A 1,400 word blog post on Ed Miliband's proposal to abolish the House of Lords and replace it... more A 1,400 word blog post on Ed Miliband's proposal to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a Senate of the Regions. The piece considers the argument for regional representation and the curtailing of the previously proposed constitutional convention. Originally published on the U.K. Const. L. Blog (23rd November 2014) at https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/.
The ultimate test of whether an association is voluntary or not is if you can leave it. It is dif... more The ultimate test of whether an association is voluntary or not is if you can leave it. It is difficult, at this remove, to appreciate how live an issue secession from the British commonwealth of nations was in the 1920s and 1930s. It occupied an inordinate amount of time and negotiation for a doctrine that had been ostensibly conceded in 1920. Yet, much as with the case of the appeal to the judicial committee of the privy council, once the dominions sought to take advantage of the freedom which had been guaranteed by official statements, they found a formidable amount of diplomatic pressure and legal opinion brought to bear to indicate that no such right could be officially declared. This article traces the evolution of the arguments about the right to secede in the 1930s, and examines how the right came eventually to be exercised in the case of the new commonwealth countries in the 1940s. It concludes by examining how the doctrine of secession as developed in the 1930s was abandoned in order to retain Indian membership in the commonwealth.
This article examines the influence of imperial law, law outside the UK but within the British Em... more This article examines the influence of imperial law, law outside the UK but within the British Empire, on the development of British constitutional law in the interwar period. It first looks at public law within the universities. Four foundational textbooks in British public law are then analysed to assess the extent to which the academic exposition of constitutional law was influenced by imperial law. The influence of imperial law on the areas of liberty/habeas corpus and citizenship is then considered. The article concludes by re-examining the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy and argues that Dicey accepted a variant of the ‘manner and form’ objection in the final edition of his textbook completed before his death.
Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJPOA) 1994 provides police officers wit... more Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJPOA) 1994 provides police officers with greater stop-and search powers, in order to find offensive weapons or dangerous instruments. Secti...
This paper explores the theoretical framework of judicial independence of international tribunals... more This paper explores the theoretical framework of judicial independence of international tribunals, with specific reference to the independence of the European Court of Human Rights. It then argues that independence is a key aspect of the legitimacy of an international tribunal and suggests that legal reforms designed to enhance the judicial independence of the European Court of Human Rights should focus on the two main structural parts of the Court, namely the judiciary and the Registry. This paper analyses a number of proposed reforms that can make the European Court of Human Rights more independent and credible. These insights are applicable to other international judicial fora.
In late 1936, the Commonwealth was rocked by the abdication crisis. There were three legal elemen... more In late 1936, the Commonwealth was rocked by the abdication crisis. There were three legal elements to this crisis. first, the British Parliament responded with a statute in order to amend the line of the succession to the throne. Secondly, the crisis provided an insight into the evolving nature of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The members of the Commonwealth were consulted before the passage of the British Act. The British legislation was subsequently adopted by different means according to the constitutional conventions of the respective countries. Thirdly, only one member of the British Commonwealth failed to assent to the British legislation. This was the Irish free State. The abdication crisis was perceived in the free State as an opportunity to remove the Representative of the Crown from the internal affairs of the State. Despite this, the British government were prepared to accede to the Irish response to the abdication crisis. This article will analyse the legal situa...
The purpose of this article is to provide an answer to one fundamental question: Why was a new Co... more The purpose of this article is to provide an answer to one fundamental question: Why was a new Constitution enacted in 1937? Between May 29, 1934 and June 1, 1934, Eamon de Valera indicated to a civil service committee that was reviewing the 1922 Constitution that it should not attempt to draft a new Constitution.1 On April 30, 1935 and May 2, 1935 he gave verbal instructions to John Hearne to begin drafting a new Constitution.2 Between these two dates the decision was made to draft a new Constitution. It is instructive, therefore, to review the events that occurred between those dates with a view to identifying additional reasons why a new Constitution was to be enacted. In answering this question four strands emerge, which provide the basis for the reasoning underlying the decision to introduce a new Constitution: (1) The need to complete the implementation of Fianna Fail’s republican constitutional project; (2) The problem of the juristic basis of the State as exposed in State (Ryan) v Lennon3; (3) The problem of the degradation of the rights provisions of the Irish Free State Constitution; and (4) The identification of weaknesses in the drafting of the 1922 Constitution. To analyse these different strands, it is necessary to consider the Irish constitutional history of the period and, in particular, the constitutional history of Fianna Fail.
A 1,400 word blog post on Ed Miliband's proposal to abolish the House of Lords and replace it... more A 1,400 word blog post on Ed Miliband's proposal to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a Senate of the Regions. The piece considers the argument for regional representation and the curtailing of the previously proposed constitutional convention. Originally published on the U.K. Const. L. Blog (23rd November 2014) at https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/.
The ultimate test of whether an association is voluntary or not is if you can leave it. It is dif... more The ultimate test of whether an association is voluntary or not is if you can leave it. It is difficult, at this remove, to appreciate how live an issue secession from the British commonwealth of nations was in the 1920s and 1930s. It occupied an inordinate amount of time and negotiation for a doctrine that had been ostensibly conceded in 1920. Yet, much as with the case of the appeal to the judicial committee of the privy council, once the dominions sought to take advantage of the freedom which had been guaranteed by official statements, they found a formidable amount of diplomatic pressure and legal opinion brought to bear to indicate that no such right could be officially declared. This article traces the evolution of the arguments about the right to secede in the 1930s, and examines how the right came eventually to be exercised in the case of the new commonwealth countries in the 1940s. It concludes by examining how the doctrine of secession as developed in the 1930s was abandoned in order to retain Indian membership in the commonwealth.
This article examines the influence of imperial law, law outside the UK but within the British Em... more This article examines the influence of imperial law, law outside the UK but within the British Empire, on the development of British constitutional law in the interwar period. It first looks at public law within the universities. Four foundational textbooks in British public law are then analysed to assess the extent to which the academic exposition of constitutional law was influenced by imperial law. The influence of imperial law on the areas of liberty/habeas corpus and citizenship is then considered. The article concludes by re-examining the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy and argues that Dicey accepted a variant of the ‘manner and form’ objection in the final edition of his textbook completed before his death.
Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJPOA) 1994 provides police officers wit... more Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJPOA) 1994 provides police officers with greater stop-and search powers, in order to find offensive weapons or dangerous instruments. Secti...
This paper explores the theoretical framework of judicial independence of international tribunals... more This paper explores the theoretical framework of judicial independence of international tribunals, with specific reference to the independence of the European Court of Human Rights. It then argues that independence is a key aspect of the legitimacy of an international tribunal and suggests that legal reforms designed to enhance the judicial independence of the European Court of Human Rights should focus on the two main structural parts of the Court, namely the judiciary and the Registry. This paper analyses a number of proposed reforms that can make the European Court of Human Rights more independent and credible. These insights are applicable to other international judicial fora.
In late 1936, the Commonwealth was rocked by the abdication crisis. There were three legal elemen... more In late 1936, the Commonwealth was rocked by the abdication crisis. There were three legal elements to this crisis. first, the British Parliament responded with a statute in order to amend the line of the succession to the throne. Secondly, the crisis provided an insight into the evolving nature of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The members of the Commonwealth were consulted before the passage of the British Act. The British legislation was subsequently adopted by different means according to the constitutional conventions of the respective countries. Thirdly, only one member of the British Commonwealth failed to assent to the British legislation. This was the Irish free State. The abdication crisis was perceived in the free State as an opportunity to remove the Representative of the Crown from the internal affairs of the State. Despite this, the British government were prepared to accede to the Irish response to the abdication crisis. This article will analyse the legal situa...
The purpose of this article is to provide an answer to one fundamental question: Why was a new Co... more The purpose of this article is to provide an answer to one fundamental question: Why was a new Constitution enacted in 1937? Between May 29, 1934 and June 1, 1934, Eamon de Valera indicated to a civil service committee that was reviewing the 1922 Constitution that it should not attempt to draft a new Constitution.1 On April 30, 1935 and May 2, 1935 he gave verbal instructions to John Hearne to begin drafting a new Constitution.2 Between these two dates the decision was made to draft a new Constitution. It is instructive, therefore, to review the events that occurred between those dates with a view to identifying additional reasons why a new Constitution was to be enacted. In answering this question four strands emerge, which provide the basis for the reasoning underlying the decision to introduce a new Constitution: (1) The need to complete the implementation of Fianna Fail’s republican constitutional project; (2) The problem of the juristic basis of the State as exposed in State (Ryan) v Lennon3; (3) The problem of the degradation of the rights provisions of the Irish Free State Constitution; and (4) The identification of weaknesses in the drafting of the 1922 Constitution. To analyse these different strands, it is necessary to consider the Irish constitutional history of the period and, in particular, the constitutional history of Fianna Fail.
A(n edited) re-post by invitation.
"This article originally appeared, in a slightly different ... more A(n edited) re-post by invitation.
"This article originally appeared, in a slightly different form, on the UK Constitutional Law Association blog. This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of ConstitutionUK, nor of the London School of Economics."
The second of two volumes, this book situates the drafting of the Irish Constitution within broad... more The second of two volumes, this book situates the drafting of the Irish Constitution within broader transnational constitutional currents. Donal K. Coffey pioneers a new method of draft sequencing in order to track early influences in the drafting process and demonstrate the importance of European influences such as the German, Polish, and Portuguese Constitutions to the Irish drafts. He also analyses the role that religion played in the drafting process, and considers the new institutions of state, such as the presidency and the senate, tracing the genesis of these institutions to other continental constitutions. Together with volume I, Constitutionalism in Ireland, 1932–1938, this book argues that the 1937 Constitution is only explicable within the context of the European and international trends which inspired it.
The first of two volumes, this book examines constitutionalism in Ireland in the 1930s. Donal K. ... more The first of two volumes, this book examines constitutionalism in Ireland in the 1930s. Donal K. Coffey places the document and its drafters in the context of a turbulent decade for the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and Europe. He considers a series of key issues leading up to its drafting, including the failure of the 1922 Constitution, the rise of nationalism in the 1920s and 1930s, and the abdication of Edward VIII. He sketches the drafting process, examines the roles of individual drafters and their intellectual influences, and considers the Constitution's public reception, both domestically and internationally. This book illuminates a critical moment in Irish history and the confluence of national, Commonwealth, and international influences that gave rise to it, for scholars of Irish history as well as of legal, constitutional, and Commonwealth history more broadly.
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Papers by Donal Coffey
"This article originally appeared, in a slightly different form, on the UK Constitutional Law Association blog. This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of ConstitutionUK, nor of the London School of Economics."
Also re-posted by Democratic Audit 3/12/14