Ex Tempore
The aim of Ex Tempore is to cover the work of the Supreme Court of Ireland. The site previews upcoming cases and offers commentary on the Court’s decisions. More broadly, Ex Tempore explores the Court’s history, its place in the Irish system of government, and its relationships with other courts.
Why “Ex Tempore”?
“Ex Tempore” is a lawyers’ latin term meaning, roughly, “at the time.” Unusually for a Supreme Court, the Irish Supreme Court resolves a large proportion of its cases ex tempore, by issuing its decision orally at the conclusion of the argument, without issuing a written judgment. The name “Ex Tempore” also captures the strengths and limits of any blog that covers a working Court: the blog posts are timely and off-the-cuff.
The Author
I’m Paul MacMahon. I am from Northern Ireland, and I studied law at Oxford University and Harvard Law School. After finishing the American law degree, I practised law in New York City at Skadden Arps and served as a law clerk for two federal judges: Judge Guido Calabresi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Judge John Gleeson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. I’m currently a doctoral student at New College, Oxford. For the academic year 2011-12, I am Director of Studies in Law at, and a Fellow of, Wolfson College, Cambridge (faculty profile here). From summer 2012, I will be a Lecturer on Law and Climenko Fellow at Harvard Law School.
