Emergency Law in Ireland, 1918-1925

Arguably among the most turbulent eras in recent Irish history, the period from 1918 to 1925 witnessed extraordinary political change and social unrest. To counter the threat of upheaval, the response of successive governments in three jurisdictions to the threat posed by politically motivated violence was to declare states of emergency, in which the authorities were granted wide-ranging powers of arrest; to detain people without trial; and to try suspected terrorists before specially created courts. In an original and scholarly account, Colm Campbell offers a detailed legal analysis of the effectiveness of emergency law in Ireland, and concludes with pointed observations on the effectiveness of emergency laws generally in the face of politically inspired violence and terrorism.