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GAZETTE
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1991
ANNUAL REVIEW OF IRISH
LAW 1989
[By Raymond Byrne and William
Binchy, The Round Hall Press,
Dublin. 1990. 1 + 467pp. IR£55
Hardback]
Raymond Byrne and William Binchy
have achieved another remarkable
feat: the third volume in the Annual
Review of Irish Law series has been
published. Some of the most
searching and influential ex-
positions of various aspects of Irish
Law are to be found within the
pages of the
Review.
The Annual Review of Irish Law
1989
provides a survey of legal
developments, judicial and statu-
tory, that occurred during 1989. In
relation to case law, the
Review
includes cases where judgments
were delivered in 1989, even
though they may not have been
reported in 1989.
For the benefit of those lawyers
(and interested lay persons) who
have not benefited f rom the
previous editions, the writer of this
notice draws your attention to the
various chapter headings: Ad-
ministrative Law; Agriculture;
Commercial Law; Company Law;
Conflict of Laws; Constitutional
Law; Contract Law; Criminal Law;
Defence Forces;
Education;
Electricity and Energy; Equitable
Remedies; European Communities;
Family Law; Fisheries; Garda
Sfochana; Labour Law; Land Law;
Law Reform; Licensing; Limitations
of Actions; Local Government;
Practice and Procedures; Prisons;
Revenue Law; Safety and Health;
Social Welfare; Solicitors; Statutory
Interpretation; Telecommunica-
tions; Torts and Transport. One is
almost awed with the compre-
hensive list of chapters. Each
chapter is subdivided into sections
and subsections.
The reader of the
Review
is
assisted by a comprehensive table
of cases, constitutional provisions,
statutes, statutory instruments,
European Community laws, Council
of Europe laws, non-statutory
schemes, Irish Bills, United
Kingdom legislation, United States
Codes, and International Agree-
ments and Conventions. There is
also a most useful index.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, a
Justice of the United States
Supreme Court, was the speaker of
the day on June 28, 1911 when the
Harvard class of 1861 met for the
fiftieth anniversary of its gradua-
tion. Remembering his Civil War
service
in
the
Twen t i e th
Massachusetts Volunteers and
remembering his days as a law
student, practising lawyer, law
teacher, writer, and judge, he told
his "brethren of the Alumni":
" I learned in the regiment and in
the class the conclusion, at
least, of what I think the best
service that we can do for our
country and for ourselves: to see
so far as one may and to feel the
great forces that are behind
every detail . . . to hammer out
as compact and solid a piece of
work as one can, to try and
make it first rate, and to leave it
unadvertised".
Raymond Byrne and William
Binchy have produced a compact
and solid piece of work. The
Review
is first rate and should not
be left unadvertised. The writer of
this notice commends the
Annual
Review of Irish Law 1989
to all
readers of the
Gazette.
EAMONN G. HALL
REVIEW OF A HANDBOOK OF
ESSENT I AL LAW FOR THE
IRISH HOTEL AND CATERING
INDUSTRY
[By Francis J. Dempsey, Cert.
Publications, 1990]
The hotel, catering and tourism
industry is a major sector of the
Irish economy w i th " t o u r i sm
earnings contributing up to 9% of
GNP and over 70,000 people em-
ployed full-time in the industry",
according to CERT at p.228 of this
book. The industry is an important
target area for growth in the current
Programme for National Recovery.
It has not received much attention
from academic lawyers or from law
reformers. There is almost no legal
literature on the industry. Industry
activities straddle many of the
traditional demarcation lines of
academic and professional lawyers.
Legal concepts dominate the
lawyer's way of seeing legal issues.
The standard response of most
lawyers when conversing with
someone who claims an interest in
hospitality law is - what's that? It
is a bit of contract? a bit of tort?
and maybe sale of goods? That sort
of thing? Hospitality law is not a
university law subject.
Hospitality law is applied law
which focuses on industry specific
issues. The specific case and
specific legislation is the meat of
this subject. The leading and the
not-so-leading case from the non-
industry context is not of great
value in such a subject. Dworkin's
principle of integrity in law is a vital
component of applied law.
Francis Dempsey's handbook is
the first work on hotel and catering
law in Ireland, and it is to be
welcomed as the first attempt to
bring together in a single work the
variety of legal rules which affect
the industry. The text runs to 191
pages. It is a handbook not a
textbook. Its style is descriptive
and it avoids legal jargon. It is well
laid out, and it will undoubtedly
benefit certificate and, to a lesser
extent, diploma level students. The
book is also addressed to people
who work in the industry. Whether
it will achieve this aim remains to
be seen. Given its length and
approach, the treatment of the
material is, of necessity, so general
arjd descriptive that it might not
satisfy the needs of people who are
already familiar with the general
ideas and who seek more detailed
information. On the other hand,
there is good reason to suspect
that there is considerable ignorance
within the industry of the legal
rules which affect it. Leaving aside
those who wish to remain in an
undisturbed state of ignorance, this
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