The Gazette 1996

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1996

iTTE

ILT DIGEST OF LEGISLATION AND REPORTED CASES Compiled by DAVID BOYLE

Concerted practice - Dominant position - Competition Act 1991, ss. 4, 5

ANIMALS

ADMINISTRATIVE

Sheila Flannery v. Margo Forbes Dean and Ors High Court (Costello P) [1995] 2 ILRM 393 Welfare - Plaintiff's horses not in good condition - Horses in posession of third parties - Horses removed by defendants - No right to pass posession or title to third parties - Statutory measures available to take animals to local authority pound - Plaintiff entitled to return of her horses

Harbours Bill 1995 This Bill has been passed by DáiI Éireann. (Cf. (1995) 13 ILT 176.) Securitisation (Proceeds of Certain Mortgages) Act 1995 (No. 30 of 1995) This Act was signed by the President on 30 November 1995. (Cf. (1995) 13 ILT 304.) Commissioners of Public Works (Functions and Powers) Bill 1995 This Bill, as presented by Senator Maurice Manning and passed by the Senate, aims to clarify the powers of the Commissioners of Public Works to provide humanitarian relief specifically to the victims of the flooding which occurred in late 1994 and early 1995. The Bill also aims to provide legal certainty for certain general powers of the Commissioners which have been called into doubt. Bovine Diseases (Levies) (Amend- ment) Bill 1995 This Bill, as presented by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry, aims to amend and extend the Bovine Diseases (Levies) Act 1979 and to amend the penalties relating to offences under ss. 48 and 49 of the Diseases of Animals Act 1966. Milk (Regulation of Supply) (Amend- ment) Act 1995 (No. 36 of 1995) This Act amends para. 5 of the Schedule to the Milk (Regulation of Supply) Act 1994. AGRICULTURE

CONSTITUTIONAL

T.F. v. Ireland\ the Attorney General and M.F. Supreme Court (Hamilton CJ, O'Flaherty, Egan, Blayney and Denham JJ) [19951 2 ILRM 321 Family - Marriage - Rights deriving from the relationship of marriage - Whether such rights are absolute - Decree of judicial separation - Whether granting decree on ground that no normal marital relationship had existed for period of one year constituted too low a threshold and thus an attack on institution of marriage - Whether decree amounted to an impediment to reconciliation - Whether the grant of right of residence in family home to one spouse amounted to an unjust attack on other spouse's property rights Presumption of constitutionality - Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989, ss. 2(1 )(f), 3, 16(a), 19 - Constitution of Ireland 1937, Articles 40.3.2°, 41 R.J. v. Director of Central Mental Hospital and Or High Court (Costello P) [1995] 2 ILRM 354 Criminal law - Detention - Habeas Corpus - Patient in mental institution charged with criminal offence - District judge certified that there was prima facie evidence against the patient and he was unfit to plead - Transfer to Central Mental Hospital ordered by minister - Whether the transfer and continued detention of patient in Central Mental Hospital was lawful - Intolerable conditions of detention - Whether patient's improved behaviour rendered detention

COMMERCIAL

Industrial Development Act 1995 (No. 28 of 1995) This Act was signed by the President on 8 November 1995. (Cf. (1995) 13 ILT 201.)

COMPANY

Alba Radio Limited v. Haltone (Cork) Limited High Court (Barron J) [1995] 2 ILRM 466 Application for an order for the examination of a director of a company - No winding up order made in respect of company and no provisional liquidator appointed to the company - Whether provisions of Companies Act 1990 had retro- spective effect - Companies Act 1963, s. 245 - Companies Act 1990, s. 251

COMPETITION

Carna Foods and Or v. Eagle Star Insurance Company (Ireland) Limited High Court (McCracken j) [1995] 2 ILRM 474

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