Developing trends in the Catholicity of judicial decisions on the Constitution

Abstract

In this thesis I examine the development of Catholicity as an influence on judicial decisions on the Constitution. When I refer to Catholicity, it concerns Catholic thought, Catholic social teaching, clerical intervention in the legal process and evidence of judicial deference towards the Catholic hierarchy. I argue that there is less evidence of Catholicity in judicial decisions on the Constitution in the early years of the State than one would expect given the confessional culture that existed. I argue that the reason for this was the residual influence of the British liberal concept of parliamentary supremacy on the judiciary which meant that the Courts adopted an unassertive position and tended not to engage with the Catholic norms in the 1937 Constitution. An exception to this unassertiveness and unwillingness to engage with the Constitution was Gavan Duffy P whose judgments represent the high water mark of Catholicity at a time in which the Catholic Church's political influence was at its peak.