MACMILLAN Drafting the Irish Constitution, 1935–1937: Transnational Influences in Interwar Europe (Palgrave Modern Legal History)

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. Review “This is a book that has needed to be written for some time. Donal K. Coffey takes a relatively short document, drafted in a relatively short space of time, by a relatively small group of men, and places it firmly within its international context. He also takes the reader on an in-depth but readable exposé of the drafting process, further teasing out the conceptual, philosophical, legal, and international influences on the final document. Essential reading for any historian of Ireland, the Commonwealth, or constitutional development.” (Coleman Dennehy, University College Dublin, Ireland) From the Back Cover 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. About the Author Donal K. Coffey is Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.