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
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
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]
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
Oran Doyle and Conor Casey, Charter or Higher Law? The Constitution under the New Supreme Court, Dublin University Law Journal, 44, (1), 2024
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
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]
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]
Oran Doyle, Executive Power and its Limits: Burke v Minister for Education, Irish Supreme Court Review, 5, 2023, p125 - 144
Oran Doyle, Constitutional Identity, Legal Autonomy, and Sovereignty: Costello v Government of Ireland, European Constitutional Law Review, 19, (4), 2023, p715 - 737
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
Oran Doyle, Mapping the Jural Border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, Review of Irish Studies in Europe, 6, (2), 2023, p101 - 109
Irish Unification: Constitutional Modalities and Adaptations in, editor(s)Paul Carmichael and Gisela Holfter , Unions, Break-ups and Special Relationships - Aspects of the Irish-German-UK Relationships, Limerick, Centre for Irish German Studies, 2022, [Oran Doyle]
Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh, Constitutional Amendment and Public Will Formation: Deliberative Mini-Publics as a Tool for Consensus Democracy, International Journal of Constitutional Law, 20, 2022, p398 - 427
Ireland: Developments and Debates in, editor(s)Federico Fabbrini , The Law & Politics of Brexit Volume IV: The Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2022, [Oran Doyle]
Oran Doyle, Leaving the Union: Constitutionalising Secession Rights in the United Kingdom, Federalismi.it, 10, 2022, p222 - 240
Deliberative Mini-Publics as a Response to Populist Democratic Backsliding in, editor(s)Maria Cahill, Colm O'Cinneide, Seán Ó Conaill and Conor O'Mahony , Constitutional Change and Popular Sovereignty: Populism, Politics and the Law in Ireland, London, Routledge, 2021, pp224 - 243, [Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh]
The Constitutional Tensions of Brexit in, editor(s)Oran Doyle, Aileen McHarg and Jo Murkens , The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the United Kingdom: Constitutions under Pressure, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp1 - 18, [Oran Doyle, Aileen McHarg and Jo Murkens]
Oran Doyle, Aileen McHarg, Jo Murkens, The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the United Kingdom: Constitutions under Pressure, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021, 1 - 338pp
The Constitutional Politics of a United Ireland in, editor(s)Oran Doyle, Aileen McHarg, Jo Murkins , Constitutions Under Pressure: The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the UK, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp129 - 152, [Oran Doyle, David Kenny, Christopher McCrudden]
Alan Renwick, Oran Doyle, John Garry, Paul Gillespie, Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Katy Hayward, Robert Hazell, David Kenny, Christopher McCrudden, Brendan O'Leary, Etain Tannam, Alan Whysall , Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland: Final Report, Constitution Unit, University College London, May, 2021, p1 - 259
Oran Doyle, David Kenny, Christopher McCrudden, The Franchise in Irish Unification Referendums, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 32, (2), 2021, p182 - 213
Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh, Deliberation in Constitutional Amendment: Reappraising Ireland's Deliberative Mini-Publics, European Constitutional Law Review, 16, (3), 2020, p440 - 465
Oran Doyle, Minority Rights and Democratic Consensus: The Irish Same-Sex Marriage Referendum, National Taiwan University Law Review, 15, (1), 2020, p21 - 48
Order from Chaos? Typologies and Models of Constitutional Change in, editor(s)Xenophon Contiades and Alkmene Fotiadou , Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Change, Abingdon on Thames, Routledge, 2020, pp45 - 60, [Oran Doyle]
Philosophical Foundations of Natural Rights, Rainer Grote, Frauke Lachenmann, Rüdiger Wolfrum, Max Planck Encylopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law, Heidelberg, Oxford University Press, 2019, [Oran Doyle and John Martin Gillroy]
Oran Doyle, Erik Longo, Andrea Pin, Populism: A Health Check for Constitutional Democracy, German Law Journal, 20, (3), 2019, p401 - 407
The Use of Foreign Law in Irish Constitutional Adjudication in, editor(s)Giuseppe Ferrari , Judicial Cosmopolitanism: The Use of Foreign Law in Contemporary Constitutional Systems, Brill, 2019, pp69 - 93, [Oran Doyle and Tom Hickey]
Oran Doyle, Clearing the Legal Decks for the Abortion Referendum: The Supreme Court, Constitutional Precedent and Legal Certainty, Irish Supreme Court Review, 1, 2019, p223 - 241
Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh, Participatory Democracy in Ireland: Citizens' Assemblies, Studi Senesi, 131, 2019, p485 - 496
Oran Doyle, Populist Constitutionalism and Constituent Power, German Law Journal, 20, (2), 2019, p161 - 180
Unearthing the 'Constitutional' in Quasi-Constitutionality in, editor(s)Richard Albert and Joel Colon Rios , Quasi-Constitutionality and Constitutional Statutes: Forms, Functions and Applications, Routledge, 2019, pp89 - 93, [Oran Doyle]
Oran Doyle, The Silent Constitution of Territory, International Journal of Constitutional Law, 17, 2018, p887 - 903
Interpretation: The Unrealizable Ideal of judicial Constraint in, editor(s)Eoin Carolan , Judicial Power in Ireland, Dublin, Institute of Public Administration, 2018, pp110 - 125, [Oran Doyle]
Oran Doyle, The Constitution of Ireland: A Contextual Analysis, 1st, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2018, 0 - 230pp
Oran Doyle, Informal Constitutional Change, Buffalo Law Review, 65, (5), 2017, p101 - 118
Constitutional Change and Interest Group Politics: Ireland's Children's Rights Amendment in, editor(s)Richard Albert, Xenophon Contiades, Alkmene Fotiadou , The Foundations and Tradition of Constitutional Amendment, Hart Publishing, 2017, pp199 - 218, [Oran Doyle and David Kenny]
Administrative Action, the Rule of Law and Unconstitutional Vagueness in, editor(s)Laura Cahillane, Tom Hickey and James Gallen , Judges, Politics and the Irish Constitution, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2017, pp237 - 251, [Oran Doyle]
Oran Doyle, Constitutional Change in Ireland: Political History and Balance of Power, Dublin University Law Journal, 42(2), 2017, p3 - 18
Oran Doyle, Constitutional Transitions, Abusive Constitutionalism and Conventional Constraint, National Journal of Constitutional Law, 35, 2017, p67 - 90
Constraints on Constitutional Amendment Powers in, editor(s)Richard Albert, Xenephon Contiades and Alkmene Fotiadou, , The Foundations and Traditions of Constitutional Amendment, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2017, pp73 - 95, [Oran Doyle]
Oran Doyle, Foreign Law, Constitutional Cases and Theoretical Authority, Global Constitutionalism, 5, 2016, p85 - 108
Oran Doyle, Conventional Constitutional Law, Dublin University Law Journal, 38, 2015, p311 - 330
Oran Doyle, The Dynamics of Constitutional Change, Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, 102, (2), 2013
Oran Doyle, The Legitimate Authority of the Living Law, Jurisprudence, 3, (1), 2012, p113 - 133
Oran Doyle, Judicial Scrutiny of Legislative Classification, Irish Jurist, 47, (1), 2012, p175 - 184
Oran Doyle, Law and Justice in Community: the Significance of the Living Law, Nordicum-Mediterraneum: Icelandic E-Journal of Nordic and Mediterranean Studies, 6, (2), 2011, p19
Oran Doyle, Elusive Quarries: A Failure of Regulation, Dublin University Law Journal, 34, 2011, p180 - 207
Oran Doyle, Desmond Ryan, Judicial Interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003: Reflections and Analysis, Dublin University Law Journal, 33, 2011, p369 - 392
Sisterly Love: the Importance of Explicitly Assumed Commitment in the Legal Recognition of Personal Relationships in, editor(s)Lynn Wardle, Scott Fitzgibbon, A Scott Loveless , The Jurisprudence of Marriage and Other Intimate Relationships, USA, WS Hein & Co, 2010, pp329 - 351, [Oran Doyle]
Oran Doyle, Family Autonomy and Children's Best Interests: Ireland, Bentham and the Natural Law, International Journal of the Jurisprudence of the Family, 1, 2010, p55 - 76
Oran Doyle, Legal Positivism, Natural Law and the Constitution, Dublin University Law Journal, 31, (1), 2009, p206 - 227
Doyle, Oran and Carolan, Eoin, The Irish Constitution: Governance and Values, Dublin, Thomson Roundhall , 2008, x-xlvi, 1-530pp
"Article 44: Privileging the Rights of the Faithful" in, editor(s)Eoin Carolan and Oran Doyle , The Irish Constitution: Governance and Values, Dublin, Round Hall Thomson, 2008, [Oran Doyle]
Moral Argument and the Recognition of Same-Sex Partnerships in, editor(s)Oran Doyle and William Binchy , Committed Relationships and the Law, Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2007, [Oran Doyle]
Oran Doyle, The Constitution at 70, Doctrine and Life, 57, 2007
Doyle, Oran and Binchy, William, eds, Committed Relationships and the Law, Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2007, 272pp
Oran Doyle, Direct Discrimination, Indirect Discrimination and Autonomy, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 27, 2007, p537 - 553
The Separation of Powers and Constitutional Egalitarianism after the Health (Amendment) (No.2) Bill Reference in, editor(s)Eoin O'Dell , Older People in Modern Ireland: Essays on Law and Policy, Dublin, First Law, 2006, pp393 - 426, [Oran Doyle and Gerry Whyte]
Oran Doyle, The European Communities (Natural Habitats) (Amendment) Regulations 2005, Dublin University Law Journal, 28, 2006
Oran Doyle, Constitutional Equality Law, Dublin, Thomson Roundhall, 2004
Oran Doyle, Legal Validity - Reflections on the Constitution, Dublin University Law Journal, 25, 2003
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
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
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
Ideological Commitments and Constitutional Projects of Cross-Border Parties in the Irish Context, Alessandro Torre, Springer Encyclopedia of Contemporary Constitutionalism , Springer, 2022, [Oran Doyle]
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
Oran Doyle and Tom Hickey, Constitutional Law: Text, Cases and Materials, 2nd, Dublin, Clarus Press, 2019, 1 - 650pp
Oran Doyle, アイルランドの憲法変動, 法学セミナー, 467, 2018, p46 - 54
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]
Oran Doyle, The Supreme Court, Review of The Supreme Court of Ireland, by Ruadhán Mac Cormaic , Studies: An Irish Quarterly, 2017
Ireland in, editor(s)Detlef Merten and Hans-Jurgen Papier , Handbuch der Grundrechte in Deutschland und Europa, Heidelberg, CF Muller GmbH, 2016, [Oran Doyle]
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]
Constitutional Law in, editor(s)Raymond Byrne and William Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2013, Dublin, Round Hall, 2014, pp110 - 207, [Oran Doyle]
Constitutional Law in, editor(s)Raymond Byrne and William Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2012, Dublin, Round Hall Press, 2013, pp117 - 202, [Oran Doyle]
Constitutional Law in, editor(s)Raymond Byrne and William Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2011, Dublin, Round Hall Press, 2012, pp160 - 239, [Oran Doyle]
Constitutional Law in, Annual Review of Irish Law 2010, Dublin, Thomson Round Hall, 2011, [Oran Doyle and Estelle Feldman]
Constitutional Law in, editor(s)Raymond Byrne and William Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2009, Dublin, Thomson Roundhall, 2010, pp188 - 258, [Oran Doyle and Estelle Feldman]
Doyle, Oran and Scannell, Yvonne, Town and County Planning and Natura 2000 in Ireland, Amenagement du Territoire Urbanisme et Reseau Natura 2000, 11, 2009, p190 - 206
Constitutional Law in, editor(s)Raymond Byrne and William Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2008, Dublin, Round Hall Thomson, 2009, pp122 - 182, [Oran Doyle and Estelle Feldman]
Oran Doyle, Constitutional Law: Text, Cases and Materials, Dublin, Clarus Press, 2008
Constitutional Law in, editor(s)Raymond Byrne and William Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2007, Dublin, Round Hall Thomson, 2008, pp97 - 144, [Oran Doyle and Estelle Feldman]
Constitutional Law in, editor(s)Raymond Byrne and William Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2005, Dublin, Thomson Roundhall, 2006, pp179 - 241, [Oran Doyle;Estelle Feldman]
Oran Doyle and Alan Keating, Discriminatory Planning Conditions - the Case for Reform, Law Society of Ireland, 2005
Rapport National: Ireland in, editor(s)Jessica Makowiak , La Mise en Place du Reseau Natura 2000, Limoges, Pulim, 2005, pp213 - 233, [Oran Doyle]
Constitutional Law in, editor(s)Raymond Byrne, William Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2004, Dublin, Roundhall, 2005, pp163 - 212, [Oran Doyle, Estelle Feldman]
Property Rights and Natura 2000 in Ireland in, editor(s)Michel Paques , Natura 2000 and Property Rights, Brussels, Bruylant, 2005, pp139 - 152, [Oran Doyle]
Oran Doyle, The Duration of Primary Education, Irish Student Law Review, 10, 2002, p222-
Oran Doyle, The Human Personality Doctrine in Constitutional Equality Law, Irish Student Law Review, 9, 2001, p101-
Doyle O., Scannell, Doyle and Clarke, The Habitats Directive in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, Centre for Environmental Law and Policy, 1999
Oran Doyle, Façade Retention: Standing of Incorporated Persons to Challenge Planning Permissions, Trinity College Law Review, 2, 1999, p106-
Oran Doyle, Men of Straw? Change to the Rules of Locus Standi: An Unsuspected Side Effect of the McKenna and Hanafin Decisions, Trinity College Law Review, 1, 1998, p37-
Research Expertise
Description
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.Projects
- Title
- Measures on Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
- Summary
- Dr Doyle prepared the Irish report for a European Union project on the extent to which the laws of each Member State complied with Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention.
- Funding Agency
- European Commission
- Date From
- 01/01/2007
- Date To
- 12/07/2007
Recognition
Representations
Director, COVID-19 Law and Human Rights Observatory
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
Co-convenor, International Association of Constitutional Law Research Group on Public Law Responses to Public Health Emergencies
Peer reviewer, Springer
Editor, Irish Supreme Court Review
Co-Chair of the British-Irish Chapter of the International Society of Public Law
External reader, Taiwan Constitutional Court Annual Report
Guest Editor, Comparative Constitutional Studies
Co-Chair of the International Society of Public Law Vetting Committee for new Chapters
Editor, Dublin University Law Journal
Member of the International Society of Public Law Working Group on New Chapters
Guest Editor special volume of the German Law Journal on Populism and Constitutionalism
Member of the editorial board of the Dublin University Law Journal.
Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Constitutional Studies.
External Examiner, NUI Galway
External Examiner, Honorable Society of King's Inns
External Examiner, Griffith College Dublin
Awards and Honours
Elected to Fellowship of the College
Provost's Teaching Award
Brookes Scholar, the Honourable Society of King's Inns
Awarded Gold Medal in LLB Degree
Scholar of Trinity College Dublin
Memberships
International Society of Public Law
Irish Jurisprudence Society
Irish Association of Law Teachers
International Association of Constitutional Law
Law and Society Association