While the boycott of Protestant businesses in the County Wexford town of Fethard-on-Sea in 1957 has in recent decades been the subject of books, articles and even a feature film, and has come to symbolise sectarian tensions in mid-century Ireland over mixed marriage, a precursor — the 1950 Tilson case — has not received the same level of attention. That has now been rectified by David Jameson's comprehensive and thorough examination of the personal, familial, class, religious, legal and political aspects of the episode. The author asks why Tilson has not gained the same notoriety as Fethard, wondering if the incident represented too much ‘discomfort for Irish middle-class society’ (p. 219).

The eponymous dispute arose from the inter-marriage in 1941 between a working-class Protestant from Oldcastle, County Meath — Ernest Tilson — and Mary Barnes, a Catholic from the socially deprived Turner's Cottages estate in Ballsbridge, County Dublin. Following a decade of an at-times fractious marriage, in 1950 Ernest, unbeknownst to Mary, placed their three sons —– Alan, Paul and David — into the Protestant-run Bird's Nest orphanage in Dún Laoghaire, triggering a high-profile legal battle.

Although the details of the case are the central focus of the book, it is much more than the story of the Tilson case. As Jameson notes in the introduction, the case is a departure point for a wider examination of mixed marriages in general. The entire first part provides a detailed background (chapter 1) on the historical precedents for mixed marriages in Ireland and the practice and customs around them. In particular, Jameson de-mythologises much of the urban legend that has built up around the Ne Temere decree, the nature of which, and its impact on Ireland, he considers to have been ‘misunderstood’ (p. 49). To attribute the decline of the non-Catholic population almost exclusively to the decree is simplistic. He highlights the distinction between Ne Temere and the Catholic canon law of marriage, the latter rather than the former being the root for ‘a dispensation for mixed marriage to proceed, provided the couple promised to raise all their children as Catholics’ (p. 49).

Also much misunderstood, and indeed misinterpreted by various commentators and historians, are the legal rulings in the case, and especially the more problematic one delivered by George Gavan Duffy in the High Court. So significant is Gavan Duffy to the story that a full chapter is dedicated to him. The legal proceedings, encompassing part two of the book, centred not around religion but on the concept of ‘paternal supremacy’, a civil law principle under which a father ‘enjoyed the sole prerogative in determining the religious upbringing of his children’ (p. 81), and the validity of pre-nuptial agreements. The precedent of paternal supremacy had largely been followed in the Irish courts, giving Ernest Tilson's legal team grounds for confidence as judicial proceedings got under way. The question was whether Gavan Duffy's conservative Catholic views, epitomised by his prominence in An Ríoghacht, would ‘colour his judgement’ (p. 119) in a case where a Protestant father sought to establish his authority as superior to that of a Catholic mother.

The answer was ‘yes’ but not for the reasons that some commentators have suggested, of basing his judgement on article 44.1.2, which recognised the special position of the Catholic Church as the faith of the majority. The failings in Gavan Duffy's judgement were in the lack of a distinction between church and state and a lack of clarity over whether ‘he relied on the relevant articles of the constitution or was unduly influenced by his own deep-rooted Catholicism and nationalism’. Perhaps he was ‘simply discharging his obligation as a member of An Ríoghacht’ or ‘he came under the influence of somebody else’ (p. 123), such as the Catholic archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid. While Gavan Duffy's was not the final say, he was the most important protagonist in the legal case, for ‘had he decided to follow precedent and uphold the tradition of paternal supremacy, it is quite likely that that would have been the end of the matter’ (p. 14).

The judgement of the Supreme Court, the final arbiter, can appear as an afterthought in the wake of the controversy attending Gavan Duffy's ruling. The outcome, if not the logic of Gavan Duffy's earlier ruling, was upheld, effectively nullifying paternal supremacy, which it was argued had been superseded by joint parental authority under article 42.1 of Bunreacht na hÉireann. The dissenting voice of the Methodist judge William Black did nothing to ease Protestant fears of bias in the Irish judicial system. While circumstantial evidence of clerical and political interference is identified, in the end Jameson concludes that the dynamics at work were likely more subtle with the outcome of the case, reflecting ‘an unconscious assimilation of values and principles’ (p. 216) by a judiciary comprised largely of devout Catholics well-connected within the state's political and clerical hierarchies.

The tale had a happy ending eventually. As with Sean and Sheila Cloney, Ernest and Mary Tilson were reconciled ‘and lived out their days together as husband and wife’ (p. 12). This cannot have been an easy ordeal for their children and the co-operation of Alan Tilson and other family members is to be commended. The trust placed in the chronicler of their story has not been misplaced. David Jameson has achieved the admirable balance of analysing the incident forensically, yet with an empathy that recognises the human sadness involved.