Author: Eoin

Dr Eoin O'Dell is a Fellow and Associate Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin.

Plans for an Irish Court of Appeal?

| 5 Comments
| Irish Court of Appeal, Irish Court of Appeal, Irish Law, Irish Society, judges, Politics

Four Courts dome, detail of an image via wikipediaSome time ago, in a similarly titled post, I discussed the establishment of a committee chaired by Ms Justice Susan Denham of the Supreme Court which was to consider the necessity for a possible new Court of Appeal. I thought it a good idea then, and still do now. According to Carol Coulter in today’s Irish Times, the Government has just received the committee’s report:

Logjam in Supreme Court appeals not serving justice

ANALYSIS: Too few judges hearing appeals and a recent proliferation of lay litigants means judgment delays of years, writes Carol Coulter

… the need for a Court of Civil Appeal to hear most appeals from the High Court, leaving the Supreme Court to deal with constitutional cases and those involving fundamental points of law, … arises from the increasing volume of cases going to the Supreme Court, resulting in lengthy delays. There can be up to three years’ delay in a case appealed from the High Court getting a hearing in the Supreme Court.

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What is unjust enrichment? is it comedy?

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| Restitution

Charlie Webb poses the provocative question “What is Unjust Enrichment?” in the title of an important piece just published in (2009) 29 (2) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 215-243. His basic point is that whilst the existence of a law of Restitution concerned with reversing unjust enrichments is largely uncontroversial, the ability of unjust enrichment to account for all restitutionary claims is far less so, and he therefore addresses the question of what role a conception of unjust enrichment can and should play in presenting and justifying the modern law of Restitution. Moreover, an excellent Irish perspective on this question is provided by Laura Farrell “The Future of the Law of Restitution in Ireland – the Unjust Question” (2008) 15(10) Commercial Law Practitioner 239.

Small image of a cauliflower, via WikipediaWhen I finished Webb’s piece, I went on to read some of the essays in The Fifth Remedies Discussion Forum published in 42 (1) Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review (2008) (currently here, but soon probably here), and whilst I was on the website, I took the opportunity to go back and look at the previous Remedies Forum also hosted by that Review. That earlier one was largely devoted to the Law of Restitution, and one of its themes was was that this subject should find a more prominent home in law school curricula, a sentiment with which I entirely agree.…

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Universities’ Declaration of Independence? – again

| 5 Comments
| college funding, Universities

Mortar board, from TCD site.A little while ago I mused that Irish universities seeking the freedom to set their own fees might decide to declare independence from government not just on fees but on all matters. But I thought then that it would never happen. However, the old adage “never say never” occurred to me this morning, reading the following story in THE [with added links]:

Privatise top 5 and let us form UK Ivy League says Imperial rector

The rector of Imperial College London wants the institution to go private and join four other Russell Group universities in an independent US-style Ivy League. Professor Sir Roy Anderson told the Evening Standard that privatisation would allow Imperial, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the London School of Economics and University College London to fulfil their economic promise.

“If you take the top five universities, they have enormous potential to earn income for Britain. How best to do that? My own view would be to privatise them,” he told the paper. “The trouble is all British universities are too dependent on Government. You don’t want to be subject to the mores of government funding or changing educational structures.”

Privatisation would allow Imperial and the other four “elite” institutions to set their own unlimited tuition fees and take more overseas students, he said.

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Freedom of information: a comparative legal survey

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| Freedom of Information

From Michael Lines on Slaw:

Freedom of information: a comparative legal survey

UNESCO and its Communication and Information Sector have just released a new edition of Freedom of information: a comparative legal survey, and it is free online.

Freedom of Information survey book cover, via the UNESCO websiteThe survey was prepared by Toby Mendel, Law Programme Director with Article XIX. From the survey’s homepage:

The importance of the right to information or the right to know is an increasingly constant refrain in the mouths of development practitioners, civil society, academics, the media and governments.

What is this right, is it really a right and how have governments sought to give effect to it? These are some of the questions this book seeks to address, providing an accessible account of the law and practice regarding freedom of information, and an analysis of what is working and why.

The analysis in the book is organised around a number of key features of an effective Freedom of Information regime:

  1. MAXIMUM DISCLOSURE
    Freedom of information legislation should by guided by the principle of maximum disclosure
  2. OBLIGATION TO PUBLISH
    Public bodies should be under an obligation to publish key Information
  3. PROMOTION OF OPEN GOVERNMENT
    Public bodies must actively promote open government
  4. LIMITED SCOPE OF EXCEPTIONS
    Exceptions should be clearly and narrowly drawn and subject to strict “harm” and “public interest” tests
  5. PROCESSES TO FACILITATE ACCESS
    Requests for information should be processed rapidly and fairly and an independent review of any refusals should be available
  6. COSTS
    Individuals should not be deterred from making requests for information by excessive costs
  7. OPEN MEETINGS
    Meetings of public bodies should be open to the public
  8. DISCLOSURE TAKES PRECEDENCE
    Laws which are inconsistent with the principle of maximum disclosure should be amended or repealed
  9. PROTECTION FOR WHISTLEBLOWERS
    Individuals who release information on wrongdoing – whistleblowers – must be protected

Ireland is not one of the countries assessed in this report, but since Elaine Byrne argued in yesterday’s Irish Times that legislation is need to protect whistleblowers, I am not sanguine that the Irish legislation (1997 as amended in 2003) would measure up well against these principles.…

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The Law of Trek

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| Cinema, television and theatre

Star Trek poster thumbnail, via star trek siteI just couldn’t resist this piece by Christine Corcos from the Law & Humanities blog [with added links]:

Re-Examining Star Trek

In his review essay on Star Trek: The Exhibition [link], Edward Rothstein [wikipedia] points out a number of anachronisms and anamolies, most stemming from the original television series and its spin-offs. He notes that mixing reality and pop culture may do neither justice. Points taken. (I saw this exhibition in San Diego). For those of us who grew up on ST: TOS and its offspring and who are fond of the Star Trek mythos, however, this show doesn’t represent the reality or history of space flight. But that, as I understand it, isn’t really the point of Star Trek: The Exhibition. The point is to examine the effect of the show on the generations who have watched and grown up with the show, and the effect of those viewers on Star Trek. See also the program (available on DVD) How William Shatner Changed the World [imdb], based on his book I’m Working On That: A Trek From Science Fiction To Science Fact (2004) [Amazon].

Can one exhibition capture all of that involvement and energy?

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A bank error in your favour is not a gift from God

| 15 Comments
| Mistaken payments, Restitution

Well, I mean, yes idealism, yes the dignity of pure research, yes the pursuit of truth in all its forms, but there comes a point I’m afraid where you begin to suspect that if there’s any real truth, it’s that the entire multi-dimensional infinity of the Universe is almost certainly being run by a bunch of maniacs. And if it comes to a choice between spending yet another 10 million years finding that out, and on the other hand just taking the money and running, then I for one could do with the exercise.

Frankie, one of the white mice in Chapter 31 of The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

It seems that a New Zealand couple, faced with a bank error in their favour of NZ$10m (€4.5m), similarly decided that they could do with the exercise: they, too, took the money, and ran; David Randall brings the story up to date in today’s Independent on Sunday (substantially reprinted in today’s Sunday Tribune:

On the trail of the 10 million dollar runaways

A month ago, Leo Gao and his girlfriend Kara [Hurring] were like millions of couples around the world as they struggled to pay their bills and keep their business [a filling station] afloat.

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