Via
Ex Tempore, we have word of a new release on Irish constitutional history:
The Origins of the Irish Constitution 1928-41 (Royal Irish Academy). Here's the publisher's
description:
The Constitution of 1937 represents the culmination of the
‘constitutional revolution’ begun by Eamon de Valera, John Hearne and
others in the 1930s. Marking the 75th anniversary, the Origins of the
Irish Constitution is a comprehensive selection of key documents
relating to the development and drafting of the Constitution. The
documents have been collected from a variety of archival holdings,
covering the period 1929 to 1941. Gerard Hogan has written an extensive
commentary and annotation as a guide to the complex legal and
philosophical problems that arose during the drafting process.
Here's
more, from Ex Tempore blogger Paul MacMahon:
. . . The documents include
correspondence among the drafters, minutes of committee meetings,
significant judgments on the Free State constitution, and earlier drafts
of the Constitution. These documents come mainly from the National
Archives and the de Valera Papers (held at UCD). The book also includes
commentary to explain the contents of the 300+ documents. As you might
have gleaned from the title, the coverage isn’t limited to 1936 and
1937: rather, it puts the Constitution in a wider context, stretching
from 1928 to the Second Amendment of the Constitution in 1941. The
project was directed by (now-judge) Gerard Hogan; Research Assistant
Eoin Kinsella did much of the hard work; Professor Ronan Fanning edited
the materials down to size.
The book should be extremely useful for anyone seriously interested
in the Irish Constitution. . . .
