LRC publishes papers from anniversary event
The Law Reform Commission (LRC) has rounded out its 50th anniversary celebrations with the publication of the Dublin University Law Journal (DULJ), volume 46, issue 1.
Released at a reception event in Styne House, Dublin 2 (9 September), it includes papers from a symposium entitled ‘Re-forming Law Reform’, which was jointly hosted by the LRC and the DULJ this time last year.
Published by Clarus Press on behalf of the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, the DULJ is a leading peer-reviewed legal journal, publishing authoritative, critical and scholarly analysis on a broad range of legal issues.
‘Not the only game in town’
“A thread that runs through the contents of this issue of the DULJ is the fact that the LRC isn't the only game in town in respect of law reform,” said Mr Justice Frank Clarke, president of the LRC.
“For example, Niamh Howlin’s article is all about law reform before the LRC came into existence, and many of the other articles reflect on areas where law reform was not specifically a function of the LRC, but there were various other models adopted.”
At the event, Clarke referred to an article by Declan Costello, “father” of both the LRC and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which appeared in the first edition of the DULJ in 1976.
“Declan Costello’s idea behind the legislation [the Law Reform Commission Act 1975], as I read it, was that the programme for law reform should include all areas that the commission considered were in need of reform,” Clarke said.
Wide-ranging programme
“This was even if the commission felt it wasn’t the right body to conduct the research and make the proposals, either due to the lack of resources or perhaps the lack of expertise.
“When we go out to consult next year, hopefully, about the preparation of a new programme, perhaps that’s something we need to think about.
“Maybe we need to go back to the original model that Declan Costello proposed, and consider a wide-ranging programme of law reform, only some of which will actually be undertaken by the commission itself.”
DULJ, volume 46, issue 1, 2026 contains the following:
Foreword:
- Hy-Brasil Law School: A Feminist Law School for the Island of Ireland (Aoife O’Donoghue)
Law Reform Commission 50th Anniversary Conference: Re-forming Law Reform:
- Multi-Party Litigation and the Limits of Law Reform in Ireland (James Rooney)
- Public Consultation and Law Reform: The Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act 2024 (Luke Danagher and Jennifer Schweppe)
- The Role and Value of Law Reform Institutions In Constitutional Referendums (Adam Elebert)
- The Many About-Faces Of Labour Law Reform In Ireland (Alan Eustace and Michael Doherty)
- Law Reform Before the Law Reform Commission (Niamh Howlin)
- The Introduction of Land Registration in Ireland (Michael McGrath)
- The False Promise of ‘Law Reform’: The Law on Juries as a Case Study (Mark Coen)
Articles:
- A Constitution of Comity, Collaboration, and Constraint (Aileen Kavanagh)
- Democratic Erosion and the Rule of Law: Lessons from the EU and the US (Emily O’Reilly)