Law journals and Irish history, 1922–1939

Abstract

This article assesses the value of law journals as historical sources for the period in Irish history between 1922 and 1939 that do not always receive the attention that they deserve from historians and political scientists. The article examines the utility of Irish law journals, and a number of important non-Irish law journals, as sources of analysis for the difficult relationship between the Irish Free State and Dominion status, the gradual dismantling of the 1921 Anglo Irish Treaty settlement and the impact of partition on the Irish Free State and on Northern Ireland. The perspective of law journals on these related developments is of particular interest because these journals, in contrast to contemporary newspapers, often spanned the traditional nationalist/unionist divide in Irish politics. Yet, law journals were not passive observers of this process and were themselves profoundly affected by historical developments in this period.