Invoking ‘Universal Jurisdiction’ for the prosecution of Crimes Against Humanity
Introduction In January of this year, a German court found Anwar Raslan guilty of crimes against humanity. Raslan ran an infamous detention centre close to Damascus, Syria’s capital. This was a landmark trial for several reasons. The Court saw and h …
Louis Golden BL | March 10, 2022
The Irish Family Courts in the Context of ‘Proper Provision’ – Judicial Latitude, or Judicial Law Making?
Introduction ‘The proper rule of the judiciary is one of interpreting and applying the law, not making it.’ Not only are the above words of Justice Sandra Day-O’Conner, former Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, an axiomatic aspect of legality, …
Daniel DeRenda BL | March 3, 2022
Memorable Opening and Closing Paragraphs of Irish judgments: Part 2
Introduction Part 1 of this article (found here) provided a flavour of the many memorable opening and closing paragraphs of Irish judgments. The aim of Part 2 is to continue sharing these judgments, which are steeped in Irish legal history and many of …
Lawrence Morris BL | February 18, 2022
Memorable Opening and Closing Paragraphs of Irish judgments: Part 1
Introduction Written judgments are widely perceived to be boring, inaccessible and difficult to understand. If one was to hazard a guess, such a presumption originates from the fact that they are filled with all types of legalese and jargon, which are …
Lawrence Morris BL | February 17, 2022
EU Law and the Doctrine of Supremacy in Poland
Introduction It has long been established that European Union Law takes precedence over the national law of Member States and that domestic courts must enforce the former where a conflict arises. This doctrine of supremacy forms the backbone of the law …
Louis Golden BL | February 8, 2022
The Lawyer who Cross-Examined Hitler: A Profile of Hans Litten
Background In 1943, Dorothy Hamilton Stepler wrote: “Ten years ago there was still time to have kept the German state legal and constitutional. Ten years ago German law, though becoming weaker and weaker, was still an objective guardian of the citizens …
Sean Beatty BL | January 27, 2022
The Bar, Fake Cases, and a Karate Chop
The Naming of the Bar When we speak of “the Bar” it is understood as the entire body of practising barristers. But where did the term come from? It turns out it derives from the physical barriers in old courtrooms. Just like today, English courts we …
Sean Beatty BL | January 19, 2022
Anonymity – The Cornerstone of Juvenile Justice
On the 12th February 1993, two-year-old James Bulger was kidnapped from a shopping centre and killed. In November of that year, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both aged eleven, were convicted of his murder and became the youngest children ever to be …
Neasa Peters | January 13, 2022
Government lawyers and the ethics of instructing experts
When the State is involved in litigation, do different ethical considerations apply than those concerning other litigants? In a recent paper by Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy and others, entitled ‘The Role and Responsibility of the State in Litigation’ (202 …
Mark Tottenham BL | January 7, 2022
Christmas Cancelled? Lessons Learned from the Christmas Ban of 1647
(This article was originally published in Decisis Law Ireland in December 2020.) This year is set to be a Christmas like no other. With COVID-19 still posing a risk to the health of the public, the financial strain of the last number of months continui …
Gemma McLoughlin-Burke BL | December 21, 2021
