Since the publication of Keating on Probate 4th edition, a significant number ofimportant cases have been decided by the Irish courts in the area of probate law and numerous probate updates have issued from the Probate Office, all of which are referred to, analysed and discussed in Keating on Probate 5th edition.
There is also a commendable trend at play in the decisions of the courts, involving the affirmation of current legal principles or the re-formulation of existing principles, or the re-affirmation of older principles, or in the formulation of new principles, which lends greater clarity, certainty and coherency in the law.
When engaging in the formulation or application of a legal principle the judges also appear to heed the advice of Jessel M.R. when he said:-
it is not sufficient that the case should have been decided on a principle if that principle is not itself a right principle, or one not applicable to the case; and it is for a subsequent Judge to say whether or not it is a right principle, and, if not, he may himself lay down the true principle.!
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