Donal Coffey

Donal Coffey is an Assistant Professor in Law at Maynooth University, joining in August 2020. He holds an affiliation as a Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory (Frankfurt am Main). His work focuses on public law, legal history, and comparative constitutional frameworks, with emphasis on the British Empire’s constitutional evolution. Key research areas include Irish constitutional history (1930s), decolonization processes, and the interplay between emergency powers and rights in modern legal systems.

• PhD from University College Dublin on Irish constitutional history
• Authored two monographs: Drafting the Irish Constitution, 1935–1937 and Constitutionalism in Ireland, 1932–1938
• Edited volumes include The Centenary of the Irish Free State Constitution (2024) and Legal Transfer and Legal Geography in the British Empire (2025)

Research interests span Irish public law (emergency powers, judicial branch), comparative constitutional design, and the legal history of empires. Recent work addresses post-colonial constitutional learning and the influence of transnational legal frameworks.

Publications span peer-reviewed journals like Law and History Review and International and Comparative Law Quarterly, with contributions to book chapters, conferences, and policy consultations (e.g., cited by the Irish Law Reform Commission and Japan’s Sangiin).

• Award: Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
• Teaching focuses on constitutional law, administrative law, and legal history of empires

Coffey has held roles at the Max Planck Institute as Senior Research Fellow and lectured in the UK (University of Surrey, Portsmouth). His work bridges historical legal analysis with contemporary constitutional challenges, emphasizing transnational legal transfers and decolonization legacies.