UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Monday, 25 April 2016 at 11.30 am
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR IMELDA MAHER, School of Law on 25 April 2016, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa on GERARD HOGAN.
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President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
The Hon. Mr. Justice Gerard Hogan is Ireland’s foremost constitutional lawyer. He is best known for three magisterial works. The first, Kelly: The Irish Constitution (co-authored with G. Whyte, now in its 4th ed), is the undisputed authority in the field with the co-authors ably assuming the mantle of leading constitutional commentators from that earlier path breaking scholar, John Kelly. Constitutional law sets out how the state is to be organised, what values define it and how it will be governed with Administrative Law, a distinct but closely related field. Judge Hogan has proved himself the leading authority in Administrative Law with his definitive text of that name (co-authored with David Gwynn Morgan). With both these texts, he has defined the fields of constitution law and administrative law in Ireland, proving himself doctrinally rigorous in analysing the complexities of Irish law in the context of the common law and its evolution in other jurisdictions. His most recent text, Origins of the Irish Constitutions 1928-1941 (Royal Irish Academy in 2012) is a path-breaking resource of archival material and commentary running to more than 800 pp. This exhaustive work has brought together the influences on the creation and early development of our constitutions, of which there have been two, with the first emerging in 1922 shortly after the tumultuous decade which we are commemorating today.
Currently a judge of the Court of Appeal, Judge Hogan has had – and continues to have and I have no doubt will continue to have – enormous influence on the development of our law. He is unusual in the Irish legal firmament as he has exerted this influence across three related but different domains. First, having graduated from UCD and the University of Pennsylvania and with a doctorate from TCD, he had a long and distinguished career as a fellow in Trinity College Dublin. As well as the seminal texts already mentioned, during that time he authored dozens of articles in national and international law reviews, inspired generations of law students – those he taught and those who have scoured his books –dog eared and much highlighted, Hogan’s works are part of the initiation into the Irish legal world for any Irish undergraduate. He also was a willing mentor and adviser to many a new colleague – I came across a hugely generous footnote – a rarity in academic writing – where Judge Hogan acknowledged the outstanding contribution of two new scholars in the field. Such footnotes speak volumes.
Judge Hogan combined his academic work with legal practice, being called to the Bar in 1987, the Inner Bar in 1997 and being elected a bencher of Kings Inns in 2009. In this time, he proved a formidable advocate. As well as being an advocate and academic, he also played an important role in legal developments in the policy domain. He was a member of the Constitution Review Group 1995-6; the Competition Mergers Review Group 1996-2000, the Offences Against the State Act Review Group 1999-2002, The Committee on Court Practices and Procedures, and the Governing Council of Unidroit (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) – this list suggesting he was the person for considered, practical and robust advice on how the law should be reformed.
Then in 2007, he was appointed to the High Court and is now a member of the new and very busy, Court of Appeal where in a judicial capacity he brings his formidable intellect and unequalled learning to bear on how the law should be interpreted and applied.
He is without question the leading authority in constitutional law in the country. In an early piece he noted how the judiciary have sought to develop a distinctive corpus of Irish law through the infusion of constitutional principles into standard legal concepts. Judge Hogan as scholar, advocate and judge has played a hugely significant role in that process. He has helped give shape and form to the constitutional imagination of an independent Ireland the idea of which was aspired to outside the GPO on that fateful day in April 1916 and for that, we honour him today.
Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hunc meum filium, quem scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneum esse qui admittatur, honoris causa, ad Gradum Doctoratus in utroque Jure, tam Civili quam Canonico; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.