Introduction to the Irish Legal System
Irish Court System

Irish civil and criminal systems are
based on the following structure:
• District (local)
• Circuit (regional)
• High and Supreme (National ) Courts
No synonymous distinction between
federal/local like there is in the US
 There is a Court of Criminal Appeal and
a Special Criminal Court
(Terrorism/Organised Crime) and other
specialist tribunals

Irish Court System

The President of the High Court is the
second most senior judge in the State
after the Chief Justice and is also ex
officio a Judge of the Supreme Court.
• The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is
Mrs. Justice Susan Denham
• The President of the High Court is Mr.
Justice Nicholas Kearns.
Irish Court System

Irish Courts (courts.ie) website has a
wealth of useful information including
• Court Rules
– http://courts.ie/rules.nsf/LookupPageLink/index?Op
enDocument
• Practice Directions (which compliment the
Rules)
– http://courts.ie/courts.ie/library3.nsf/PageCurrentWe
bLookUpTopNav/Practice%20Directions?opendocu
ment&l=en
• Legal Diary (court calendar)
– http://courts.ie/legaldiary.nsf/LookupPageLink/index
?OpenDocument&l=en&p=070
Irish Legal Research
Locating Irish law generally

WHENEVER POSSIBLE, START WITH
A SECONDARY SOURCE!!!
• Treaties/commentaries available in a
number of relevant areas; you will most
likely be directed to a relevant treatise but I
can give you recommendations as well
• Law Review articles, but note that these
are much less common in Ireland than in
the US
– Index to Irish journals articles available here:
http://www.legalperiodicals.org/
Primary sources of Irish Law
Constitutional Law

Irish Constitution = Bunreacht na
hÉireann
• Available in PDF at
– http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/upload/publications/2
97.pdf
• Enacted in 1937 following the demise of the
Free State Constitution of 1922
• Articles 34 - 39 relate to the Courts and the
Trial of Offences
Irish Case Law

Unlike in the US, many Irish cases go
unreported—i.e., they are not printed in
the main reporter series. Reported
cases are chosen editors of the law
reports, not by judges, based on their
precedential or novel value
• Unreported judgments may be available,
especially now through the BAILII website,
but older ones are much harder to come by
and aren’t usually cited
Irish Case Law
Irish Reports is where most cases get
reported and do include some “added
value” annotations
 Other important law reporters you may
encounter:

• Irish Law Reports Monthly - I.L.R.M
• Neutral citations on BAILII
– Irish Supreme Court: IESC
– Irish High Court: IEHC
Irish Case Law

The main law reports operate a citation
system of party names, year, report
volume, page.
• Ex: Shea v. Shea [2010] 3 I.R. 1
– Shea V. Shea (plaintiff and defendant)
– [2010] date of decision (always in brackets)
– 3: volume of
– I.R.: Irish Reports (main Irish case reporter)
– 1: page the case begins on
How to find Irish Case Law

The Irish Digest, currently only available
in print or electronically through Justis,
digests the main Irish, UK and EU
cases
• Allows researchers to locate cases by
topic, and provides annotations and brief
summaries for each case listed, very
similar to the Federal Practice Digest you
use for US case law research
• No such thing as headnotes/KeyNumbers
in Irish case law research
Where to find Irish Case Law

Bailii
• It’s FREE and FULL-TEXT searchable—
always try here first
• Be sure to select “Ireland” before searching
– http://www.bailii.org/form/search_cases.htmlCo
urts.ie

Irish Courts webpage
• contains Supreme Court cases from 2001,
the Court of Criminal Appeal from 2004
and the High Court from 2004
– http://www.courts.ie/Judgments.nsf
Example #4

A real question I was asked in one of
my Irish internships:
• “Alison, could you please find all cases that
involved the judicial review of any case in
which an authorised officer was involved”

Just like in US legal research, consider
your keywords before you search
• “judicial review” and “authorised officer”
seem pretty good—NOTE SPELLING
BAILLI is your best
(FREE!) alternative to
Lexis/Westlaw as you can
full-text search
Click on “Case Law
Search” to make your
results more relevant
Search by citation, phrase,
party name, or boolean
search (Advanced query)
Be sure to limit your
searches to only Irish
cases to ensure relevancy
You can re-sort results to
meet your search criteria
The Dunnes Stores
case—from the Irish
Supreme Court (IESC)—is
100% relevant, would
definitely be a good case
Parallel citations to official reporters
always found here IESC is the
neutral cite (IrEland Supreme Court), IR
(Irish Reports) is the official cite
Irish Courts.ie judgments page
Probably only helpful if you
have a citation or you know
the date of decision…
…although you can try
searching party name and
limiting search to
“Judgments”
Irish Statutory Law

Promulgated by the Oireachtas
[Parliament]
• Two houses: Upper=Seanad Éireann,
Lower=Dáil Éireann
• Dáil members elected by the public,
Seanad “indirectly elected”
• Prime Minster—Taoiseach—appointed
from the majority party
Irish Statutory Law
Ireland (like other Commonwealth
jurisdictions) does not codify their
legislation; therefore it is important to
“note-up” your Act (see subsequent slide)
 Irish legislation consists of

• Statutes (called Acts of the Oireachtas)
promulgated after independence in 1922
• Statutory Instruments (resemble US
Regulations, promulgated by executive
agencies to implement domestic and EU
legislation)
Irish Statutory Law

Irish Acts are usually cited by reference
to it’s “short title” and the chronological
number of the Act in the whichever year
it was promulgated
• Ex: Employment Equality Act, 1998 (No. 21
of 1998)
• Be sure to always include a comma
between the title and year
Where to find Irish Statutes

Bailii
• http://www.bailii.org/ie/legis/num_act/

Irish Statute Book online
• http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/home.html

Irish Current Law Statutes Annotated
• In print only, would kind of resemble our
USCA or USCS as it contains relevant
commentary and legislative history
information
If you get too many
results, use the “limit
results by” facet to reduce
entries to only those in the
year you are looking for
Documents will open in HTML—if
you need authentic version, click
“View PDF” in the next screen
You can always tell your
document in authentic if
you see the harp symbol
Cite:
Aviation Regulation Act,
2001 (No. 1 of 2001)
Irish Statutory Instruments

Secondary legislation issued as orders,
rules, and regulations, promulgated by
executive agencies under authority
delegated to them by the Oireachtas
• Statutory instruments = US regulations

Enacted in order to reduce the length
and complexity of statutes and increase
their flexibility—SIs work WITH statutes,
not separate to them
How to find Irish Statutory
Instruments
Available through the same sources
listed under Statutory Law section
 Citation form:

• Ex: S.I. No. 274/2005 — European
Communities (Compensation and
Assistance To Air Passengers) (Denied
Boarding, Cancellation Or Long Delay of
Flights) Regulations 2005