When the Federal Convention of 1878 had completed its work on the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin described its result as, “A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it”. Not much later, John Philpot Curran gave a similar warning, now usually summarised as “Vigilance is the price of liberty”. Each was saying that a … Read more
The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. Fyodor Dostoevsky, The House of the Dead (1862). The quote above is from a work of fiction, but the author was drawing on a memory of four years imprisonment, following conviction for involvement in the Petrashevsky Circle – a Russian literary … Read more
The day that they killed him, someone said to me, “Son The age of the Antichrist has just only begun” Air Force One coming in through the gate Johnson sworn in at 2:38 Let me know when you decide to thrown in the towel It is what it is, and it’s murder most foul What’s … Read more
Introduction However scant the support provided by the legal process, as a lawyer I am drawn to rights-driven considerations. In terms of recent context – blinkered by the present over-reaction – Obama’s climate change initiative has been overturned by Trump, who effectively tore up the Kyoto Accord. The internal U.S. solution to climate issues is … Read more
In his recent book, Trials of the State Law and the Decline of Politics, (Profile Books) 2019 Jonathan Sumption argues for judicial deference to the Separation of Powers between the legislative, executive and judiciary branches, warning about the politicization of the latter. He argues that courts have assumed too much power, negating the political process, … Read more
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has seen a deluge of misleading advice, false rumours, and coordinated attempts to contravene expert advice. Over the years, it’s become popular to collectively refer to this as fake news. This was a term that gained traction throughout the 2016 Presidential Election in the United States, and has become … Read more
On Thursday 19th of March, the Dáil passed emergency legislation in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Bill has two main features. The first are financial measures assisting those affected, protecting living standards, and maintaining spending in the economy. The second aspect concerns … Read more
To My Fellow-Citizens in the Supreme Court, I write this letter because I think your decision in the Angela Kerins case creates a crisis in the government of this country. It will be critical of that decision and of some decisions of your predecessors, but please do not react to it defensively, or reject it … Read more
Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently called for more stringent Internet privacy and election laws saying, ‘We need a more active role for governments and regulators.’[i] In advocating what amounts to censorship, he seems to have at least awoken to the Promethean beast he has summoned. It opens a dangerous vista, however, and is hypocritical for … Read more
A poor relation is the most irrelevant thing in nature, a piece of impertinent correspondence, an odious approximation, a haunting conscience, a preposterous shadow, lengthening in the noon-tide of our prosperity. He is known by his knock. Charles Lamb In 1954, when I was aged nine, my youthful uncle, aged twenty-five, returned to Ireland from … Read more