Liz Heffernan with Úna Ní Raifeartaigh "Evidence in Criminal Trials"

It is interesting to compare this most recent publication on the Irish law of criminal evidence, written by Liz Heffernan with Úna Ní Raifeartaigh acting as consultant editor, with the very first book on this subject for the newly independent Irish State. The defining feature of R.L. Sandes’ Criminal Practice, Procedure and Evidence (Irish Free State), published in 1930, was its focus on Irish case law and legislation. This novel approach was justified as "the logical consequence of our detached national status". By contrast, Heffernan’s twenty-first-century text takes an unashamedly comparative approach and makes extensive use of national and international sources and scholarship.