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The Supreme Court
'A wonderful book ... a superb book and it's not just for people interested in law; it tells you a lot about Ireland' Vincent Browne, TV3 The judges, the decisions, the rifts and the rivalries - the gripping inside story of the institution that has shaped Ireland. 'Combines painstaking research with acute analysis and intelligence' Colm Tóibín, Irish Times' Books of the Year '[Mac Cormaic] has done something unprecedented and done it with a striking maturity, balance and adroitness. He creates the intimacy necessary but never loses sight of the wider contexts; this is not just a book about legal history; it is also about social, political and cultural history ... [the Supreme Court] has found a brilliant chronicler in Ruadhan Mac Cormaic' Diarmaid Ferriter, Professor of Modern Irish History, UCD 'Mac Cormaic quite brilliantly tells the story ... balanced, perceptive and fair ... a major contribution to public understanding' Donncha O'Connell, Professor of Law, NUIG, Dublin Review of Books 'Compelling ... a remarkable story, told with great style' Irish Times 'Authoritative, well-written and highly entertaining' Sunday Times The work of the Supreme Court is at the heart of the private and public life of the nation. Whether it's a father trying to overturn his child's adoption, a woman asserting her right to control her fertility, republicans fighting extradition, political activists demanding an equal hearing in the media, women looking to serve on juries, the state attempting to prevent a teenager ending her pregnancy, a couple challenging the tax laws, a gay man fighting his criminalization simply for being gay, a disabled young man and his mother seeking to vindicate his right to an education, the court's decisions can change lives. Now, having had unprecedented access to a vast number of sources, and conducted hundreds of interviews, including with key insiders, award-winning Irish Times journalist Ruadhan Mac Cormaic lifts the veil on the court's hidden world. The Supreme Court reveals new and surprising information about well-known cases. It exposes the sometimes fractious relationship between the court and the government. But above all it tells a story about people - those who brought the cases, those who argued in court, those who dealt with the fallout and, above all, those who took the decisions. Judges' backgrounds and relationships, their politics and temperaments, as well as the internal tensions between them, are vital to understanding how the court works and are explored here in fascinating detail. The Supreme Court is both a riveting read and an important and revealing account of one of the most powerful institutions of our state. Ruadhan Mac Cormaic is the former Legal Affairs Correspondent and Paris Correspondent of the Irish Times. He is now the paper's Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
496 pages, Paperback
Published June 27, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 17, 2017
Finish date: 17 Deember 2017
Genre: non-fiction
Rating: B+
Review
Genre: non-fiction
Rating: B+
Review
August 30, 2024
Hopping back into non fiction, I’ve had this book since the second day of law school when I bought it on advice of a lecturer. It’s sat on my shelf ever since, and with the shelf getting upgraded to a bookcase I thought it was a shame for one of the books to get so little attention. How does it hold up, almost seven years later?
It’s definitely an interesting read, and I’d argue a very compelling one. I definitely benefitted from knowing the outline of most of the situations being described; the book is a chronicle of the history of the Irish Supreme Court in both its guises with accounts, stories, and narrative threads linking the personal stories of the judges, advocates, and appellants to the central character of the Court itself. It was an easy read, particularly with so little of my thoughts having to go towards keeping the various litigants and facts of cases with which I was already familiar straight. It’s not inaccessible, but it structures itself around the monumental cases which have at different times defined the court and its relationships with the government, the public, other countries, and any combination thereof. It’s telling 100 years of history in 400 pages which is a big task especially given how much time is set aside to set up the stall of all the figures who come into and out of the narrative.
But this sort of Hobbes’ Leviathan approach actually allows the character of the court to adopt and morph in a sort of personality of its own through the ages, one which is more or less harmonious, one which is more or less combative, and how it related to the social world in which it found itself. In the end, the cases are largely fodder to exposit on these points of social change. This is not a book that tries to teach you law; rather, its attention is to how the various people related to it.
The prose is quaint; for a modern book, it is very content to tell its story at a remove, zooming in on the occasional anecdote but content to not get adventurous with its prose in the fashion of a cutting edge novel. However, it is no dry historical text. That did, at least, make it very easy to read, to the point that I’d recommend this even to non-legal people. There is very much a dry sense of humour that comes through less in how the stories are told and more in which stories are told, the personality comes through in actions, quoted swear words, tales of Brian Walsh escaping a charge of public drunkenness by imbibing a pint in the police station, even if the text is in an even register.
The law is never finished, and as such there is no good time to publish this history definitively. Nevertheless, my teeth gnash as the takes of Nicolaou or the like are told as finished stories given what happened this year in respect of O’Meara. Unfortunate.
What I do think this book captures very well is legal culture. Emphasis is placed on the cloistered backgrounds, the UCD Law and History Society hegemony, the traditions and the preciousness in respect of status with which the judiciary can conduct themselves, the party-political bedrock of the Bar; the way in which that has changed deserves this type of ethnography, and it is quite well realised, even if its conclusion, “things are better but maybe there’s still some problems” feels vague and equivocal.
It feels like, though a history like this had not been centralised, it was a little constrained by its genre to an awkward feeling that comes a little too close to pop-history without committing to that style; too academic to be on the front row of Chapters as a blockbuster of nonfiction read by dads around the country, but insufficiently academic (in format and presentation, not rigour of research, which appears pristine) to sit as an authoritative documentation. It’s unfortunate, and while it didn’t alter my enjoyment of it as such, it did leave me asking who this book was for. Me, certainly, but I do wonder who else would happen across this book and buy it. It’s a shame, as it’s quite good.
It’s definitely an interesting read, and I’d argue a very compelling one. I definitely benefitted from knowing the outline of most of the situations being described; the book is a chronicle of the history of the Irish Supreme Court in both its guises with accounts, stories, and narrative threads linking the personal stories of the judges, advocates, and appellants to the central character of the Court itself. It was an easy read, particularly with so little of my thoughts having to go towards keeping the various litigants and facts of cases with which I was already familiar straight. It’s not inaccessible, but it structures itself around the monumental cases which have at different times defined the court and its relationships with the government, the public, other countries, and any combination thereof. It’s telling 100 years of history in 400 pages which is a big task especially given how much time is set aside to set up the stall of all the figures who come into and out of the narrative.
But this sort of Hobbes’ Leviathan approach actually allows the character of the court to adopt and morph in a sort of personality of its own through the ages, one which is more or less harmonious, one which is more or less combative, and how it related to the social world in which it found itself. In the end, the cases are largely fodder to exposit on these points of social change. This is not a book that tries to teach you law; rather, its attention is to how the various people related to it.
The prose is quaint; for a modern book, it is very content to tell its story at a remove, zooming in on the occasional anecdote but content to not get adventurous with its prose in the fashion of a cutting edge novel. However, it is no dry historical text. That did, at least, make it very easy to read, to the point that I’d recommend this even to non-legal people. There is very much a dry sense of humour that comes through less in how the stories are told and more in which stories are told, the personality comes through in actions, quoted swear words, tales of Brian Walsh escaping a charge of public drunkenness by imbibing a pint in the police station, even if the text is in an even register.
The law is never finished, and as such there is no good time to publish this history definitively. Nevertheless, my teeth gnash as the takes of Nicolaou or the like are told as finished stories given what happened this year in respect of O’Meara. Unfortunate.
What I do think this book captures very well is legal culture. Emphasis is placed on the cloistered backgrounds, the UCD Law and History Society hegemony, the traditions and the preciousness in respect of status with which the judiciary can conduct themselves, the party-political bedrock of the Bar; the way in which that has changed deserves this type of ethnography, and it is quite well realised, even if its conclusion, “things are better but maybe there’s still some problems” feels vague and equivocal.
It feels like, though a history like this had not been centralised, it was a little constrained by its genre to an awkward feeling that comes a little too close to pop-history without committing to that style; too academic to be on the front row of Chapters as a blockbuster of nonfiction read by dads around the country, but insufficiently academic (in format and presentation, not rigour of research, which appears pristine) to sit as an authoritative documentation. It’s unfortunate, and while it didn’t alter my enjoyment of it as such, it did leave me asking who this book was for. Me, certainly, but I do wonder who else would happen across this book and buy it. It’s a shame, as it’s quite good.
March 28, 2018
This book gave a clearly extensively researched account of the history of the Irish Supreme Court from its early days under Hugh Kennedy to the death of Adrian Hardiman in March 2016.
As an American high schooler with only general preliminary knowledge about Ireland, I sometimes had a hard time distinguishing between different administrations and political parties and understanding how the Irish government is set up. (The relationship between the Taoiseach and the President still mystifies me.)
Despite that, though, the book was surprisingly readable, and I feel like I've learned a lot from it. I especially enjoyed the parts about the Court during Cearbhall O'Dalaigh's time as Chief Justice.
I'd definitely recommend The Supreme Court to anyone interested in legal history, especially as it relates to Irish history. It provides a kind of broad overview of the past hundred or so years of Irish politics from the perspective of the judicial branch, which makes it a great choice for anyone who wants to learn about landmark cases in context.
As an American high schooler with only general preliminary knowledge about Ireland, I sometimes had a hard time distinguishing between different administrations and political parties and understanding how the Irish government is set up. (The relationship between the Taoiseach and the President still mystifies me.)
Despite that, though, the book was surprisingly readable, and I feel like I've learned a lot from it. I especially enjoyed the parts about the Court during Cearbhall O'Dalaigh's time as Chief Justice.
I'd definitely recommend The Supreme Court to anyone interested in legal history, especially as it relates to Irish history. It provides a kind of broad overview of the past hundred or so years of Irish politics from the perspective of the judicial branch, which makes it a great choice for anyone who wants to learn about landmark cases in context.
July 7, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gives a good insight into Irish constitutional law. The author writes in a way interesting not just to those concerned with the law , but those interested in Ireland’s development in general . There are funny anecdotes in the book which keeps the book engaging and ensures it’s not too heavy laden with legal jargon.
October 18, 2017
Really educational, not too heavy on law. Great demonstration of how Supreme Court has changed fabric of Irish society, with goods examples of everyday relevance of decisions made. Not a legal person myself, but really enjoyed this book.
August 17, 2024
Very informative and well written.
November 12, 2021
Fantastic mix of history, law and politics.
This is a fantastic recollection of the history of the Supreme Court in Ireland and the general foundation of the state onwards. There is so much done to explain the famous cases and events from Irish socio economic, political and legal history - you’ll learn so much about the legal setup - all the key players and moments.
Very highly recommended for anyone with even a passing interest, there’s no need to have prior knowledge of law, economics etc, Mr. MacCormaic has you covered all the way.
This is a fantastic recollection of the history of the Supreme Court in Ireland and the general foundation of the state onwards. There is so much done to explain the famous cases and events from Irish socio economic, political and legal history - you’ll learn so much about the legal setup - all the key players and moments.
Very highly recommended for anyone with even a passing interest, there’s no need to have prior knowledge of law, economics etc, Mr. MacCormaic has you covered all the way.
September 13, 2016
A superb account of the Supreme Court, the personalities that shaped it and the political and social impact key judgments have had. Having studied constitutional law over 14 years ago it brought back some long forgotten memories but also put cases in a very relevant historical and political context. A great read as well as an important book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews