Juries in Ireland
Laypersons and law in the long nineteenth century
Niamh Howlin
Shortlisted for DSBA (Dublin Solicitors’ Bar Association) Law Book of the Year Award 2018
“A lively and informative monograph … Howlin moves beyond criminal juries and brings the readers’ attentions to a wide variety of lay juries and the occasions upon which members of the public were called to play a role in assessing the veracity of evidence and the outcomes of cases. They include the lunacy jury; the jury of matrons; market juries; inquests; coroners’ and sheriff’s juries. Of those selected and exam[1]ined in depth by Howlin, the wide-street juries in Dublin and the Jury of Matrons are two that stand out as curious to the lay and legal reader alike ... Howlin’s text on juries handles complex legal concepts in a manner which is accessible to the lay reader and the she displays a thorough and meticulous examination of primary sources and case history”. Orla Fitzpatrick, Irish Studies Review, 27:4
'This volume is [...] written with verve, style and substance. It also illustrated with choice and pleasingly scabrous cartoons [...] The book has extensive case references and bibliography and an excellent index by Julitta Clancy. The verdict of this juror is clear', Patrick Gageby, Criminal Law and Practice Review (2018).
'This is an ambitious book that provides new insights into an important and absorbing subject ... [it] provides useful references with new material particularly from newspaper reports and cases usefully provided. The richness of the footnotes makes it a very useful work of reference, and the attention to the procedures and processes at play is incredibly helpful ... These are beautifully produced books that map the contours of the subject in a new and exciting way and are written by diligent scholars and dedicated thinkers. There is much to celebrate in this new title and its contribution to Irish legal history', John McEldowney, The Irish Jurist (2018).
‘The manner in which our modern Jury System developed is a fascinating one … Juries in Ireland gives a compelling account of the idea of development and nuances of the jury system in the 19th century’, UCD Today (Winter, 2017).
'Niamh Howlin presents a comprehensive view of the institution's nineteenth-century history. She skilfully draws out both the political questions which are so often at the heart of analyses of the jury, and the detailed points of procedure which can only really be grasped by a painstaking process of archival research ... This excellent book ... would be of interest to anyone studying jury systems generally, or to anyone studying any aspect of nineteenth-century trial processes in any country which used some variety of the common law', Kevin Crosby, Irish Journal of Legal Studies (2017).
'[A] splendid book which is the result of careful research and gives a comprehensive and nuanced account of juries in nineteenth century Ireland', Cowan Ervine, Edinburgh Law Review (2019).
'Howlin's study about Juries in Ireland offers a serious academic analysis of the operation of the Irish jury system during the nineteenth century ... an extremely well-crafted book. It is scholarly in approach and fills an important gap in Irish legal history and it deserves a wide readership', John McEldowney, Parliaments, Estates and Representations (Sept. 2018).
