Northern / Irish Feminist Judgments: Judges' Troubles and the Gendered Politics of Identity

by Máiréad Enright, Julie McCandless, Aoife O'Donoghue

Overview

The Northern/Irish Feminist Judgments Project inaugurates a fresh dialogue on gender, legal judgment, judicial power and national identity in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Through a process of judicial re-imagining, the project takes account of the peculiarly Northern/Irish concerns in shaping gender through judicial practice. This collection, following on from feminist judgments projects in Canada, England and Australia takes the feminist judging methodology in challenging new directions. This book collects 26 rewritten judgments, covering a range of substantive areas. As well as opinions from appellate courts, the book includes fi rst instance decisions and a fi ctional review of a Tribunal of Inquiry. Each feminist judgment is accompanied by a commentary putting the case in its social context and explaining the original decision. The book also includes introductory chapters examining the project methodology, constructions of national identity, theoretical and conceptual issues pertaining to feminist judging, and the legal context of both jurisdictions. The book, shines a light on past and future possibilities - and limitations - for judgment on the island of Ireland.

'This book provides a rich and expansive addition to the feminist judgments catalogue. The ... judgments demonstrate powerfully how Northern/Irish judges have contributed to the gendered politics of national identity, and how the narrow subject-positions they have created for women and 'others' could have been so much wider and more open.'
Professor Rosemary Hunter, School of Law, Queen Mary University London.

'The Northern/Irish Feminist Judgments Project is inspirational reading for anyone interested in feminism or Irish studies ... It is a model of how to conduct feminist enquiry. Its most innovative contribution to scholarship and politics is how the rewriting of landmark legal judgments from a feminist perspective allows us to imagine (and therefore begin to construct) a more egalitarian, a more just, future.'
Associate Professor Katherine O'Donnell, School of Philosophy, University College Dublin.

If you let it, this book will make you think. ... It made me think - it reminded me, I suppose - that legal writing can be wonderful: rigorous, creative, deeply observant, provocative. Read it and see what it makes you think.
Professor Thérèse Murphy, School of Law, Queen's University Belfast

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849465748
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/09/2017
Pages:	704
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Máiréad Enright is a Senior Lecturer at Birmingham Law School.
Julie McCandless is Assistant Professor at the Law Department of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Aoife O'Donoghue is a Senior Lecturer at Durham Law School.

Table of Contents

Poem Sarah Clancy v

Foreword Professor Monica McWilliams vii

Acknowledgements ix

The Contributors xvii

Abbreviations xxi

Table of Cases xxiii

Table of Statutes and Legislation xxxv

Part I Introduction

1 Introduction: Troubling Judgment Julie McCandless Máiréad Enright Aoife O'Donoghue 3

2 'Involuntary Patriotism': Judgment, Women and National Identity on the Island of Ireland Máiréad Enright 27

3 Doing Feminist Judgments Mary Shine Thompson 49

4 Judging and the Judgment Writing Process: A Northern/Irish Perspective Aoife O'Donoghue 75

Part II Mothering Subjects

5 McGee v Attorney General

Commentary: Emilie Cloatre and Máiréad Enright 95

Judgment: Máiréad Enright 107

6 Flynn v Power

Commentary: Deirdre McGowan 117

Judgment: Eoin Daly 126

7 MhicMhathúna v Attorney General

Commentary: Calm O'Cinnéide 137

Judgment: Liam Thornton 147

8 Matrimonial Homes Bill

Commentary: Louise Crowley 157

Judgment: Lucy-Ann Buckley 163

9 National and Provincial Building Society v Lynd

Commentary: David Capper 177

Judgment: Lorna Fox O'Mahony 183

10 The Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the 'Kerry Babies Case'

Commentary: Yvonne Marie Daly 195

Judgment: Vicky Conway 204

Part III Othered Subjects

11 McGimpsey v Ireland

Commentary: Ruth Alice Houghton 221

Judgment: Aoife O'Donoghue 229

12 In Re White

Commentary: Carmel Roulston 241

Judgment: Catherine O'Rourke 250

13 Lobe v Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform

Commentary: Hilkka Becker 263

Judgment: Siobhán Mullally and Cliodhna Murphy 271

14 Zappone and Gilligan v The Revenue Commissioners, Ireland and the Attorney General

Commentary: Siobhán Wills and Máiréad Enright 283

Judgment: Fiona de Londras 288

15 In Re E (a child) (the 'Holy Cross' case)

Commentary: Christine Bell FBA 303

Judgment: Colin Murray 311

16 O'Keeffe v Hickey

Commentary: Laura Hilly 325

Judgment: Maeve O'Rourke 334

17 Christian Brothers High School Clonmel v Mary Stokes and the Equality Authority

Commentary: Claire Bruton 345

Judgment: Olivia Smith 353

Part IV Choosing Subjects

18 Attorney General v X

Commentary: Sheelagh McGuinness 369

Judgment: Ruth Fletcher 379

19 North Western Health Board v HW and CW (the PKU case)

Commentary: Donal Coffey 395

Judgment: Maebh Harding 402

20 PM v The Board of Management of St Vincent's Hospital and Justin Geoghegan and the Attorney General

Commentary: Claire Murray 415

Judgment: Mary Donnelly 423

21 Re Family Planning Association of Northern Ireland v The Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety

Commentary: Sara Ramshaw 433

Judgment: Kathryn McNeilly 441

22 Society for the Protection of Unborn Children's Application for Judicial Review

Commentary: John Kennedy 455

Judgment: Claire McCann 464

Part V Embodied Subjects

23 DPP v Tiernan

Commentary: Liz Campbell 479

Judgment: Louise Kennefick and Caroline Fennell 485

24 McKinley v Minister for Defence

Commentary: Fergus Ryan 495

Judgment: Joanne Conaghan 506

25 BJM v CM

Commentary: Christine Ryan 515

Judgment: Aideeu Ryan and Katie Dawson 525

26 DPP v C

Commentary: Anna Arstein-Kerslake 535

Judgment: Eilionóir Flynn and Sinéad Ring 542

27 CC v Ireland

Commentary: Cian Ó Concubhair 557

Judgment: David Prendergast 566

28 Foy v An t-Ard Chláraitheoir

Commentary: Ivana Bacik 579

Judgment: Tanya Ní Mhuirthile 587

29 Barnes v Belfast City Council

Commentary: Fiona Cooke .601

Judgment: Marie Fox 612

30 A and B (by C) v A (Health and Social Services Trust)

Commentary: Marian Duggan 623

Judgment: Julie McCandless 630

Glossary of Terms 645

Index 647

Editorial Reviews

"The need for such a work is apparent: women have been under-represented in Irish courts before and after independence, meaning that their voices have been absent. The depth of research that went into this work is admirable and gives it credibility...This book is wonderfully insightful and is an essential and highly recommended companion reader to one-sided cases which do not truly do justice." --Irish Jurist

"This fascinating book will be much used educationally, since it is deeply instructive to compare the re-judgments with the official judgments." --Books Ireland

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