Editorial

• Author: Rebecca Keating
• Pages: 9-11

EDITORIAL

The past year has highlighted the important role of the law in shaping

social transition. The work of the Constitutional Convention, the report on

the Magdalene Laundries and the death of Nelson Mandela serve as

constant reminders of the important role the law plays in determining

social change. These events in many ways represent what should be at the

heart of legal scholarship – the determination to find solutions and react to

both old and new problems.The law is relevant to people in so far as it can

maintain this strong connection with citizens – actively seeking out

responses to social issues as they arise. Both law in practice and law in

academia are central to attaining this reality. However, true legal

scholarship does not simply consider legal problems within the current

paradigm; it also seeks to transcend this limited paradigm of thinking.This

involves an exercise in both honesty and objectivity. It asks the law to look

at itself as an outsider would. There is often a temptation within the law to

believe that certain things are beyond the capabilities of change. This does

not represent truth but merely an entrenched way of thinking. In practice

brave legal thinking requires that we reconsider not only the legal truths

which we have long deemed to be self-evident, but also the very basis for

those assumptions.

Across a broad range of subjects within this journal you will find

examples of this pursuit. The authors herein have offered solutions and

recalibrations of old problems, while many of the authors identify

emerging issues which the law must deal with. The opening article of this

edition, “A New Dimension to Intellectual Property Infringement: An

Evaluation of the Intellectual Property Issues Associated with 3D

Printing” by Peter Twomey, is such an illustration in identifying an

emerging legal problem. This article explores the new challenges that 3D

printing poses in respect of intellectual property. He looks to providing

solutions to these legal problems while simultaneously seeking to avoid

overly constraining this exciting technological development. Following a

similar theme, Roisin Costello looks to another challenge posed in the age

of technology in her article “The Right to Privacy, Clandestine

Surveillance and International Trade in the United States and European

Union.” In this article the author tackles how surveillance activities can be

recognised in light of privacy rights and data protection.

The international focus of this year’s journal continues with “Left in

Limbo: The Need to Regulate International Surrogacy Agreements” by

Ruth Keating. In light of recent interest not only in Ireland, but on an