Aileen Kavanagh

Thanks to @jdamh.bsky.social & @aoifemod.bsky.social for a fascinating discussion of secrets and revelation in international law, chaired by our own Christiane Ahlborn, and comments from @mikebecker.bsky.social, @pearceclancy.bsky.social @suryaroy.bsky.social & ors

We're thrilled to announce the relaunch of I•CONnect, the official blog of the International Society of Public Law!

Discover a fresh new design & an expanded global team of scholars bringing you cutting-edge constitutional & public law insights.

🔗 www.iconnectblog.com

Today, St Brigid’s Day, marks three years since Ireland’s first public holiday named after a woman. It’s a chance to celebrate the vital role women play in Irish culture and history.

Discover St Brigid's story on the @dib.ie https://www.dib.ie/biography/brigit-brighid-brid-bride-bridget-a0961.

#Brigid, the Celtic goddess, is said to have brought bees to Ireland from her apple orchards in the Otherworld, providing a nurturing foodstuff, sweetness & a healing agent through her honey ✨💫

#FolkloreSunday #Imbolc #StBrigid #CelticGoddess #Folklore #Ireland #honey #myth #legend #fire #bees

Huge thanks to @lsolum.bsky.social for ‘highly recommending’ my paper on living constitutionalism now available on SSRN. That’s made my day!

The paper is part of a new Research Handbook on Constitutional Interpretation out now with Edward Elgar.

Check out my sister’s brilliant book on beekeeping in Irish folklore. It’s a gem!

The Keeper of the Bees @beefolklore.bsky.social

"The Keeper of the Bees" is a beautifully illustrated book on folktales about bees and beekeeping 🐝

💻️: https://tinyurl.com/2n9z96eu

#bees #beekeeping #folktales

Legal Theory Lexicon: Adjudicative Facts versus Legislative Facts Introduction Facts are important to the outcome of legal disputes.  One of the things that law students may notice is that there are different kinds of factual disputes that arise in legal proceedings.  Some factual disputes are about events, occurrences, and transactions that are mostly relevant to the particular dispute--the civil action or the criminal prosecution.  Other facts are more general and bear on questions about what the law is or should be--and not what happened in a particular case. 

Legal Theory Lexicon: Adjudicative Facts versus Legislative Facts

Introduction Facts are important to the outcome of legal disputes.  One of the things that law students may notice is that there are different kinds of factual disputes that arise in legal proceedings.  Some factual disputes are…

Knight, "Declaratory remedies in judicial review and the prudential exercise of power".

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Thanks, Eoin

Many thanks, David!

Thanks, Liz.

Merci, Mathieu!

Thanks, Donncha! Christmas began early this year!

Congratulations to @tricondublin.bsky.social Director Prof @aileenkavanagh.bsky.social on winning the Inner Temple (Main Author) Book Prize 2025, awarded triennially as a ‘major prize for outstanding authorship’.

Overjoyed that my book The Collaborative Constitution @cambup-law.cambridge.org has won The Inner Temple Main Author Book Prize 2025! Great to celebrate with my fellow finalists Sean Coyle, Liron Schmilovitz & @vmantouvalou.bsky.social & the New Author winner Brooke Marshall.

Congrats to @tricondublin.bsky.social Director Prof @aileenkavanagh.bsky.social whose paper ‘Keeping it Real in Constitutional Theory’ is ‘Download of the Week’ on the Legal Theory blog, and described by Prof @lsolum.bsky.social as a ‘deep and important paper’.

Download of the Week: “Keeping it Real in Constitutional Theory” by Kavanagh The Download of the Week is Keeping it Real in Constitutional Theory by Aileen Kavanagh. Here is the abstract: In constitutional theory, we are familiar with the claim that a good theory must fit and justify constitutional practice. However, the criterion of 'fit' sometimes gets lost in the quest to provide a bold normative theory about what constitutional should be. Using the debate about the legitimacy of constitutional judicial review as an example, this article warns against a problematic disjuncture between theory and practice in the domain of constitutional law.

Download of the Week: “Keeping it Real in Constitutional Theory” by Kavanagh

The Download of the Week is Keeping it Real in Constitutional Theory by Aileen Kavanagh. Here is the abstract: In constitutional theory, we are familiar with the claim that a good theory must fit and justify…

Blue skies in @tcddublin.bsky.social yesterday.

Many thanks to Prof Zoltán Pozsár-Szentmiklósy for an eye-opening paper on democratic backsliding in Hungary last night at @tricondublin.bsky.social, and to @benedettalobina.bsky.social & Beatrice Monciunskaite for incisive comments.

Looking forward to chairing this @tricondublin.bsky.social seminar tomorrow on direct democracy in Hungary with visiting speaker Prof Zoltán Pozsár-Szentmiklósy with commentators @benedettalobina.bsky.social & Prof Beatrice Monciunskaite.

Death announced of Mary ‘May’ McGee who won historic Supreme Court contraception case Landmark 1973 case found married couples had right to make private decisions on family planning

One of the heroines of modern Ireland
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

📢The 2026 ICON•S Annual Conference Call for Submissions is out!

Join us in #Dublin from June 29 – July 1, 2026!

Read the 🧵for details ⬇️

New article called ‘Underuse of the Override’ forthcoming in the Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence, now up on @ssrn.bsky.social: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

It’s based on my 2023 Coxford Lecture: m.youtube.com/watch?v=UWRs...

TODAY! All welcome

Join us for an ICON meets TriCON webinar on October 17th on the rationale and risks of referendums!

Brilliant speakers, important topic.
ICON GBIE
@tricondublin.bsky.social

Interesting thread by @drdeanknight.bsky.social reflecting on how parliamentarians should respond to a declaration of incompatibility/inconsistency in UK or NZ law - a question which @robertcraig3.bsky.social tackles in this review of The Collaborative Constitution in @nilegalq.bsky.social

Really interesting, @drdeanknight.bsky.social! Thanks for the engagement. Do you have a link to your presentation to the Justice Committee? REALLY interested in the fascinating NZ developments in this field!

Thanks to @robertcraig3.bsky.social for this in-depth review of The Collaborative Constitution @cambup-law.cambridge.org in the @nilegalq.bsky.social.

Great discussion about inter-institutional interaction and constitutional conventions.

Thanks so much, Hannah!