The second of two volumes, this book situates the drafting of the Irish Constitution within broader transnational constitutional currents. Donal K. Coffey pioneers a new method of draft sequencing in order to track early influences in the drafting process and demonstrate the importance of European influences such as the German, Polish, and Portuguese Constitutions to the Irish drafts. He also analyses the role that religion played in the drafting process, and considers the new institutions of state, such as the presidency and the senate, tracing the genesis of these institutions to other continental constitutions. Together with volume I, Constitutionalism in Ireland, 1932-1938, this book argues that the 1937 Constitution is only explicable within the context of the European and international trends which inspired it.

The first of two volumes, this book examines constitutionalism in Ireland in the 1930s. Donal K. Coffey places the document and its drafters in the context of a turbulent decade for the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and Europe. He considers a series of key issues leading up to its drafting, including the failure of the 1922 Constitution, the rise of nationalism in the 1920s and 1930s, and the abdication of Edward VIII. He sketches the drafting process, examines the roles of individual drafters and their intellectual influences, and considers the Constitution's public reception, both domestically and internationally. This book illuminates a critical moment in Irish history and the confluence of national, Commonwealth, and international influences that gave rise to it, for scholars of Irish history as well as of legal, constitutional, and Commonwealth history more broadly.

The second of two volumes, this book situates the drafting of the Irish Constitution within broader transnational constitutional currents. Donal K. Coffey pioneers a new method of draft sequencing in order to track early influences in the drafting process and demonstrate the importance of European influences such as the German, Polish, and Portuguese Constitutions to the Irish drafts. He also analyses the role that religion played in the drafting process, and considers the new institutions of state, such as the presidency and the senate, tracing the genesis of these institutions to other continental constitutions. Together with volume I, Constitutionalism in Ireland, 1932-1938, this book argues that the 1937 Constitution is only explicable within the context of the European and international trends which inspired it.