The law of Ireland consists of constitutional, statute, and common law. The highest law in the State is the

Constitution of Ireland The Constitution of Ireland ( ga, Bunreacht na hÉireann, ) is the fundamental law of Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democracy, is broadly within the traditio ...

, from which all other law derives its authority. The Republic has a

common-law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

legal system The contemporary national legal systems are generally based on one of four basic systems: civil law, common law, statutory law, religious law or combinations of these. However, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique history an ...

with a written constitution that provides for a parliamentary democracy based on the British parliamentary system, albeit with a popularly elected president, a

separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typica ...

, a developed system of constitutional rights and

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incom ...

of primary legislation.

History of Irish law

The sources of Irish law reflect Irish history and the various parliaments whose law affected the country down through the ages.

The Brehon Laws

The Brehon Laws were a relatively sophisticated early Irish legal system, the practice of which was only finally wiped out during the

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland or Cromwellian war in Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell invaded Ireland w ...

. The Brehon laws were a civil legal system only – there was no criminal law. Acts that would today be considered criminal were then dealt with in a similar manner to

tort law A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishabl ...

today. A perpetrator would have to compensate the victim, rather than having a punishment, such as imprisonment, imposed upon him or her.

The first and second Dáil

The first and

second Dáil The Second Dáil () was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919 to 1922, Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elected ...

sat in opposition to British rule in Ireland. The laws passed by the first and second Dáil had no official legal effect.

Constitutional law

The Irish Constitution was enacted by a popular

plebiscite A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...

held on 1 July 1937, and came into force on 29 December of the same year. The Constitution is the cornerstone of the Irish legal system and is held to be the source of power exercised by the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government. The Irish

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

and High Court exercise judicial review over all legislation and may strike down laws if they are inconsistent with the constitution. The Constitution can be amended only by referendum. A proposal to amend the Constitution is introduced into

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland r ...

(the lower house of parliament) as a bill and if passed by the Dáil, and passed or deemed to have been passed by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

(the upper house), is put to the people. Only

Irish citizens Irish nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of the Republic of Ireland. The primary law governing these regulations is the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, which came into force on 17 July 1956. Reg ...

resident in the state may vote. There is no threshold for such referendums and a simple majority of voters is sufficient for a proposal to be passed. Once passed by the people the President signs the referendum bill into law. As of November 2011, there have been 33 such referendums: 23 of which were approved by the people and 10 of which were rejected. The constitution was also amended twice during an initial transitional period of three years following the election of the first President of Ireland when amendments could be made without recourse to the people.

Statute law

Modern-day statute law is made by the bicameral National Parliament — more commonly known by its Irish name, the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the bicameral parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The two houses of the Oireachtas ( ga, Tithe an Oireachtais): **Dáil Éireann ...

. Acts of the Oireachtas are split into sequentially numbered sections and may be cited by using a short title which gives the act a title roughly based on its subject matter and the year in which it was enacted. While the Oireachtas is bicameral, the upper house, the Senate, has little power which at most allows the Senate to delay rather than veto legislation, something that has only happened twice since 1937. Article 50 of the

carried over all laws that had been in force in the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independ ...

prior to its coming into force on 29 December 1937, insofar as these laws were not repugnant to the new constitution. A similar function had been fulfilled by Article 73 of the

Constitution of the Irish Free State The Constitution of the Irish Free State ( ga, Bunreacht Shaorstát Eireann) was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution,Southern Ireland, insofar as these laws were not repugnant to the Constitution of the Irish Free State. As a result, while the Irish state has been in existence for less than one hundred years, the statute book stretches back in excess of 800 years. By virtue of the

Statute Law Revision Act 2007 The Statute Law Revision Act 2007 is an Act of the Oireachtas of the Republic of Ireland which repealed a large amount of pre-1922 legislation of Ireland, England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom while preserving a shorter list of statutes. ...

, the oldest Act currently in force in Ireland is the Fairs Act 1204. The statute law of Ireland includes law passed by the following: * Pre-union Irish statutes ** the

King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Baili ...

as a lawgiver for Ireland, and the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two cham ...

(1169–1800) * English and British statutes, which applied to Ireland in their original enactment or were subsequently applied to Ireland ** the

(1066–1241) ** the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...

(1241–1706) ** the Parliament of Great Britain (1707–1800) * Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ** the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom, supreme Legislature, legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of We ...

, which applied to Ireland in their original enactment or were subsequently applied to Ireland (1 January 1801 to 5 December 1922) * Statutes of independent Ireland ** the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State (6 December 1922 to 28 December 1937) ** the present Oireachtas (from 29 December 1937 to date)

Secondary legislation

Notwithstanding the declaration in the 1937 constitution that the Oireachtas is to be "the sole and exclusive" legislature, it has long been held that it is permissible for the Oireachtas to delegate its law-making power(s) to other bodies as long as such delegated legislation does not exceed the "principles and policies" set out in the relevant authorising statute. All instances of delegated legislation in the Republic are known as statutory instruments, although only a small subset of these are numbered as statutory instruments and published by the Stationery Office. This latter subset is composed of statutory instruments which are required to be laid before the Oireachtas or which are of general application. In addition, a body of charters, statutory rules and orders and other secondary legislation made prior to independence in 1922 continues to be in force in Ireland insofar as such legislation has not been revoked or otherwise ceased to be in force.

Common law

Ireland was the subject of the first extension of England's

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

legal system outside England. While in England the creation of the common law was largely the result of the assimilation of existing customary law, in Ireland the common law was imported from England supplanting the customary law of the Irish. This, however, was a gradual process which went hand-in-hand with English (and later, British) influence in Ireland. As with any common-law system, the Irish courts are bound by the doctrine of ''

stare decisis A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...

'' to apply clear precedents set by higher courts and courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction. The main exception to this rule is that the Supreme Court has declared itself not to be bound by its own previous decisions. While the doctrine clearly means that the present High Court is bound by decision of the present Supreme Court, it is not altogether clear whether the decisions of courts which previously performed the function of courts of last final appeal in Ireland – such as the British House of Lords – bind the present High Court. In ''Irish Shell v. Elm Motors'', Mr Justice McCarthy doubted that decisions of pre-independence courts bound the courts of the state, stating that " no sense are our Courts a continuation of, or successors to, the British courts." However, the other two judges on the panel hearing the case declined to express an opinion on the matter as it had not been argued at the hearing of the appeal. Post-independence judgments of the British courts, and all judgments of the American and Commonwealth courts are of persuasive value only and do not bind the Irish courts.

European Union law

The ''European Communities Act 1972'', as amended, provides that

treaties of the European Union The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union (EU) member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedure ...

are part of Irish law, along with directly effective measures adopted under those treaties. It also provides that government ministers may adopt statutory instruments to implement European Union law and that as an exception to the general rule such statutory instruments have effect as if they were primary legislation.

International law

Ireland is a dualist state and

treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

are not part of Irish domestic law unless incorporated by the

. An exception to this rule might well be the provision in the constitution which says that "Ireland accepts the generally recognised principles of international law as its rule of conduct in its relations with other States." However while this provision has been held to assimilate the doctrine of sovereign immunity into domestic law, the Supreme Court have held that the provision is not capable of conferring rights on individuals. The dualist approach in international law contained in the Irish Constitution allows the state to sign and ratify treaties without incorporating them into domestic law. Thus while Ireland was one of the first states in Europe to ratify the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...

it was one of the last to incorporate the Convention into domestic law. And when done it was not directly incorporated into Irish law but given indirect, sub-constitutional, interpretative incorporation. In '' Crotty v. An Taoiseach'', the Irish Supreme Court asserted a power to review the constitutionality of treaties signed by the state, such that the government could be prevented from signing international agreements which would be contrary to the constitution. This ruling has resulted in ''ad hoc'' amendments to the constitution to permit the state to ratify treaties that might otherwise have been contrary to the constitution.

References

External links

Government

Irish Statute Book

Office of the Attorney General of Ireland

Other

Irish Law Site at UCC

Guide to Irish Law, 2001
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Law Of The Republic Of Ireland