The Law is not a Quiet Subject

This piece was written for the essay competition on 'First Impressions' of the recently opened Sutherland School of Law at UCD. It has also been published here.

‘Sutherland’, in firm, clear letters; placed on the front wall of the building. That wall surveys the whole campus; a grand view. It is a bright and spacious building, being gently filled by the soft murmur of friends gathering, colleagues and mentors all working in the field of law. It is a solid building, of mild colour and calm lines of steel and glass. A vista flows from its upper levels.

The new school of law goes far beyond a grand view though. It acts as a symbol of what Ireland now stands for as a country. It is a new and strong emerging representation of the Irish persona. The Sutherland building reflects the social structures of more than just modern Ireland; it is a succinct landmark of the world today. In a global sphere, the Sutherland building marks out the new challenges facing the Irish Law student: change in the Irish legal professions, multipolar power structures all in a globalized market and this new school of law stands as testimony to UCD’s endeavours to compete at an international level. Yet it is only a building. Its passive nature subverts its subject.

The building stands quiet, modest. The law is not a quiet subject. The law is the most fundamental merit and signifier of who we are as a community. It represents deeply-held beliefs and values, the most fought over aspects of life. The law is the hard won dignity and respect of the oppressed, the minorities. We shall never forget the justices and injustices perpetrated in the name of the law. It may be a modest building but it is not a modest subject. It is the manifestation of the core ideology of a society.

Written on south facing windows of the Arthur Cox courtroom on the first floor are the names of “activists”, “advocates”, “agitators”; they are the names of those who refused. They rose up against injustice in their societies. They fought and angered, struggled and resisted. They roared into an encroaching darkness and dreamed and dared to live for a better world. We mark their names to remind ourselves. Our actions make us what we are and we too must work to honour their lives, to live free and ever present and consciously working towards a more fulfilling humanity. We write their names in glass to let us see clearly.

The law is not a quiet subject.

The Sutherland building represents today’s world; a bold, proud structure of the Irish persona. It stands to attention and draws us into its space. In this building is the New Ireland: people who dare to think beyond these borders, beyond a nation or identity or flag or business. We look at what it means to be human today and strive in our work, to dare to live in a better world, tomorrow.