December 6, 2022, marks 100 years, to the day, when, under UK law, the Free State of Ireland was "born" (1). Since the twelfth-century, when the English invaded, Ireland remained under British rule for over 700-years. The political, cultural and religious tensions between the English and Irish endured throughout that time. On February 16th, 1844, Benjamin Disraeli (then-backbench MP for Shrewsbury) stood up in the Commons to define what had become referred to as the Irish Question:
He wanted to see a public man come forward and say what the Irish question was. One said it was a physical question; another, a spiritual [...it] was the Pope one day; potatoes the next. [...] That dense population in extreme distress inhabited an island [...they] had a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, and an alien Church, and, in addition, the weakest executive in the world. That was the Irish question.
Hansard. Vol. 72. 1844. State Of Ireland—Adjourned Debate (Fourth Night). Available online: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1844/feb/16/state-of-ireland-adjourned-debate-fourth#S3V0072P0_18440216_HOC_4 (Accessed November 26, 2022)
Across the following decades and into the twentieth-century - amid political factions and outright violence - attempts, unsuccessful, were made to resolve the longstanding Question. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, following the Easter Rising of 1916, attempted to do just that.
© Jake Hearn (The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple)
To mark Ireland's centenary, this blog post will highlight key features of the Irish legal research collection at Middle Temple Library, as well as a range of open access and subscription-based resources available to those working, or interesting, in the legal structure of Ireland.
The Irish collection at Middle Temple Library
Hardcopy textbooks
Textbooks on the law of Ireland are located in BAY 311. Titles include general practitioner texts and academic works on specific aspects of Irish law, such as: company law; environmental law, securities law, and several comprehensive guides on the structure of the Irish legal system.
The library also collects The Irish Law Times, located in BAY 305-306. (2)
Case law
BAILII [OPEN ACCESS] – a range of case law from the main courts in Ireland, including:
- Supreme Court of Ireland Decisions – from 1965
- Irish Court of Criminal Appeal – from 1983
- Irish Court of Appeal – from 2014
- High Court of Ireland Decisions – from 1878
- Irish Competition Authority Decisions – from 1992
- Irish Information Commissioner's Decisions – from 1998
- Irish Data Protection Commission Case Studies – 2005 - 2013
The Courts Service of Ireland [OPEN ACCESS] – judgements from 2001, from:
- High Court
- Circuit Court
- District Court
- Supreme Court
- Court of Appeal
- Central Criminal Court
- Court of Criminal Appeal
- Courts-Martial Appeal Courts
Lexis Library [SUBSCRIPTION] - The Irish Reports – coverage from 1919 includes:
- Supreme Court of Ireland
- High Court
- Court of Criminal Appeal
- And others.
Bloomsbury [SUBSCRIPTION] – the Irish Tax Reports – coverage from 1922
Legislation
Irish Statute Book – this site is the equivalent legislation.gov.uk. It's the main site for Irish legislation. The website contains the history of each Bill, as well as the debates.
KildareStreet – a useful site that also contains attached documents to pieces of legislation
BAILII [OPEN ACCESS]
- Irish Legislation - from 1922
- Irish Statutory Instruments - from 1922
- Irish Law Reform Commission Papers and Reports - 1976 - 2019
- Irish Treaty Series - 1930 - 2015
Other resources
The Oireachtas' site has its own library catalogue: if you are looking for a specific report or document, it's likely to be on this catalogue.
2022 additions to the Irish collection
Throughout 2022, there has been a raft of new editions and titles added to the Irish collection - both digital and hardcopy:
In November 2022, the Library increased its digital collections by subscribing to Bloomsbury Professional Online's Irish Company and Commercial Law module, which holds eighteen core practitioner works, including: Keane on Company Law (2016), Twomey on Partnership (2019), and Forde's Commercial Law (2020).
In addition to these changes, the Library will be rolling out a new Qualifying Session on Irish law in the coming year, with a focus on legislation, case law, and constitutional research.
If you have any questions about the Irish legal research collection at Middle Temple, please contact the library.
Key legislation cited in this blog post
Notes
(1)"Although under UK law the Free State was "born" on 6 December 1922, Irish lawyers and scholars have frequently identified other birth dates, usually 24 April 1916 or 21 January 1919". Torrance, D. 2021. The Anglo-Irish Treaty, 1921. House of Commons Library. Available from: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9260/ (Accessed November 25, 2022)
(2)For a comprehensive overview of the Irish collection housed at Middle Temple, please consult the Library's Irish Guide (Accessed November 25, 2022)
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Jake Hearn
Assistant Librarian
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