The Irish Court of Appeal: The First Decade of an Intermediate Appellate Court

This book examines intermediate appellate courts by using the Irish Court of Appeal as a case study.

The operation and contribution of intermediate appellate courts are often overlooked in legal scholarship, which tends to focus on apex courts, most frequently national supreme courts. However, intermediate appellate courts perform a series of vital functions, including error prevention, the development of doctrine, and ensuring that apex courts are free to concentrate on issues of exceptional public importance. The significance of intermediate appellate courts has increased in recent decades in tandem with an increase in the volume and complexity of litigation in many countries.

The Irish Court of Appeal was established in 2014 and this enables a number of dimensions of non-apex courts to be examined, including the rationales for, and challenges of, inserting such a court into an existing and well-established legal system. Institutional aspects of the court such as the appointment and promotion of its judges and its rules on dissent are analysed. The process of ’setting up court’ is described. In addition, its contribution to some areas of substantive law over the first 10 years of its operation is evaluated. Interviews with judges who have served on the Court enrich the book’s account of its operation and development. In addition, comparative perspectives from Northern Ireland and England and Wales enhance the analysis of an integral part of many legal systems.

Mark Coen and Noel McGrath are Lecturers in Law at University College Dublin, Ireland.