The Gazette 1990

SEPTEMBER 1990

GAZETTE

physical resources to discover the historical heritage that has sur- vived. Government as well as academics are criticised for the lack of financial investment in legal historical research. The writer of this notice poses the question - why should the lawyer of today study legal history? Why should the Government or others invest in such a venture? It could be argued that the lawyer must study the past so as to understand the present and make predictions about the future. Frederick Maitland in "A Survey of the Century" in The Collected Papers of Frederick William Maitiand (H.A.L. Fisher ed., Cambridge, The University Press, 1911, pp. 438-39) noted that the office of historical research may be seen as that of explaining and therefore lightening, the pressure that the past must exercise upon the present and the present upon the future. Maitland stated: "Today we study the day before yesterday, in order that yesterday may not paralyse today, and today may not paralyse tomorrow". Some use history like A Mirror for Magistrates (a collection of cautionary tales, first published in 1559 - see L.B. Campbell ed. Oxford 1938) which set out historical instances of how those who offend against the divine order always come to a bad end. There is merit, however, in studying the past for its own sake and then enquiring whether the particular study of the past has any contribution to make to the present. Professor Elton in The Practice of History (Fontana Library, 1969) writes of the autonomy of history and states that the study of history is legitimate in itself and that any use of it for another purpose is secondary. The writer of this notice is attracted by Professor Elton's reasoning. He argues that, like all sciences, history, to be worthy of itself and beyond itself, must concentrate on one thing: the search for truth. Professor Elton argues that history's real value as a social activity lies in the training it provides and the standards it sets. He continues

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history, regarded as an autono- mous enterprise, contributes to the improvement of man and it does so by seeking the truth within the confines of its particular province, which happens to be the rational re- construction of the past". Put "legal" before the word "history" above, and the writer of this notice modestly suggests the justification for the law student studying legal history. The Common Law Tradition is a collection of essays in Irish legal history edited by John F. McEldowney, Lecturer in Law at the University of Warwick, and Paul O'Higgins, Professor of Law, King's College, London. Professor Desmond Greer, Professor of Law in the Queen's University of Belfast, in his contribution traces the development of the Civil Bill in

Ireland. Daire Hogan, Solicitor (author of The Legal Profession in Ireland) examines the cantankerous relationship between two members of the judiciary - Lord Justice Christian, who was a member of the Court of Appeal in Chancery in 1867, and Thomas O'Hagan, who became Lord O'Hagan of Tullahogue, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Professor N. Osborough, Professor of Laws at Trinity College, Dublin, editor of the Irish Jurist, and the moving force behind the Irish Legal History Society, draws attention in his essay to the relationship between the executive and the judiciary, an area of constitutional importance, in the years 1836, 1886 and 1893. Dr. John F. McEldowney, one of the editors, traces the social, political and economic context in which the administration of criminal justice

"Reason distinguishes man from the rest of creation, and the study of history justifies itself in so far as it assists reason to work and improve itself. Like all rational activities, the study of

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