
DIT Graduate Diploma in Public
Relations in the College of
Commerce, Rathmines. She obtained a
Distinction and won the Public
Relations Institute Award for the best
PR student and the Marketing Opinion
magazine award for best overall
student. She has worked both in the
public and the private sector. She has
an Honours Law Degree from Trinity
College Dublin which she obtained
while working in Dublin Corporation,
Planning Department. She also spent
some time working with McCann
FitzGerald, Solicitors.
English Agents: Agency work
undertaken for Irish solicitors in
both litigation and non-contentious
matters - including legal aid. Fearon
& Co., Solicitors, Westminster
House, 12 The Broadway, Woking,
Surrey GU21 5AU.
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