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GAZETTE
Book Review
Introduction to Law in the Republic of Ireland
by
Richard H. Grimes, LL.B., M.A. and Patrick T.
Horgan, LLB., LLM., Dublin: Wolfhound Press.
368pp. Paperback, £9.90 (inc. VAT); Hardback,
£16.50(inc. VAT).
The Authors are Solicitors. Mr. Grimes formerly a Law
Lecturer at University College, Cork is now at Keele
University. Mr. Horgan is currently a Statutory Law
Lecturer at U.C.C.
It requires great skill and knowledge to write a good
elementary Law Book. It involves making accurate
general statements about the law, and if you think this is
easy, try doing it yourself. As one cannot assume that
readers have any prior knowledge, it is necessary to
explain everything and this makes the book tiresome to
anyone who has a slight familiarity with the subject. Such
books can be dull and this one is dull in places, although
dullness is not its greatest fault.
Effective writing for students calls for clear exposition
of the subject, systematic arrangement, and a degree of
grace and elegance. A student's book should have some
visual impact and appeal. The information should be
clearly and attractively presented on the page with
appropriate headings, sub-headings, side-notes and
footnotes. If this is done, the work is easier to read, easier
to understand, easier to remember. The notes and
references in this book which are absolutely essential to
its educational purpose are not presented as footnotes,
but are gathered together, grouped into chapters, at the
end of the book. This method is guaranteed to exasperate,
expecially in a rather long book. The notes themselves are
useful and deserve better treatment.
In favour of this work it can be said that it is fairly
comprehensive, up to date, and specifically related to the
law of the Irish Republic. Some chapters are better than
others. There is a good short summary of the law and
institutions of the E.E.C. The treatment of case law and
precedent and legislation in Chapter 2 is well done and
the Chapters on Tort, Welfare Law, and Company Law
are good. The book would be useful as a handbook and
introductory guide to a number of areas of Irish Law. In
general, however, this is not an impressive work — there
is much weak and confused writing and one suspects that
the proof reading was carried out in great haste or
altogether omitted.
There are numerous (mostly verbal) howlers —
"Borough Eagles" — "The Gambling Act 1845" —
"Deasy's Act of 1869" — "Descent was traced from the
Land Purchaser" — "famous contemporary legal
positivists Austin, Kelsen and Hart".
Lest it should be thought that I have been unduly
severe, here is a quotation, not entirely untypical, from
the summary at the conclusion of the Chapter on
Constitutional Law —
"That most of the Constitution has not been the
subject of litigation is indicative of its largely
descriptive nature and also of the traditional
perception of law untouched by a documentary
yardstick".
All in all a disappointment — a missed opportunity, a
great deal of work went into this book and it should have
been much better.
William Dundon.
SEPTEMBER 1981
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