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Now showing 1 - 5 of 307
  • Publication
    Single issue EU referendums: tying hands, domestic effects and the challenge of consentification
    (Taylor and Francis, 2023) ;
    Single-issue referendums–which give voters a say on specific European Union (EU) policies or general questions of European integration–were rarely employed before the 2000s, but they have since become commonplace. Examples include Greece’s 2015 referendum on negotiations with the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Hungary’s 2016 referendum on the relocation of refugees between EU member states and the UK’s 2016 vote to leave the EU. This article asks why we are seeing more single-issue referendums in the EU. Surveying different theoretical perspectives on the conditions under which such votes occur, it considers single-issue referendums as being driven by (1) the search for strategic advantage in a two-level game, (2) domestic effects and (3) problems of consentification. Case studies of eight single-issue referendums show that domestic effects matter but offer limited evidence of hand tying. Most single-issue referendums, it finds, were called by governments wrestling with issues that could win legal approval but not political legitimacy. This instrument of direct democracy will remain a feature of EU politics, we contend, as member states wrestle with domestic effects and the challenge of (de)legitimating EU decisions through traditional means.
      15
  • Publication
    Osborough and Legal Education and Scholarship for Irish University Law Schools: Marking the Dawn of a New Era
    (Thomson Reuters, 2021)
    Official reports could prompt keen analysis by Nial Osborogh as can be seen in his 1985 article, “Scholarship and the University Law School: Thoughts Prompted by a Recent Canadian Study”, which is the primary concern of this essay. The article is of interest as Professor Osborough is the only person to have been Head of School (and, in the case of UCD, Dean) of Trinity College School of Law and of the UCD School of Law. In this article Osborough took this “thoroughly uncomfortable” report on university legal education and scholarship in Canada as an opportunity to reflect on Irish law schools and scholarship. The report was concerned with the dearth of fundamental research in Canadian law at that time, with little doctoral research undertaken and few applications to the Canadian research council for research funding. It discussed the need for academic research about law as well as doctrinal research in law. Osborough while mindful of the differences between the two educational systems, saw the report as an unmissable opportunity to reflect on Irish scholarship.
      21
  • Publication
    The European Arrest Warrant before the Irish Higher Courts: Judicial Dialogue, Mutual Trust, and the Limits of Interpretation
    Abstract: One of the most common EU law issues before the Irish Superior Courts is the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). Outlining the EAW Framework Decision (FD), before turning to an analysis of its statutory implementation in Ireland, this article analyses data gathered between 2010 and 2020 as to the frequency of EAW decisions; at which courts they arise; what Member States seek surrender; how often surrender is granted; and the extent to which the Irish courts engage with, and their experience of, the preliminary reference procedure. Key themes in the case law are identified using qualitative methods: the relationship between EU and Irish law is explored through an analysis of the duty of conforming interpretation under EU law; constitutional issues are explored through case law on legal aid entitlements during EAW proceedings; the horizontal impact of Irish preliminary references for other national legal orders is explored through cases raising the principle of mutual trust; and the impact of Brexit is also explored.
      19
  • Publication
    Two Journeys Intertwined: Lord Kerr and EU Law
    (Hart, 2021-12-02)
    The career of Lord Kerr happens to coincide with United Kingdom membership of the EU. This chapter reflects on the intersection of that career with EU Law, focusing on the cases Lord Kerr heard in the Supreme Court and in particular those EU Law cases where he gave the leading judgment. Lord Kerr heard about four cases a year with an EU Law dimension across a limited number of fields: more than half the cases concerned immigration and asylum; extradition (under the European Arrest Warrant) and employment law. He was adept at navigating the complex relationship between the two legal orders of EU and domestic law while giving principled and significant judgments on a range of issues including the status of the death penalty in both EU law and in the common law; the obligation on public authorities to adhere to the rule of law; and the existence of an EU law principle of non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. As in other fields, when analysing and applying EU Law, Lord Kerr showed himself to be a progressive judge championing the rights of the individual in relation to the exercise of public authority.
      14
  • Publication
    The Supreme Court and EU Law: Reshuffling the Institutional Balance
    (Clarus Press, 2021-06-30) ;
    Irish Courts are not exclusively national courts. They form an integral part of a pan-European Union legal network where domestic courts are increasingly viewed by the Court of Justice of the European Union as European Courts. The Irish Courts, and in particular the Supreme Court, have had a significant role in the constitutional developments of the European Union but the way EU Law arises in the Supreme Court should not be characterised as one concerning constitutional crisis. EU law is an ordinary and integral part of the Irish legal system. This poses the question: to what extent are the Irish courts being Europeanised as a result of the increasing volume and significance of cases involving EU law? We created a database (https://zenodo.org/record/3843265#.YVxuDLhKjct) of all civil law cases before the Irish superior courts over a 10 year period. First, we briefly set out the overall picture for the Superior Courts and EU Law over 10 years before turning to focus on the Supreme Court and EU Law activity in 2019 where we consider some of the key issues that arose in the year in civil and criminal law, reflecting on what de Witte terms the reshuffling of the internal institutional balance and the potential horizontal dimension where national courts are impacting on institutional issues within other Member States.
      23