Seanad debates

Wednesday, 13 April 2005

Statute Law Revision (Pre-1922) Bill 2004: Second Stage.

 

3:00 pm

Photo of David NorrisDavid Norris (Independent)

I congratulate the Leader in rising so magnificently to the challenge posed on this side of the House when it was suggested — with an impertinence I find breathtaking — that she might not find the resources to fill the 15 minutes. As she pointed out, rubbing it in beautifully in her final comments, she took some extra time and could have gone on forever, as she said. Let this not be a surprise. I regard this afternoon, where I am making only a short contribution, as one of the treats of legislative life. We followed the delightful antiquarianism that so seduced the Leader down the byways, with increasing interest, as she painted such an historic picture.

In many of these pieces of legislation we do in fact enter historic periods. We enter, with the Chanceries Act into the world of Dickens, "Jarndyce and Jarndyce" and the endless peregrinations of the law. I am very glad that tribute was paid to Mr. Edward Donelan from this side of the House. I did not know he was the person involved. He was a student of mine in Trinity for a period and he managed not to be too damaged by that experience. I have spoken to him unofficially about various legal matters and always found him to be the soul of courtesy and scholarship. I am very glad that tribute was paid to him here today.

The principle involved in this legislation is the one enunciated by an interior decorator in the 1920s, namely, "less is more". The less the legislation the more effective it can be. I am glad to see this happening. It makes matters more accessible and user-friendly. It is more logical. Perhaps we could have achieved more by taking the direction the French took under Napoleon, namely, codifying the whole law. That would have been helpful, but it is an enormous undertaking. Nonetheless, I hope this State will embark upon it at some stage.

I will follow on the coat tails of my distinguished Leader, Senator O'Rourke, in just looking at a couple of these intriguing and delightful titles. It is like a core sample going down through the earth where all types of strata are picked up. The Bill is a general broad sweep moving from legislation brought in under Poynings Law, that was restrictive of the Irish, to the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919. It moves from a period of oppression to a moment of the liberation of suppressed classes in society.

Within my lifetime, I was intrigued that the utterance of the phrase "Crom abú", the war cry of the Ormonde Butlers, was a capital offence. They were the traditional enemies of my Gaelic Irish family on my mother's side. Has that law been excised or have I, in the precincts of Parliament, committed a capital offence?

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