The Gazette 1984

GAZETTE

SEPTEMBER 1984

BOOK REVIEW

Constitutional Law and Constitutional Rights in Ireland by

Brian Doolan. Published by Gill and Macmillan. 194pp,

1984. Price £9.95 paperback.

bring understanding of the subject to whoever does read

it.

The book is well presented, with the usual Tables of

Constitutional Articles, Statutes and Cases and with a

Glossary to explain legal terms to the lay reader.

•

Karl Hayes

In the Preface to his book, the author refers to the

general interest in constitutional law and rights which

undeniably exists today in Ireland and expresses surprise

that, despite the 47 years which have passed since the

Constitution was first enacted "there is a noticeable

absence of easily understood material on this, our

fundamental law". Readers of the

Gazette

may perhaps

find this assertion surprising, given those two

unquestionably excellent treatises on the subject — "The

Irish Constitution" by Professor J. M. Kelly and "Cases

& Materials on the Irish Constitution" by O'Reilly and

Redmond. These two in-depth works have become

established as the standard reference works on the

Constitution, for both practitioners and students, and

this reviewer certainly finds both works eminently

comprehsensible.

The author gives his view that there are at least two

ways of studying the Constitution. Firstly, to begin with

the Preamble and work in sequence through to Article 50,

giving each article attention in turn. He finds this method

(which is the one used quite effectively by Professor

Kelly) "repetitive and diffuse". He therefore adopts the

second method, which is to arrange related articles under

subject headings and then to consider each in turn, a

method which he claims brings order and "hopefully

leads to understanding".

The book (which is softback, with 194 pages) is in three

parts. Part One has individual chapters on the Nation, the

State, the Oireachtas, the President, the Government, the

Courts, etc. Each chapter explains its subject clearly

enough, with reference to decided cases, and the author is

not averse to the use of criticism where he considers such

warranted, although not all may agree with his

sentiments.

Part Two of the book deals with Constitutional Rights

and contains individual chapters on equality before the

law, personal liberty, freedom of association, assembly

and expression, family rights and property rights. Again,

there is lucid exposition of each topic, and the relevant

cases are referred to.

Part Three of the book contains a summary of 101 of

the most important Constitutional Law cases. The

reports are rather brief, only a few lines in many cases,

and give the basic facts and the finding of the Court.

Unfortunately these summaries of the leading cases are

not sufficiently detailed either for the practitioner or the

law student, although they will probably suffice for the

lay reader.

Certainly this is a readable and informative book, but

it does cover the same ground as the other works already

referred to, and not at all in as great depth or detail. In

this regard, it must of course be said that this is a much

shorter work and therefore does not set out to rival the

established works. However, for this reason, it probably

will not be much used by either practitioners or students,

although it should find ready acceptance among

members of the public interested in the Constitution. To

that extent, it is a worthwhile endeavour, in that it will

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