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10 1924

THE COURTS OF JUSTICE ACT, 1924

Part I.

THE HIGH COURT AND THE SUPREME COURT.

Constitution of High Court.

4. —A High Court of Justice (An Ard-Chúirt Bhreithiúnais) shall be constituted under this Act, consisting of not more than six judges (namely, a President and five ordinary judges), who shall be styled in their respective appointments “President” (“Uachtarán”) or “Judge” (“Breitheamh”) as the case may be “of the High Court of Justice of Saorstát Eireann.”

Constitution of Supreme Court.

5. —A Supreme Court of Justice (Cúirt Bhreithiúnais Uachtarach) shall be constituted under this Act to be the Supreme Court of the Irish Free State (An Chúirt Uachtarach) referred to in the Constitution and shall consist of three judges of whom the president (who is hereinafter called “the Chief Justice”) shall be styled in his appointment “Chief Justice of the Irish Free State” or “Prímh-Bhreitheamh Shaorstát Eireann,” and each of the other judges “Judge (Breitheamh) of the Supreme Court of Justice of Saorstát Eireann.”

Ex-officio judges.

6. —The President of the High Court shall be ex-officio an additional judge of the Supreme Court, and the Chief Justice shall be ex-officio an additional judge of the High Court.

Sitting of High Court judges in Supreme Court.

7. —Whenever owing to the illness of a judge of the Supreme Court or for any other unavoidable cause the number of judges of the Supreme Court requisite for the transaction of the business of that Court is not available, the Chief Justice may request any ordinary judge or judges of the High Court to sit on the hearing of any appeal in the Supreme Court, and any judge so requested shall sit on the hearing of such appeal and be an additional judge of the Supreme Court for such appeal.

Court of Criminal Appeal.

8. —The Chief Justice may, from time to time, request any two ordinary judges of the High Court to sit with himself, or with a judge of the Supreme Court, as a Court of Criminal Appeal, and the judges, so requested, or one of the same and the President of the High Court, if so requested and consenting, shall sit and with the Chief Justice or Judge of the Supreme Court shall constitute the Court of Criminal Appeal of Saorstát Eireann for the occasion in question: Provided that any other available judge or judges of the High Court or Supreme Court may at the request of the Chief Justice, attend as members of the Court of Criminal Appeal for the occasion in question.

Precedence between judges.

9. —The precedence between the judges shall be as follows:—The Chief Justice shall rank first, and next after him the President of the High Court; then shall rank the judges of the Supreme Court, according to priority of appointment, and next the ordinary judges of the High Court according to priority of appointment.

Mode of address.

10. —The judges of the High Court and the Supreme Court shall be addressed in the manner to be determined by the rules to be made under this Part of this Act, and shall have in all respects, save as in this Act is otherwise expressly provided, equal power, authority, and jurisdiction one with another.

Vacancy in office of judge.

11. —The office of any judge of the High Court or of the Supreme Court may be vacated by resignation in writing under his hand, and that of any judge of the High Court shall be vacated on his being appointed a judge of the Supreme Court, and thereupon or whenever the office of any judge of the High Court or of the Supreme Court shall become vacant a new judge may be appointed in his place. The said courts shall be deemed to be duly constituted during and notwithstanding any such vacancy, and any duties specially assigned to any judge who shall be incapacitated by illness, or shall be unable to sit, or whose office shall become vacant, shall be performed during such illness, inability or vacancy by such other judge of the said Courts as shall be available.

Age of retirement.

12. —The age of retirement of all judges of the High Court and the Supreme Court shall be 72 years.

Remuneration.

13. —The remuneration of the judges of the High Court and of the Supreme Court shall be as follows:—

The President of the High Court shall receive £3,000 per annum, and each ordinary judge thereof £2,500 per annum, and the Chief Justice shall receive £4,000 per annum, and each judge of the Supreme Court £3,000 per annum.

Pension.

14. —There shall be granted to each judge of the High Court and the Supreme Court who retires after 15 years' service or upwards in the said courts or either of them, a pension to be continued during his life of two-thirds of his salary at the time he ceases to act as judge. There shall be granted to each judge of the High Court and the Supreme Court who vacates his office owing to age or permanent infirmity after having completed five or more years' service and less than fifteen years' service a pension calculated at the rate of one-sixth of his salary at the time he vacates his office, with the addition of one-twentieth of his said salary for every completed year of service in excess of five such years, such pension to be continued during his life.

Charge of remuneration and pension on Central Fund.

15. —The remuneration and pension payable to every judge of the High Court and of the Supreme Court under this Act shall be charged upon and be payable out of the Central Fund of Saorstát Eireann or the growing produce thereof. Such remuneration and pension shall grow due from day to day, but shall be payable to the persons entitled thereto or to their executors or administrators on the usual quarterly days of payment or at such other periods in every year as the Minister for Finance may from time to time determine.

Qualification for appointment.

16. —No person shall be appointed a judge of the High Court or of the Supreme Court who is not at the date of his appointment a practising barrister of twelve years' standing at least or has not been a judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland or a Recorder or County Court Judge in Ireland or a Judge of the Dáil Supreme Court as defined in the Dáil Eireann Courts (Winding-Up) Act, 1923 (No. 36 of 1923), or a Judicial Commissioner appointed under that Act, but service as a judge of the Circuit Court of Justice in Saorstát Eireann shall be deemed practice at the Bar for the purpose of this provision and shall be reckoned as service within the meaning of section 14 hereof in the case of a Circuit Judge who shall be appointed a judge of the High Court or of the Supreme Court.

Jurisdiction of High Court.

17. —The High Court shall be a superior court of record with such original jurisdiction as is prescribed by the Constitution, and, subject as in this Act is provided, there shall be transferred to the High Court the jurisdiction which at the commencement of this Act was vested in or capable of being exercised by the existing High Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland or any division or judge thereof.

Jurisdiction of Supreme Court.

18. —The Supreme Court shall be a superior court of record with such appellate jurisdiction as is prescribed by the Constitution, and, subject as in this Act is provided, there shall be transferred to the Supreme Court the jurisdiction which at the commencement of this Act was vested in or capable of being exercised by the existing Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland or any judges or judge thereof.

Jurisdictions transferred to Chief Justice.

19. —(1) There shall be transferred to the Chief Justice and exercisable by him all such jurisdiction in lunacy and minor matters as was lately exercised by the Lord Chancellor of Ireland and is at the passing of this Act exercised by the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. An appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from the exercise by the Chief Justice of the jurisdiction transferred by this section.

(2) There shall be transferred to the Chief Justice and exercisable by him all such jurisdiction in relation to solicitors as was lately exercised by the Lord Chancellor of Ireland and is at the passing of this Act exercised by the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.

(3) There shall be transferred to the Chief Justice and vested in him the appointment of notaries public and of commissioners to administer oaths.

Reference Committee under Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910.

20. —From and after the commencement of this Act the Reference Committee for Saorstát Eireann mentioned in sub-section (5) of Section 33 of the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910, as adapted by the Adaptation of Enactments Act, 1922 (No. 2 of 1922) shall consist of the Chief Justice, the President of the High Court, and the Chairman of the Surveyors' Institution (Irish Branch), in lieu of the persons named in the said sub-section.

Transfer of pending business.

21. —From and after the commencement of this Act the several jurisdictions which by this Act are transferred to the High Court, and the Supreme Court, and the Chief Justice, shall cease to be exercised except by the High Court and the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice respectively: Provided that in all proceedings which shall have been fully heard but in which judgment shall not have been given, or having been given shall not have been perfected at the time appointed for the commencement of this Act, such judgment may be given and perfected respectively after the commencement of this Act, in the name of the same court and of the same judges and officers and generally in the same manner as if this Act had not passed; and such judgment shall take effect as if it had been duly perfected before the commencement of this Act, and every order of any court or judge whose jurisdiction is hereby transferred to the High Court or to the Supreme Court or to the Chief Justice (which order shall have been duly perfected at any time before the commencement of this Act) may be executed and enforced, and, if necessary, amended or discharged by the High Court and the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice respectively, in the same manner as if it had been an order of the High Court or of the Supreme Court or of the Chief Justice and all proceedings whether civil or criminal which shall be pending in the courts, whose jurisdiction is so transferred as aforesaid, at the commencement of this Act shall (save as otherwise expressly provided by this Act) be continued as follows, that is to say, in case of proceedings on appeal pending in the existing Court of Appeal, the same shall be continued before the Supreme Court, and in case of all other proceedings (save proceedings in matters hereinbefore transferred to the Chief Justice) the same shall be continued before the High Court, and in case of all proceedings in matters hereinbefore transferred to the Chief Justice the same shall be continued before the Chief Justice. The said courts and the Chief Justice respectively shall have the same jurisdiction in relation to all such proceedings as if such proceedings had been commenced before them respectively and continued before them respectively down to the point at which the transfer takes place, and so far as relates to the manner of procedure such proceedings or any of them may be continued either in the same or the like manner as they would have been continued, in the respective courts from which they shall have been transferred, as aforesaid, or according to the course of the respective courts to which they shall be transferred, so far as the same be applicable thereto.

Jurisdiction to be exercised pursuant to rules of court.

22. —The jurisdiction vested in and transferred to the High Court and the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice respectively shall be exercised so far as regards pleading, practice and procedure generally, including liability as to costs, in the manner provided by such rules of court as may be made pursuant to this Part of this Act, and where no provision is contained in any such rules of court and as long as there shall be no rule with reference thereto, it shall be exercised as nearly as possible in the same manner in which it might have been exercised by the respective courts from which such jurisdiction shall have been transferred, by this Act.

Rota of judge for election petitions.

23. —The judges to be placed on the rota for the trial of election petitions in Saorstát Eireann in each year under the provisions of the Parliamentary Elections Act, 1868, shall be selected out of the judges of the High Court in such manner as may be provided by any rules of court to be made for that purpose, and in the meantime and subject thereto shall be selected out of the judges of the High Court in like manner as they have heretofore been selected out of the judges of the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in Ireland.

Judges to have jurisdiction to hear all cases, but no judge to hear appeal from order made by himself.

24. —Each judge of the High Court and the Supreme Court(including the Chief Justice) shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine any case whether civil or criminal, in equity, or at common law, or under statute: Provided always that no judge shall sit upon the hearing of an appeal in an action tried before him whether with or without a jury, or upon an appeal from a judgment or order made by him or to which he was a party whether concurring or dissenting.

Remittal or transfer of actions.

25. —When any action shall be pending in the High Court which might have been commenced in the Circuit Court, any party to such action may, at any time before service of notice of trial therein, apply to the High Court that the action be remitted or transferred to the Circuit Court, and thereupon, in case the court shall consider that the action is fit to be prosecuted in the High Court, it may retain such action therein, or if it shall not consider the action fit to be prosecuted in the High Court it may remit or transfer such action to the Circuit Court or (where the action might have been commenced in the District Court) the District Court, to be prosecuted before the Judge assigned to such Circuit or (as the case may require) the Justice assigned to such District, as may appear to the High Court suitable and convenient, upon such terms, in either case and subject to such conditions, as to costs or otherwise as may appear to be just:

Provided that the High Court shall have jurisdiction to remit or transfer any action, whatever may be the amount of the claim formally made therein, if the court shall be of opinion that the action should not have been commenced in the High Court but in the Circuit Court or in the District Court if at all.

Appeal in remitting applications.

26. —An appeal shall lie from the High Court to the Supreme Court in all cases from the grant or refusal of any application to remit or transfer any action from the High Court to the Circuit Court, and from the exercise of the discretion of the High Court or any judge thereof in the matter.

Grand Jury not to be summoned for consideration of indictments.

27. —From and after the commencement of this Act no indictment need be preferred to or found by a Grand Jury, and no Grand Jury shall be summoned to the Central Criminal Court or to any Court of the High Court Circuit for the consideration of indictments, but every indictment shall be preferred directly to the jury which tries the accused.

Court of Criminal Appeal to sit in Dublin; one member alone to pronounce judgment.

28. —The Court of Criminal Appeal of Saorstát Eireann shall sit in Dublin, except in cases where the Chief Justice gives special directions that it shall sit elsewhere, and the President of the court shall be such member present as shall be entitled to precedence over the other members, and the determination of all questions before the court shall be according to the opinion of the majority of the members present, but unless the court direct to the contrary, the judgment of the court shall be pronounced by the President of the court, or by such other member of the court as the President directs, and no judgment with respect to the determination of any question shall be separately pronounced by any other member of the court.

Decision of Court of Criminal Appeal final save on certificate of Attorney General.

29. —The determination by the Court of Criminal Appeal of any appeal or other matter which it has power to determine shall be final, and no appeal shall lie from that court to the Supreme Court, unless that court or the Attorney-General shall certify that the decision involves a point of law of exceptional public importance and that it is desirable in the public interest that an appeal should be taken to the Supreme Court, in which case an appeal may be brought to the Supreme Court, the decision of which shall be final and conclusive.

Court of Criminal Appeal a superior court of record.

30. —The Court of Criminal Appeal shall be a superior court of record, and shall, for the purposes and subject to the provisions of this Act, have full power to determine any questions necessary to be determined for the purpose of doing justice in the case before it.

Appeal from Central Criminal Court and Court of High Court Circuit.

31. —A person convicted on indictment before the Central Criminal Court or before any court of the High Court Circuit may appeal under this Act to the Court of Criminal Appeal under the following conditions:—

(i) if the appellant obtains a certificate from the judge who tried him that the case is a fit case for appeal;

(ii) in case of refusal of such certificate if the Court of Criminal Appeal on appeal from such refusal grant leave to appeal.

Leave to appeal in certain cases.

32. —Leave to appeal shall be granted by the Court of Criminal Appeal in cases where the court is of opinion that a question of law is involved, or where the trial appears to the court to have been unsatisfactory, or there appears to the court to be any other sufficient ground of appeal, and the court shall have power to make all consequential orders it may think fit, including an order admitting the appellant to bail pending the determination of his appeal.

Hearing of appeal.

33. —The appeal, in case such certificate or leave to appeal is granted, shall be heard and determined by the Court of Criminal Appeal on the report of an official stenographer present at the trial of the appellant, with power to the court to hear new or additional evidence, and to refer any matter for report by the judge before whom the case was tried.

Jurisdiction to affirm or reverse conviction.

34. —The Court of Criminal Appeal shall have jurisdiction to affirm or to reverse the conviction in whole or in part, and to remit, or to reduce, or to increase or otherwise vary the sentence, and generally to make such order, including any order as to costs as may be necessary for the purpose of doing justice in the case before the court.

Appellant guilty but insane.

35. —If on any appeal pursuant to certificate or leave granted, as aforesaid, it appears to the Court of Criminal Appeal that although the appellant was guilty of the act or omission charged against him, he was insane at the time the act was done or omission made, so as not to be responsible according to law for his actions, the court may quash the sentence passed at the trial and order the appellant to be kept in custody as a criminal lunatic, in the same manner as if the verdict had been found by the jury to that effect.

Rules of Court.

36. —The Minister for Home Affairs may at any time and from time to time after the passing and before or after the commencement of this Act, but with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance in respect of any matter affecting public revenue or expenditure make rules to be styled “Rules of Court” for carrying Part I . of this Act into effect (including the hearing of appeals from the Circuit Court and cases stated by the District Court) and may annul or alter the said rules and make new rules. In particular rules may be made for all or any of the following matters:—

(i) pleading, practice and procedure generally (including the entering-up of judgment and the granting of summary judgment in appropriate cases) in all civil cases, including revenue cases and proceedings as to the validity of any law having regard to the provisions of the Constitution and proceedings in the nature of a petition of right;

(ii) pleading, practice and procedure generally in all criminal cases before the Central Criminal Court or any court of the High Court Circuit or the Court of Criminal Appeal;

(iii) the sending out of Commissioners of the High Court Circuit at such times, to such centres and for such amalgamated districts as shall seem fit;

(iv) the sittings of the Central Criminal Court for Dublin and such neighbouring counties as shall be determined by such rules and the cases that shall be disposed of by it, which shall include all cases not disposed of by Commissioners of the High Court Circuit, or in which the venue has been changed to the Central Criminal Court at the instance of the Attorney-General or the accused;

(v) the use of the national language of Saorstát Eireann in the said courts;

(vi) the mode of address to be adopted to the judges and the robes and official dress to be worn by the Bench and the Bar;

(vii) the commencement and duration of the sittings and the vacations;

(viii) the fixing and collection of fees;

(ix) the adaptation or modification of any statute that may be requisite for any of the purposes of this Act and all subsidiary matters.

Such rules of court shall be made or annulled or altered only with the concurrence of a majority of a committee consisting of the judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court, the President of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, and two practising barristers, of the senior and junior Bar respectively, to be selected by the Council of the Bar of Ireland.