Christianity and the Making of Irish Law - Violence, Virtue, and Reason

This volume looks at key Irish figures, beyond lawyers and judges, whose ideas have impacted on the way law is conceived, conceptualised, and practised. The work consists of four Parts, each corresponding to a distinct historical phase.

List of contents

List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction
David H. McIlroy
Part I
Ireland before the Anglo-Norman Invasion
1. Adomnán of Iona (642-704): The Law of the Innocents
James W. Houlihan
2. The Political and Legal Thought of Sedulius Scottus' De Rectoribus Christianis (On Christian Rulers) (fl.840-860)
Noémi Farkas
Part II
Ireland in the time of the Protestant Ascendancy
3. Sir John Davies (1569-1626): Law, Church, "Commonwealth" and "Empire"
Robert Armstrong
4. English Law and Irish Religion in the Early Seventeenth Century: The Case of Sir Thomas Ryves (1583-1652)
Alan Ford
5. Of Canon Law and Kings: The Legal Thought of James Ussher (1581-1656)
Samuel L. Bray and D. N. Keane
6. George Berkeley (1685-1753) on Obedience and Natural Law
Kenneth L. Pearce
7. Edmund Burke (1729-1797): Student of the Common Law
Samuel Burgess
Part III
The Struggle of Irish Independence
8. Liberation through Law: Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847)
Patrick Geoghagen
9. The Authority of Tradition: John Henry Newman (1801-1890) and Legal Theory
Michael P. Moreland
10. Edward Carson (1854-1935): Nostalgia, Identity, and the Justification of Violence
Clare O'Hare
11. In the Shadow of Patrick Pearse (1879-1916): a Partial Biography of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland
William Olhausen
12. Soldier, Revolutionary, Statesman, Lawgiver: An Essay on the Constitutional Thought of Éamon de Valera (1882-1975)
Conor Casey
Part IV
Irish Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century
13. James Joyce (1882-1941) as a Great Irish Christian Jurist
Nicholas J. McBride
14. Richard O'Sullivan QC (1888-1963): Chronicler of the Common Law
David H. McIlroy
15. Charles McQuaid (1895-1973) on the Duties of a Catholic Democracy
Leonard Taylor
16. C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) on Natural Law and Retribution
Micah J. Watson
17. Left of Legalism: Herbert McCabe (1926-2001) on Law and its Limits
James Chegwidden

About the author

David H. McIlroy is a Global Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame (USA) in England. He is also a Barrister called to the Bars of England and Ireland.

Product details

• Authors: David H. McIlroy
• Assisted by: David H. McIlroy (Editor)
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 18.11.2025
• EAN: 9781041037422
• ISBN: 978-1-0-4103742-2
• No. of pages: 356
• Series: Law and Religion
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Social sciences, law, business > Law > Miscellaneous; Religion / Christian Church / General, European History, LAW / General, LAW / Legal History, RELIGION / Religion, Politics & State, HISTORY / Social History, RELIGION / Philosophy, LAW / Jurisprudence, LAW / Comparative, Religion: general, Christianity, British & Irish history, Legal History, comparative law, Jurisprudence & Philosophy Of Law, Methods, theory and philosophy of law