The Gazette 1988

DECEMBER 1988

GAZETTE

Bo ok Rev i ew

essay as being " f u ll of material provoking either challenge or applause". Walsh J. in a wide- ranging essay considers the natural law and the nature of fundamental rights in the Constitution. The courts and the Constitution are considered by Barrington J. The learned judge describes the expand- ing influence of the Constitution from its early days to the present time. He describes how the judges were fearful in the early days of the State, lest any form of judicial a c t i v i sm in i n t e r p r e t i ng t he Constitution would involve them in political, social and economic issues in which the judges had no special competence. Those days are gone forever. Barrington J. makes many interesting observations but of par- ticular interest is his description of Tommy Conolly, S.C. as the father of modern Irish Constitutional law. Keane J., judge, prolific jurist and President of the Law Reform Com- mission, in a masterly essay cons i de rs issues relating to Administrative and Planning Law in the context of the Constitution. He reflects on the immense growth in the public service and the dominant role it plays in Irish life and he notes that challenges to actions of the execu t i ve meet w i t h a more sympathetic and less sceptical response in present times than in former times. An t hony Coughlan, a senior lecturer in Trinity College, Dublin, writes on the Constitution and Agricultural Consultant Services include Damage and Loss Assessment, C.P.O.'s, Insurance Claims,

and differences in substantive and procedural law. However, for those lawyers wishing to avail of the new o p p o r t u n i t i es c r ea t ed by t he proposed completion of the Internal Market, the decisions in Gullung a n d t h e German case w i ll be considered very helpful. An eminent U.K. lawyer/journalist writing recently in relation to the German case stated (perhaps optimistically) 5 "Businessmen will find this decision of the European Court reasonable. Lawyers will think it very bold. If foreign lawyers are enterprising enough to make use of it and appear in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords, they will drive a coach and horses through the rules of the Bar and of the Law Society. It could certainly open up the lawyers' world". Case 2 9 4 / 86 Gullung -v- Conseils des Ordres des Avocats des Barreaux de Colmar et de Saverne and Others, 19th January, 1988, The Times 2 0 th January, 1988; 119881. 2 C.M.L.R. 57. Case 4 2 7 / 8 5. Commission of the European Communities -v- the Federal Republic of Germany, 25th February, 1988. 0. J. 78/17, 26/3/77. Council Directive 7 7 / 2 49 EEC to facilitate the effective exercise by lawyers of freedom to provide services. S.I. No. 58 of 1979, as amended by S.I. No. 197 of 1981 (Greek lawyers). A. H. Herman. "Lawyers without Fron- tiers". Financial Times, 10th March, 1987. 2 3 4 5 FOOTNOTES 1

THE CONS T I T U T I ON OF I RE L AND By Frank Litton (editor). Special Issue of Adm i n i s t r a t i o n, volume 35 No. 4, 1987. Institute of Public Administration, 1988, 255 pp. £6). Frank Litton, the editor, in a per- ceptive but short introduction to this Festchrift on the fiftieth anniversary of the people's adoption of the Constitution, rightly pronounces that "Constitution-making requires that the cunning of a Machiavellian prince be joined to the wisdom of a philosopher king". Constitutional interpretation demands similar qualities. Some of our modern Irish legal philosophers and interpreters of our Constitution contribute essays in the form of analyses and critiques of the Constitution. The most lengthy of the contributions was written by Dr. Dermot Keogh who documents the often painstaking processes involved in the drafting of the Constitution and Article 44 in particular. Dr. Keogh recounts the various pilgrimages to the Vatican seeking approval for the articles on religion wh i ch ended w i th the Pope's immortal words: "Ni approvo ni non disapprovo; taceremo". ("I do not approve, neither do I not disapprove; we shall maintain silence"). Dr. Enda McDonough, Professor of Moral Theology at St. Pa t r i ck 's College, Ma y n o o t h, describes the reaction of De Valera to the Pope's negative attitude to the draft Constitution: "Pius XI was a tough northerner. I have had to deal all my life w i t h t o u gh northerners like Sean McEntee and Frank Aiken so I knew I would have to fight". Despite the friendship De Valera shared wi th Dr. John Charles McQuaid, ecclesiological differ- ences separated them on certain issues. Yet Dr. McQuaid must have been pleased wi th his endeavours. Walsh J. writes on constitutional rights. Incidentally, Barrington J. recollects Tommy Conolly, S.C. describing Brian Walsh in the 1960s as the person who was "writing the constitutional law of this country". Professor John Kelly, who had the o p p o r t u n i ty of reading t he contributions, described Walsh J's

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