The Gazette 1988

GAZETTE social policy. Constitutional theory and political practice are the themes selected by Brian Farrell. Dr. Enda McDonagh, Professor of Moral Theology at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, offers philosophical and theological reflections on the Constitution. The issue of the interpretation of the Constitution is dealt w i th by Gerard Hogan, barrister, lecturer in Trinity College, Dublin and one of our foremost legal writers. Quoting Hughes J. of the United States Supreme Court, " t he Constitution is what the judges say it is", Gerard Hogan rightly emphasises that one of the important political develop- ments of the last t wen ty years has been the growing signficance of the courts in interpretating the Con- stitution. The jurisprudence of original intention has always in- t r i gued your reviewer. Gerard Hogan does not refer to this concept in these terms but deals w i th this issue in a skillful manner under the heading of the historical approach. The other approaches to natural law and other extra-

DECEMBER 1988

constitutional principles together w i th the issue of the literal versus h a rmo n i o us i n t e r p r e t a t i onal approaches are also dealt with. These issues are of enormous practical significance. Professor John Kelly in the con- cluding section of the book w i th t he i n t r i gu i ng t i t le " T h e Constitution: Law and Manifestor" d emo n s t r a t es his r ema r kab le f o n d n e ss for t he 1922 Constitution. In a classic statement he argues that something in the Irish cha r ac t er " r e c o i ls f r om plainness, from simplicity, from minimums, from the unequivocal, from the bare, undecorated truth". He argues that much in the Con- s t i t u t i on was conceived as a manifesto rather than as a bare law and thus has given rise to consider- able difficulties since the enact- ment of the Constitution. The Co n s t i t u t i on of I r e l and 1937 - 1987 is a remarkable book; it is not a standard textbook in the accepted sense of that term, nor does it purport to be such. The perceptives offered in the book are

of cons i de r ab le i n t e r est and deserve to be read by those who cherish our fundamental law. Eamonn G. Hall

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