The Fifth Court - DSBA Legal Podcast of the Year - E63 The Fifth Court - two top academics discuss two upcoming referendums - Deirdre McGowan, TUD and Maebh Harding, UCD

E63 The Fifth Court - two top academics discuss two upcoming referendums - Deirdre McGowan, TUD and Maebh Harding, UCD

02/28/24 • 46 min

The Fifth Court - DSBA Legal Podcast of the Year

E63 The Fifth Court

With two referendums (*see note below) looming, hosts Mark Tottenham BL and Peter Leonard BL invited two top law academics to studio to discuss the issues involved. Deirdre McGowan of TU Dublin and Maebh Harding of UCD are two of the authors of a book, 'Family Law in Context', a textbook for those wishing to study the latest developments in family law. Before the two women discuss the referendums they give an update on developments in family law in Ireland (e.g. very few people seek nullity any more). They say that a 2 year wait for divorce is still too long. And they discuss surrogacy, recently highlighted by the 'Rosanna Davidson case'.

The hosts also discuss three cases from the Decisis.ie casebook

A case about the wording of a will involving alternate executors
A very long running case involving the spraying of commercially grown apples by a potato farmer adjoining the apple farm.
A planning case about the claimed overshadowing of a passive solar house and the role of an expert in his own case.

*P.S. Scholars often use referenda as the plural for referendum. This choice is a hypercorrection—it may sound like proper Latin, but it is not. Referendums is always the correct choice. However, we maintain that there is value in using referendums for multiple events and referenda for multiple propositions.

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E63 The Fifth Court

The hosts also discuss three cases from the Decisis.ie casebook

A case about the wording of a will involving alternate executors
A very long running case involving the spraying of commercially grown apples by a potato farmer adjoining the apple farm.
A planning case about the claimed overshadowing of a passive solar house and the role of an expert in his own case.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

E62 The Fifth Court - Northern Ireland Troubles Legacy Act. Solicitor Darragh Mackin, "You wouldn't see the likes of it in Russia"

Episode 62, hosts Peter Leonard BL and Mark Tottenham BL, discuss the Northern Ireland Troubles Legacy Act 2023 - an extremely controversial piece of legislation with well-known solicitor Darragh Mackin. "You wouldn't see the like of it in Russia."

Darragh Mackin of Belfast based Phoenix Law, has been described as ‘a rising star on the international legal scene. In 2016, Darragh was the first ever Ireland based Lawyer to win, an award at the prestigious London Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards. He has developed a specialist practice in Human Rights, Public Law, Actions against Public Authorities and International law. He continues to appear in some of the most complex Inquests and Inquiries in Ireland, acting for 47 of the families in the Stardust Inquest and appearing in the Ballymurphy Inquest.

Darragh's cultural recommendations are 'Are You With Me?: Kevin Boyle and The Rise of the Human Rights Movement by Mike Chinoy and Spider Woman: A Life

Book by Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond

As always Peter and Mark take a look at three recent cases from the Decisis Law Reports casebook

A case involving 37 aircraft, valued at $2 billion, allegedly owned by a Russian company (in liquidation) that in turn said had given a 'pledge agreement' against their value to a 'connected company', but hadn't been registered as a charge, therefore were null and void. Those pledge agreements 'fell away'.
A case involving a medical practitioner accused of rape. The Medical Council sought to suspend the accused from practice. The dilemna here is the 'presumption of innocence' versus the 'protection of the public'. He was allowed to continue to practice as long as he was chaperoned. Investigations continue.
A case about the valuation of land, however brought 'out of time'.

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Next Episode

E64 The Fifth Court - The Legal Final Frontier? Outer Space Law. Zeldine O’Brien BL

E64 The Fifth Court, boldly going where no legal podcast has gone before.

Hosts Mark Tottenham BL and Peter Leonard BL talk to Zeldine O'Brien BL, a recognised expert in international space law who knows who 'owns' the Moon? What laws do you have to observe if you venture into outer space? Can you sell property on other planets? This is just brilliant, and not at all as straightforward as you may imagine.

Zeldine is a practising barrister and holds a Ph.D on international space law. During her years of doctoral research, she was a participant in the European Space Agency's student participation programme. She has published widely in the field of space law in Ireland, the Netherlands and the U.S. and has taught at Trinity's Law School. She has also taught in Kosovo with the Irish Rule of Law International's project there in coordination with the Kosovo Chamber of Advocates. She is a member of the Society of Legal Scholars.

As always our dynamic duo of interlocutors discuss three recent prominent cases from the Decisis.ie casebook.

A case between Ryanair and On The Beach Ltd, concerning the latter's alleged screen scraping.
A case involving a lay litigant who brought proceedings against the HSE, arising from certain medical treatments but the appellant hadn't brought any expert medical opinion to support her claim.
In the third case the issue of 'nesting', where children remain in the family home, whilst the parents move in and out, alternately, following a separation, something that arises when two parents can't afford two separate homes.

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