The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

In Chapter Five the Commission makes it provisional proposals for reform by recommending (a) that self induced intoxication should never ground a defence to any criminal charge or, alternatively, (b) that the offence should be that o f doing the proscribed act while intoxicated and that on conviction the accused should be liable to the same punishment as that provided by law for the offence charged, except for murder where the punishment should be as for manslaughter. B y way o f an interesting aside the Irish Independent of the 11 April 1995 reports that the President of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors recently accused the Law Reform Commission of "foot dragging" with its study aimed at overhauling the current bail laws. He is reputed to have expressed the view that the Commission had spent most of the past year considering the "non issue" o f the use o f drunkenness as a defence to a criminal offence! by Robert Clark and Blanaid Clarke; Publisher: Gill and Macmillan; 1075 pp; Price £30.00; softback. Contract Cases and Materials is an impressive collection of extracts from caselaw, articles and relevant legislation. A Casebook on Irish Contract Law by Brian Doolan (which has the same publisher as C l a r k ( e ) 's book) dealt exclusively with Irish Case Law and provided a very useful source book for students. The new book by Robert Clark and Blanaid Clarke is three times as long as Brian Doo l an 's book and purports to be a Course book for students, especially for those without easy access to a law library. The focus on the needs o f students is somewhat surprising in that the Clark(e) book will be o f great use to practitioners with its wide ranging sourcing o f 1 materials from not just Ireland but Ronald J Lynam Contract Cases and Materials

also other c ommon law jurisdictions. Doo l an 's book is more modest and concise but perhaps is a better source book for a student who does not have j substantial amount o f time to devote to each area o f contract law and yet wishes to gain some understanding of the judicial reasoning behind the j principle as enunciated in the contract j text books. | Contract Cases and Materials will be J extremely useful for practitioners. For a modest investment one obtains a diverse collection of materials with which to better understand the intricacies o f various aspects of contract law. As the authors point out in their preface, some areas o f Í | contract law do not yet have the benefit of modern Irish precedents and therefore foreign cases are very useful j to practitioners charting possible courses o f action for the Irish courts. | pages, one would expect that all areas j of contract law would be • j | comprehensively covered. However, j ! there are some noticeable gaps. For example, despite devoting fourteen | j privity o f contract, the authors do not give any extracts from the EC Directive on self employed Given the size of the book, at 1,072 pages to agency in the context of j contract is addressed, no mention is I made of the impact o f European Law in this area, other than to refer to the j unfair contract terms directive and the ! travel directive at page 3 84 of the text, j One would have expected that | relevant provisions o f the directive on J self employed commercial agents and the software directive, to name but two, would have also been mentioned given their mandatory requirements. Another problem with Contract Cases i and Materials is the lack of a subject index. While Doo l an 's book runs only j 3 2 8 pages its (admittedly short) index j is useful in locating relevant cases at a glance. Conversely Contract Cases and Materials has no subject index commercial agents or the Irish implementing legislation. While statutory limitation of freedom of

The Law Reform Commission Consultation Paper on Intoxication as a Defence to a Criminal Offence

This publication from the Law Reform Commission comprises five chapters culminating in provisional proposals j for reform in the area under j consideration. j The content o f the first chapter I provides information by way of introduction to the subject. It is clear Í that the intoxication defence has its roots in a series o f nineteenth century English cases culminating in the j Director of Prosecutions v Beard in ; ! 1920. This case established that ! | evidence of drunkenness which I j renders the accused incapable o f j forming specific intent essential to J constitute the crime should be taken into consideration with the other facts proved in order to determine whether or not he had that intent. This decision j was subsequently interpreted in the ! House of Lords decision of the ! Director of Prosecutions v Majewski \ Í which distinguished two forms of j intent, specific intent and basic intent, j However, the matter is not as simple as that and one must also consider other factors such as self induced intoxication as opposed involuntary ! intoxication. Other factors which require consideration are the issues of The historical development of the defence of intoxication is dealt with in Chapter Two and it is clear that the Common Law, in its formative period, was little concerned with the mental processes o f the offender. Prior to the nineteenth century intoxication was not a defence to a criminal charge. The Commission then proceeds to consider, in chapter three, the law in other jurisdictions together with an indepth consideration of Majewski culminating, in Chapter Four, with a consideration of recommendations for reforming the intoxication defence in ' other jurisdictions. I intoxication/insanity and ! intoxication/addiction.

whatsoever and this limits the accessibility of the materials

j contained in the book. The print in ' Clark(e)'s book is also quite difficult

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