Dr. David Prendergast
Assistant Prof in Comparative Law, Law
Biography
Dr David Prendergast is the Law School's Director of Postgraduate Teaching and Learning. He researches and teaches in jurisprudence (legal philosophy) and criminal law. David co-founded the Irish Jurisprudence Society and is a former co-editor of the Dublin University Law Journal and the Criminal Law and Practice Review. He received a Trinity Provost's Teaching Award (Early Career) in 2014. David's PhD provided a qualified defence of judicial review of electoral processes. His journal articles on substantive criminal law have been influential and cited in numerous academic texts and in judgments of the superior courts of Ireland. Current research involves investigating the structure of criminal liability, culpability, and criminal law defences. David has an LL.B. (First class) from Trinity College Dublin, an LL.M. (Distinction) from University College London and is a qualified, non-practising barrister. He worked as a legal researcher for the Law Reform Commission and was formerly Pathways to Law Liaison Officer with Trinity Access Programmes. He was formerly Director of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning and Deputy LLM Director in the Law School and is currently Director of Postgraduate Teaching and Learning.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
David Prendergast, Handcuffs and justified force under section 19 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, Irish Criminal Law Journal, 2023
David Prendergast, The Crime of Failing to Come Forward, Irish Jurist, 2023
David Prendergast, The difference between recklessness and negligence, Criminal Theory Justice Blog, 2022, -
David Prendergast, Police Powers and Reasonable Force, Irish Criminal Law Journal, 2022, p106 - 112
David Prendergast, Judicial stewardship of the provocation defence in People (DPP) v McNamara, Irish Supreme Court Review, 3, 2021, p69 - 99
David Prendergast, Recklessness Without the Risk, Criminal Law and Philosophy, 14, 2020, p31 - 50
David Prendergast, Limiting Consent in Criminal Law: DPP v Brown [2018] IESC 67, Irish Supreme Court Review, 2, 2020, p135 - 154
David Prendergast, The judicial role in protecting democracy from populism, German Law Journal, 20, (2), 2019, p245 - 262
David Prendergast, Book Review: JJ Child and RA Duff, Criminal Law Reform Now, Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 58, (4), 2019, p585 - 586
David Prendergast, Criminal Culpability and Sexual Offences Reform, Criminal Law and Practice Review, 2, 2018, p99 - 113
David Prendergast, Constitutional Control of Vague Criminal Law, Dublin University Law Journal, 42, (2), 2018, p19 - 44
David Prendergast, A critical review of the Court of Appeal interpretation of self-defence in the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, Irish Criminal Law Journal, 28, (3), 2018, p58 - 63
David Prendergast, Book Review: Justice, Mercy, and Caprice: Clemency and the Death Penalty in Ireland I. O'Donnell, Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 57, (4), 2018, p604 - 607
David Prendergast, The presumption pertaining to murder mens rea in section 4(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 1964, Irish Jurist, (60), 2018, p167 - 179
Article 16 of the Irish Constitution and Judicial Review of Electoral Processes in, editor(s)Laura Cahilane, James Gallen, Tom Hickey , Judges, Politics and The Constitution, United Kingdom, Manchester University Press, 2017, pp252 - 268, [David Prendergast]
CC v Ireland: the missing feminist judgment in, editor(s)Máiréad Enright, Julie McCandless, Aoife O'Donoghue , Northern / Irish Feminist Judgments: Judges' Troubles and the Gendered Politics of Identity, United Kingdom, Hart Publishing, 2017, pp566 - 579, [David Prendergast]
David Prendergast, Defensive Killing by Initial Aggressors: DPP v Barnes Revisited, Irish Jurist, 54, (2), 2015, p115 - 130
David Prendergast, The Conventionality of Constitutional Law, Dublin University Law Journal, 38, (2), 2015, p441 - 448
David Prendergast, Addressing uncertainty in the defences of self-defence, diminished responsibility, and provocation, Criminal Law and Practice Review, 1, (1), 2014, p21 - 35
David Prendergast, Vague offences and the High Court, Criminal Law and Practice Review, 1, (1), 2014, p153 - 156
David Prendergast, Gross negligence manslaughter in Irish law, Dublin University Law Journal, 37, (1), 2014, p267 - 277
David Prendergast, The Connection between Mental Disorder and the Act of Killing in the Defence of Diminished Responsibility, The Irish Jurist, 49, (1), 2013, p202 - 211
David Prendergast, Douglas v DPP and the Constitutional Requirement for Certainty in Criminal Law, The Irish Jurist, 50, (1), 2013, p235 - 243
David Prendergast, The Constitutionality of Strict Liability Offences, Dublin University Law Journal, 33, 2011, p285 - 318
David Prendergast, Strict Liability and the Presumption of Mens Rea after CC v Ireland, Irish Jurist, 46, 2011, p211 - 220
David Prendergast, By-elections and the filling of Dáil vacancies within a reasonable time - a note on Doherty v Ireland, Dublin University Law Journal, 34, 2011, p242 - 255
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
David Prendergast, The difference between recklessness and negligence in criminal law, Research seminar, Trinity College Dublin, 15 March 2023, 2023
David Prendergast, The Right to Silence, Irish Jurisprudence Society, Maynooth University, 15 February 2023, 2023
David Prendergast, Book Review: The Criminal Law's Person, Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 2023
David Prendergast, What the relational self tells us about criminal law, UCD Book Symposium on Jonathan Herring's Law and the Relational Self (Cambridge University Press 2019), University College Dublin, 3-4 June 2022, edited by Christopher Cowley and Sarah Fulham-McQuillan , 2022
Alan Eustace, Sarah Hamill, Andrea Mulligan, Public Health Law During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ireland, COVID-19 LEGAL OBSERVATORY, School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, August, 2021
David Prendergast, The difference between recklessness and negligence in criminal law, Roots of Responsibility-Varieties of Risk, Risk and Recklessness Workshop, UCL, 23-24 April 2021, edited by Claire Field , 2021
David Prendergast, On relocating and refurbishing consent in sexual offences, Perspectives on Consent in Sexual Offences Workshop, Queen's University Belfast, 28 February 2020, edited by Eithne Dowds , 2020
David Prendergast, Recklessness in Irish Criminal Law, TCD Law Lunchtime Research seminar, Trinity College Dublin, 16 October 2019, 2019
David Prendergast, Limiting consent in criminal law: DPP v Brown [2018] IESC 67, Irish Supreme Court Review, Trinity College Dublin, 12 October 2019, edited by Eoin O'Dell , 2019
David Prendergast, Connecting Offence and Defence, Edinburgh Criminal Law Discussion Group Seminar, University of Edinburgh, 11 December 2019, edited by JP Fassnidge , 2019
David Prendergast, Criminal Law and Morality: the common architecture, Symposium on David O Brink's Fair Opportunity, Responsibility and Excuse, Somerville College, University of Oxford, 20 March 2019, edited by Anthony Skelton and Lisa Forsberg , 2019
David Prendergast, Reverse Burdens, Evidence/Criminal Procedure Workshop, Dublin City University, edited by Yvonne Daly , 2018
David Prendergast, Consent as a legal binary, School of Law lunchtime seminar series, Trinity College Dublin, November 2018, edited by Des Ryan , 2018
David Prendergast, Recent developments in criminal defences and mens rea: a retreat from subjectivism?, Criminal law: Recent trends and developments, Trinity College Dublin, 19 April, edited by Liz Heffernan , 2018
David Prendergast, Challenges to the Centrality of Consent, Seminar, University of Surrey, 2018
David Prendergast, CULPABILITY IN CARELESS DRIVING AND THE SO-CALLED "THIRD CATEGORY" OF CRIMINAL OFFENCE, Irish Law Times, 36, (4), 2018, p63 - 67
David Prendergast, Constitutional review of democratic processes, Popular Will, Electoral Democracy and the Courts, University of Padua, 16-17 November 2017, edited by Andrea Pin , 2017
David Prendergast, The constitutional control of vague criminal law, Constitution at 80, University of Limerick, 7 November 2017, edited by Laura Cahillane and David Kenny , 2017
David Prendergast, What is the test for self-defence in fatal cases?, Irish Law Times, 13, 2015, p213 - 218
David Prendergast, Sexual Offences and Presumptive Wrongs, Legal and Political Theory Workshop, NUI Galway, 13 November 2015, edited by Danaher, Daly, Tourkochoriti , 2015
David Prendergast, CC v Ireland feminist judgment, Northern / Irish Feminist Judgments Project workshop: the embodied subject, Griffith College Dublin and UCD, 16-18 April 2015, edited by Enright, McAndless, O'Donoghue , 2015
David Prendergast, Murder mens rea, Irish Association of Law Teachers Annual Conference, NUI Galway, November 2015, edited by Charles O'Mahony , 2015
David Prendergast, Murder mens rea, Irish Association of Law Teachers Annual Conference, NUI Galway, 2015
David Kenny, David Prendergast, The independence of a meritorious elite: The government of judges and democracy, National Report for Ireland for the International Congress of Comparative Law in Vienna, July, 2014
David Prendergast, Self-defence in fatal cases, The Criminal Law Forum, King's Inns, Dublin, 5 April 2014, 2014
David Prendergast, DPP v Dunne and the criminal law's test for causing death, Irish Law Times, 17, 2014, p246 - 249
David Prendergast, Article 16 of the Irish Constitution and Judicial Review of Electoral Processes, Judges, Politics and the Irish Constitution, Dublin City University, 4 Sept 2014, 2014
David Prendergast, Review of Eimear Spain, The Role of Emotions in Criminal Defences: Duress, Necessity and Lesser Evils, Review of The Role of Emotions in Criminal Defences: Duress, Necessity and Lesser Evils , Dublin University Law Journal, 36, 2013
David Prendergast, The Differing Demands of Legality, Irish Society of Comparative Law Annual Conference 2013, NUI Galway, 24-25 May 2013, edited by Charles O'Mahony , 2013
David Prendergast, Criminal Defences: Recent Developments, Criminal law Practice and Procedure Update Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 12 October 2013, edited by Ivana Bacik and Liz Heffernan , 2013
David Prendergast, Democracy, Judicial Review, and Legal Scholarship, Irish Association of Law Teachers Annual Conference, Dublin, 16-18 November 2012, 2012
David Prendergast, Review of Bill Kissane, New Beginnings: Constitutionalism and Democracy in Modern Ireland, Dublin University Law Journal, 34, 2011
David Prendergast, The case against judicial review of democratic procedures, Irish Society of Comparative Law Annual Conference 2011, University College Dublin, 2011
David Prendergast, Analysis of Doherty v Ireland (the Donegal by-election case), Trinity College Dublin Constitutional Law and Policy Group, 10 December 2010, 2010
Law Reform Commission, Report on Inchoate Offences, 2010
David Prendergast, One Person, One Vote in Ireland and the United States, Inaugural Conference of the Irish Society of Comparative Law, University of Limerick, 27-28 February 2009, 2009
David Prendergast, Tensions in the Pursuit of Equality of Representation - Judicial Review of Electoral Constituencies, Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights Third Annual Postgraduate Conference, University College Cork, UCC, 30 April 2009, 2009
David Prendergast, Codifying Inchoate Offences, (2008) 26 Irish Law Times 134, 2008
Law Reform Commission, Consultation Paper on Inchoate Offences, (LRC CP 48 - 2008), 2008
David Prendergast, The Law Reform Commission's Consultation Paper on Inchoate Offences, International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law Annual Conference 2008, Dublin Castle, 11-15 July 2008, 2008
David Prendergast, Inchoate Liability and Glorifying Terrorism, Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference, University of Kent, 3-5 April 2007, 2007
David Prendergast, Normative Positivism, Irish Jurisprudence Society Workshop, Trinity College Dublin, 22 November 2007, 2007
Research Expertise
Description
Research interests: I am interested in legal theory as the sustained reflection on, investigation of, and creative analysis of how law works, that is, its distinctive contribution as a normative order that overlaps and links with other normative orders such as morality. Criminal law constitutes a primary focus for this theoretical reflection on law because it displays both transposition of moral norms as well as artificial regulatory norms. My research seeks to contribute to accurate description and deepened understanding; published papers to date have done so for criminal defences, strict liability, Mens Rea and culpability, legality, elements of criminal liability. I have also worked substantially on constitutional law and theory where it concerns the control of substantive criminal law and in other areas including judicial review and electoral processes.Recognition
Representations
Co-editor of the Dublin University Law Journal
Anglo-German Dialogues on Criminal Law, member
External Examiner, Law Society of Ireland
Co-editor of the Criminal Law and Practice Review
Trinity School of Law's COVID-19 Law and Human Rights Observatory, member
Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development Advisory Board member
Irish Innocence Project Advisory Board member
Awards and Honours
Provost's Teaching Award (early career) winner
Shortlisted for Provost's Teaching Award
TCD Postgraduate Studentship
Sir Jack Jacob Prize for Civil Justice, UCL
Memberships
Irish Jurisprudence Society
Irish Association of Law Teachers (IALT)
The Society for Applied Philosophy