Recent Case Discussing Rights Under Magna Carta

It’s an Irish case, Lough Swilly Shellfish Growers Co-operative Society Ltd & Anor v. Bradley & Anor, and it deals with the claim that, “[u]nder English law, as a result of Magna Carta, [private] fisheries could not be created in tidal waters unless they existed prior to the death of Henry II.” But that provision of Magna Carta, the court says, is yesterday’s news, having been repealed in relevant part by subsequent legislation (if I understand the matter correctly).

Thanks to Prof. Seth Tillman for the pointer.

UPDATE: Prof. Tillman adds,

Lough Swilly is a fun case. The debate is not on the English Magna Carta of 1215 between King John and English barons, but on the Irish Magna Carta of 1216 between King Henry (don’t ask me which one, John’s son, I think) and the Irish barons. The case is on a serious and misunderstood point of constitutional law — the relation between statutory authority and ministerial powers (what we would call inherent Executive Branch powers). Some of the same issues were mooted in an older Irish case — Moore v. Attorney-General [1934] I.R. 44 (Sup. Ct. Eire), which was adjudicated under the Free State Constitution of 1922, not the current constitution enacted in 1937.

Note that the Irish Magna Carta seems to have been largely the same as the English Magna Carta, but with some Ireland-specific changes.

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