An advocate of traditional democratic civil liberties, Irvine has written about the importance of the rule of law for both modern and ancient democracies.

[16] An advocate of traditional democratic civil liberties, Irvine has argued in favour of free speech rights, both for political reasons[17][18] and in the context of defending academic freedom.

[23][24] It was this demand that led to Aristotle's distinction between psephismata (votes of the assembly) and nomos (statute law), and to the resulting debate over how best to decide questions of legal supremacy within a democracy.

[27] To help safeguard the legal system from abuse, Irvine has emphasized the importance of three key principles – the rule of law, the separation of powers and democratic accountability.

The premiere was directed by Joan Bryans of Vital Spark Theatre Company at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in Vancouver.

[36] In the words of one reviewer, "The play is refreshingly illuminating on the relationship between Socrates' execution and the lasting influence of Aristophanes' negative depiction of him on the evolution of the Athenian psyche.

As Irvine notes, "While most of Aristophanes' language has been reworked (with some sections being reordered and others omitted) ... the fact that works written over two thousand years ago can still be successfully performed today tells us a great deal about our shared humanity across the ages and around the world.

[43] The original version of the bibliography covers the history of the awards from their inception in 1936 through to the end of 2013 and appeared in Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada in 2014.