The Referendum, the Courts and Representative Democracy in Ireland

This article examines the four referendums held in Ireland between 1983 and 1987. Special emphasis is placed on the constitutional framework. It is argued that the 1937 Irish Constitution created a tension between representative democracy and judicial review. as well as between parliamentary supremacy and sovereignty of the people. This is encapsulated in Article 6.which states that all executive, judicial and legislative authority is derived from the people under God. This article was used by the Supreme Court to strikedown legislation which precipitated the 1984and 1987 referendums and to refuse injunctions in the 1983 and 1986 referendums. Finally, the four referendums were called in response to interest group pressure and Supreme Court decisions, which indicates shifts in Ireland away from the traditional Westminister model that has operated in practice in Ireland since 1922.     

Auditing citizen engagement in heritage planning: The views of citizens

Abstract: Drawing the citizen back into public fora has become the issue of the day in democratic countries around the globe. On the political stage, there is growing alarm over a perceived “democratic deficit,” which has inspired a variety of innovative means of engaging citizens in public policy decisions. This plethora of engagement mechanisms invites the question of how citizens evaluate these engagement opportunities, a question that reveals a decided lacuna of studies regarding citizen assessments of these various mechanisms. This study is a report from the citizen participants on the merits of a Nova Scotia model of citizen engagement in policy development. It examines a citizen task force organized by Voluntary Planning, which conducted a citizen consultation process to create policy recommendations for heritage preservation in Nova Scotia, using its distinctive technique of citizen engagement. This study is the first evaluation of the Nova Scotia process from the perspective of citizen participants conducted to date. It concludes that the process used is highly regarded and enhances the legitimacy of such mechanisms as the “voice of the people” for citizens themselves and government decision-makers.     

Stephen Martin Leake: A Victorian's View of the Common Law

This article considers the life and work of Stephen Martin Leake and seeks to locate his work within the wider context of the procedural and substantive transformation of the mid-to-late Victorian legal world. In particular, the article attempts to rescue Leake from obscurity and emphasise his importance in this process. It is argued that Leake's work began the process whereby common lawyers conceived of their law as organised in a principled rather than procedural manner. Later common law jurists built upon this work. Consideration is also given to the philosophical and jurisprudential sources upon which Leake drew in constructing his treatises.     

Education for Child Labour: Evaluating the National Child Labour Policy in West Bengal,India

Transitioning child labourers from work to education is a key component of global efforts to eliminate child labour. In India, the National Child Labour Project is the central programme aimed at achieving this goal. This paper examines the operation of the project in the state of West Bengal using original survey data collected in 2008. The survey reveals a number of promising findings, including high rates of provision of both midday meals and free learning materials to students, as well as evidence of adequate schooling quality and availability. However, areas of concern were also identified, including irregularities in stipend payments to parents of child labourers who send their children to school and inadequate provision of free health services to children who attend school rather than work. These operational short-comings revealed by the survey reduce the incentive and ability parents have to send their children to school rather than work and, accordingly, undermine the effectiveness of the project.     

Preliminary evaluation of the childhood experiences of violence questionnaire short form

Despite advances in child maltreatment research, accurate measurement of exposure remains a key issue. In this study, we evaluated a short form (CEVQ-SF) of the Childhood Experiences of Violence Questionnaire (CEVQ) in a sample of adolescents involved with child protection services in an urban city in Ontario, Canada. Focusing on the two most readily defined maltreatment types, physical and sexual abuse, we evaluated the short form's comparability with the full version of the CEVQ. Both versions had good internal consistency and moderate-to-good 2-week test-retest reliability. The criterion validity of the two CEVQ versions in comparison with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was satisfactory. Construct validity for both versions was demonstrated: physically and sexually abused youth had higher odds of reporting clinical traumatic symptoms compared with either type alone. The CEVQ-SF is as reliable and valid as its full version. Implications for its use in large population-based surveys are discussed.