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Professor Oran Doyle

Professor In (Law)
HOUSE 39, COLLEGE

 Oran.Doyle@tcd.ie

 3531896 1125


Biography

Oran Doyle is professor in law at Trinity College Dublin. He also holds a dual appointment as a research professor at the Academia Sinica in Taipei. He has held visiting positions at Bocconi University Milan, Keio University Tokyo and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Prof Doyle is an expert in comparative constitutional law, with a particular focus on the issues of constitutional amendment, territory and Irish unification. He is the author of 'The Irish Constitution: A Contextual Analysis' (Clarus, 2018) and (with Tom Hickey) 'Constitutional Law: Text, Cases and Materials' (Hart, 2019). He co-edited with Aileen McHarg and Jo Murkens 'The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the United Kingdom: Constitutions under Pressure' (2021). He has recently published in Global Constitutionalism, the International Journal of Constitutional Law, the European Constitutional Law Review, and the German Law Journal. Prof Doyle is currently the PI for NSLMap, a New Foundations research project funded by the Irish Research Council and the Shared Island Initiative that maps the convergence and divergence of laws on either side of the Irish border. Currently supervising Alex Layden's work on informal constitutional change, and Juan Diego Galaz's work on constitutional rights of resistance and deliberation in Latin America, Prof Doyle welcomes applications for supervision from students broadly in the area of constitutional theory and comparative constitutional law. Prof Doyle is the co-chair of the British-Irish Chapter of the International Society of Public Law (ICON-S) and co-convenor of the International Association of Constitutional Law research group on public law responses to public health emergencies. He was director of the COVID-19 Law and Human Rights Observatory. The recipient of a Provost's Teaching Award, Prof Doyle has lectured constitutional law 1 and jurisprudence to undergraduate students, and comparative constitutional law and theory to postgraduate students. He has also led final year research project groups on democratic decay, emergencies, and constitutional change. Prof Doyle is a regular contributor to public debates on issues of constitutional law in Ireland. He has published articles in the Irish Times on both the Children's Rights Referendum and the Marriage Equality Referendum. In 2016-17, he was a constitutional law advisor to the Citizens' Assembly considering the pro-life provision in the Irish Constitution. He was a member of the Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland and in February 2020, he convened a blog symposium on the IACL/IADC blog addressing the constitutional dimensions of Irish unification. https://tcd.academia.edu/OranDoyle http://ssrn.com/author=867538

Research Tags

  Comparative Constitutional Law   Constitutional Law   Jurisprudence

Research Projects

 Measures on Access to Justice in Environmental Matters

Representations

Details Date
Director, COVID-19 Law and Human Rights Observatory 2020-2022
Co-convenor of the International Association of Constitutional Law research group on public law responses to public health emergencies
Constitutional Law Advisor to Ireland's Citizens' Assembly 2016-2018
Co-convenor, International Association of Constitutional Law Research Group on Public Law Responses to Public Health Emergencies 2020-2023
Peer reviewer, Springer 2021
Editor, Irish Supreme Court Review 2022
Co-Chair of the British-Irish Chapter of the International Society of Public Law 2017-2023
External reader, Taiwan Constitutional Court Annual Report 2023-2024
Guest Editor, Comparative Constitutional Studies 2024-2025
Co-Chair of the International Society of Public Law Vetting Committee for new Chapters 2021-2024
Editor, Dublin University Law Journal 2004-2012, 2023-present
Member of the International Society of Public Law Working Group on New Chapters 2018-present
Guest Editor special volume of the German Law Journal on Populism and Constitutionalism 2019
Member of the editorial board of the Dublin University Law Journal. 2009-present
Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Constitutional Studies. 2017-present
External Examiner, NUI Galway 2015-2019
External Examiner, Honorable Society of King's Inns 2007-2012
External Examiner, Griffith College Dublin 2008-2012

Languages

Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
French Medium Basic Basic

Memberships

Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies

Details Date From Date To
International Society of Public Law 2015 Present
Irish Jurisprudence Society 2007 Present
Irish Association of Law Teachers 2022 Present
International Association of Constitutional Law 2020 2023
Law and Society Association 2016 2017
Constitutional Identity and Unamendability in, editor(s)Ran Hirschl and Yaniv Roznai , Deciphering the Genome of Constitutionalism: The Foundations and Future of Constitutional Identity, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2024, pp259 - 271, [Oran Doyle], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Partly Laws Common to all Judge-Kind: The Commonality and Divergence of Constitutionally Conforming Interpretation in, editor(s)Matthias Klatt , Constitutionally Conforming Interpretation: Comparative Perspectives Volume II , Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2024, [Oran Doyle], Book Chapter, ACCEPTED
Religion and Law in Ireland and Northern Ireland in, editor(s)Andrew Holmes and Gladys Ganiel , Oxford Handbook of Religion in Modern Ireland, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2024, pp369 - 414, [Christopher McCrudden, Oran Doyle, and David Kenny], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle and Conor Casey, Charter or Higher Law? The Constitution under the New Supreme Court, Dublin University Law Journal, 44, (1), 2024, Journal Article, IN_PRESS
Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh, Assessing the Influence and Legitimacy of Citizen Deliberation on Abortion: A Reply to Eoin Carolan and Seana Glennon, International Journal of Constitutional Law, 22, (1), 2024, p204 - 208, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI  URL
Oran Doyle, David Kenny, Christopher McCrudden, Law and Religion: Convergence and Divergence on the Island of Ireland, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 2024, p198 - 240, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, Constitutional Identity, Legal Autonomy, and Sovereignty: Costello v Government of Ireland, European Constitutional Law Review, 19, (4), 2023, p715 - 737, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, Executive Power and its Limits: Burke v Minister for Education, Irish Supreme Court Review, 5, 2023, p125 - 144, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, Mapping the Jural Border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, Review of Irish Studies in Europe, 6, (2), 2023, p101 - 109, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, Executive Power and Judicial Appointments: Re Article 26 and the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022, Dublin University Law Journal, 43, (2), 2023, p173 - 180, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
  

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Oran Doyle, Review of David S. Law (ed.). Constitutionalism in Context, Review of Constitutionalism in Context., by David S. Law (ed.) , International Journal of Constitutional Law, 21, (3), 2023, p1244-1248 , Review, PUBLISHED
Ideological Commitments and Constitutional Projects of Cross-Border Parties in the Irish Context, Alessandro Torre, Springer Encyclopedia of Contemporary Constitutionalism , Springer, 2022, [Oran Doyle], Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, David Kenny, Christopher McCrudden, Fionnula Ní Aoláin, Legal Convergence and Divergence on the Island of Ireland: Report of the North-South Legal Mapping Projectto the Shared Island Unit, Oxford, Irish Research Council/Shared Island Unite, September, 2022, p1 - 19, Report, PUBLISHED
Conor Casey, Oran Doyle, David Kenny, Donna Lyons, Ireland's Emergency Powers During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, February, 2021, p1 - 104, Report, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle and Tom Hickey, Constitutional Law: Text, Cases and Materials, 2nd, Dublin, Clarus Press, 2019, 1 - 650pp, Book, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, アイルランドの憲法変動, 法学セミナー, 467, 2018, p46 - 54, Notes: [Translated by Satoshi Yokodaido and Kodai Zukeyama], Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Constitutional Law in, editor(s)Raymond Byrne and William Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2015, Dublin, Round Hall, 2017, [Oran Doyle and Estelle Feldman], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Oran Doyle, The Supreme Court, Review of The Supreme Court of Ireland, by Ruadhán Mac Cormaic , Studies: An Irish Quarterly, 2017, Review, PUBLISHED
Ireland in, editor(s)Detlef Merten and Hans-Jurgen Papier , Handbuch der Grundrechte in Deutschland und Europa, Heidelberg, CF Muller GmbH, 2016, [Oran Doyle], Book Chapter, ACCEPTED
Constitutional Law in, editor(s)Raymond Byrne and William Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2014, Dublin, Round Hall, 2015, [Oran Doyle and Estelle Feldman], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED

  

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Awards and Honours

Award Date
Elected to Fellowship of the College 2010
Provost's Teaching Award 2008
Brookes Scholar, the Honourable Society of King's Inns 2002
Awarded Gold Medal in LLB Degree 1999
Scholar of Trinity College Dublin 1997

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

I am a world-leading expert in both constitutional law and comparative constitutional law and theory. I critically analyse how constitutional law changes, dynamics of judicial decision-making and amendment, and motivational factors that drive decision-making. Throughout my career, I have broken new ground in Irish constitutional scholarship by writing (i) the first monograph focused on a constitutional guarantee (equality), (ii) the first Text, Cases and Materials account of the constitution, and (iii) the first monograph of the constitution as a whole, `The Constitution of Ireland: A Contextual Analysis'. Commissioned by Hart Publishing for the Constitutional Systems of the World series, this book was reviewed as providing `the historical, political, and legal context that gives life to the bare text' of the constitution (Irish Jurist) and a `timely interdisciplinary analysis' (Studies) that `should be read by anyone with an interest in Irish constitutional law and also by comparative constitutional lawyers' (ICONnect). Alongside over 50 articles and book chapters, these publications have shaped not only the contours of Irish constitutional law but also - through my integration of legal theory with doctrinal analysis - our deeper understanding of the field's dynamics. My work has been cited nine times by the Supreme Court in the past five years. My work in comparative constitutional law and theory develops empirically grounded concepts of phenomena that recur across multiple constitutional systems. I integrate perspectives from constitutional doctrine, normative constitutional and democratic theory, legal and political theory, public choice analysis, and political science to build more compelling accounts and critiques of these phenomena. I have contributed to the pivotal debates in the field - democratic backsliding, populism, deliberative democracy, constitutional identity, Brexit, judicial citation of foreign cases, conforming constitutional interpretation, and amendment - in the leading journals and academic presses: International Journal of Constitutional Law, Global Constitutionalism, European Constitutional Law Review, German Law Journal, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Hart. I am currently researching a monograph, supported by a book-writing grant from the National Science and Technology Council (Taiwan), on constitutional amendment, for which the editors of the Oxford series in comparative constitutional law have invited a publishing proposal. Building on my own dataset of constitutional amendment provisions, the book advances a new theory and normative defence of amendment powers, exploring how constitutional amendment can serve as a site for consensus building and a bulwark for democratic governance. I frequently convene groups of leading scholars to advance new frontiers in comparative constitutional law. I am currently co-editing a special issue of the journal `Comparative Constitutional Studies' on referendums, the Edward Elgar Research Handbook of Constitutional Change, and a volume for Oxford University Press on constitutional conventions in civil law countries. I have previously co-edited for Cambridge University Press a volume on the Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the United Kingdom as well as a special issue of the German Law Journal on populism, and have convened symposia on constitutional conventions and constitutional silence published in the Dublin University Law Journal and the International Journal of Constitutional Law.