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Free Irish Law Notes & Case Explainers

Short, exam-focused breakdowns of the leading Irish cases and doctrines — free to read. New explainers added regularly.

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Contract Law

Free Irish Contract Law notes and exam-focused case explainers.

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Constitutional Law

Free Irish Constitutional Law notes and case explainers.

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Criminal Law

Free Irish Criminal Law notes and case explainers.

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Law of Tort

Free Irish Tort Law notes and case explainers.

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Land Law

Free Irish Land Law notes and case explainers.

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Family Law

Free Irish Family Law notes and explainers.

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Company Law

Free Irish Company Law notes: directors’ duties and lifting the corporate veil.

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Irish Legal System

Free notes on the courts, precedent and the legal profession.

Free case & topic explainers

Criminal Law

Actus Reus & Mens Rea

The building blocks of criminal liability — acts and omissions, causation, intention and recklessness, and strict liability.

Criminal Law

Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person

The 1997 Act ladder — assault, assault causing harm and causing serious harm, and the mens rea for each.

Criminal Law

Theft & Fraud Offences

Theft under the 2001 Act — dishonesty, appropriation and the intention to deprive, and the offences around it.

Criminal Law

Attempts, Conspiracy & Incitement

Where preparation ends and attempt begins, the mens rea of attempt, impossibility, and how conspiracy differs.

Criminal Law

Accomplice Liability & Joint Enterprise

Principals and accessories — aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring, joint enterprise and withdrawal.

Criminal Law

Insanity & Diminished Responsibility

The two mental-disorder defences under the 2006 Act — the verdicts available, what each requires, and the burden of proof.

Tort Law

Occupiers’ Liability

The 1995 Act — who is an occupier, the three categories of entrant, and the duty owed to each.

Tort Law

Medical Negligence

The professional standard of care in Irish law, the Dunne principles, advice and disclosure, and causation.

Tort Law

Employers’ Liability

The employer’s personal, non-delegable duty — competent staff, safe plant, safe place and safe system.

Tort Law

Defamation

What makes a statement defamatory, publication and identification, and the main defences under the 2009 Act.

Tort Law

Nuisance & Rylands v Fletcher

Unreasonable interference with land, who can sue, defences and remedies — and where the strict-liability rule fits.

Tort Law

Trespass to the Person

Assault, battery and false imprisonment as torts — the elements of each and why they are actionable per se.

Contract Law

Exclusion Clauses & Unfair Terms

Incorporation, construction against the party relying on the clause, and the statutory controls on unfair terms.

Contract Law

Misrepresentation

What counts as an actionable misstatement, the fraudulent/negligent/innocent categories, inducement and remedies.

Contract Law

Discharge & Frustration

How a contract ends — performance, agreement, breach and frustration — with the frustration test and its limits.

Contract Law

Remedies & Damages

The expectation and reliance measures, remoteness and mitigation, and when equity adds specific performance.

Constitutional Law

Unenumerated Rights (Article 40.3.1°)

Where the personal rights come from, the cases that identified them, and the modern judicial caution.

Land Law

Joint Tenancy vs Tenancy in Common

The four unities, the right of survivorship, why equity leans against a joint tenancy, and severance.

Family Law

Domestic Violence Orders

Safety, barring, interim barring, emergency barring and protection orders — who can apply and the test applied.

Irish Legal System

EU Law in the Irish Legal Order

Supremacy, direct and indirect effect, the constitutional licence for membership, and preliminary references.

Constitutional Law

Separation of Powers

How the Constitution splits legislative, executive and judicial power — delegation, the principles-and-policies test and the administration of justice.

Tort Law

Psychiatric Injury (Nervous Shock)

Nervous shock in negligence — the Kelly v Hennessy criteria, recognised illness versus grief, and the policy limits.

Land Law

Easements

The four characteristics, dominant and servient tenements, and how easements are created and acquired by prescription.

Family Law

Guardianship in Ireland

Who is a guardian, how guardianship is acquired, how it differs from custody and access, and removal under s.8.

Criminal Law

Self-Defence

Reasonable force in the circumstances as believed, the dwelling regime, retreat and excessive force.

Irish Legal System

Statutory Interpretation

The literal and purposive approaches, the Interpretation Act 2005, and the presumptions and maxims courts use.

Contract Law · Notes hub

All Contract Law notes

Free Irish Contract Law notes and exam-focused explainers, gathered in one place and linked into the complete Contract Law course. View all Contract Law notes →

Constitutional Law

Crotty v An Taoiseach: Sovereignty & EU Treaties

Why Ireland votes on every major EU treaty — what the Supreme Court decided, and how Pringle and Costello refined it.

Contract Law

Offer vs Invitation to Treat

Why adverts, shop displays and price lists usually aren't offers — and when they are.

Contract Law

Intention to Create Legal Relations

The domestic and commercial presumptions, how they're rebutted, and the objective test.

Criminal Law

Murder vs Manslaughter in Irish Law

The intent for murder under s.4 CJA 1964, provocation, and involuntary manslaughter.

Law of Tort

Duty of Care in Irish Negligence Law

The four-stage Glencar test — foreseeability, proximity, just and reasonable, and policy.

Land Law

Adverse Possession in Ireland

The 12-year rule, factual possession and animus possidendi, and how a squatter defeats a paper owner.

Family Law

Divorce in Ireland

The living-apart period, proper provision, and how divorce differs from judicial separation.

Family Law

Child Custody & Access in Ireland

The welfare/best-interests principle, and how guardianship, custody and access differ.

Irish Legal System

The Doctrine of Precedent & Stare Decisis

Ratio vs obiter, vertical and horizontal precedent, and how a court escapes a precedent.

Irish Legal System

Solicitor vs Barrister in Ireland

The divided profession, rights of audience, senior counsel, and how each one trains.

Irish Legal System

The Courts of Ireland Explained

District to Supreme, each court's jurisdiction and appeal routes, plus the Special Criminal Court.

Contract Law

Undue Influence in Irish Contract Law

Actual vs presumed influence, the relationships that raise the presumption, and how it reaches bank guarantees.

Contract Law

Offer and Acceptance

The objective test, valid acceptance and its communication, the silence rule, prescribed methods, and how offers terminate.

Contract Law

The Postal Rule

Acceptance complete on posting, when the rule does and doesn't apply, instantaneous communications, and the revocation timing trap.

Contract Law

Consideration

The four rules of consideration, existing-duty problems and part-payment of a debt — with the leading Irish authorities.

Contract Law

Promissory Estoppel

The equitable exception to consideration: High Trees, shield-not-sword, suspension of rights and the Irish position.

Six subjects covered and growing — new explainers added regularly.

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