Should expert witnesses have a right of reply from findings of judges?
(This article was originally published in the Expert Witness Journal, (UK) April 2021) Expert evidence has increasingly been under the spotlight in case law over the past ten years. The courts are rightly concerned to uphold the best evidential standa …
Mark Tottenham BL | June 5, 2022
End of court presenter system will cause disruption to prosecutions in the District Court
In criminal prosecutions, the District Court has a longstanding system of court presenters, in which an officer of An Garda Síochána not directly involved in the case has a right of audience and can present the facts of the case where the defendant has …
Heather Furlong BL | June 2, 2022
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
