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41, Section 3, Subsection 3, of the Constitution.
The question first arose in
Mayo—Perrott's
case—
(1958) I.R. where a wife had been granted a divorce
decree and costs in England. Her former husband came
to live in Ireland, and she tried unsuccessfully to sue
him in the Republic for unpaid costs. Although the
Supreme Court decision was unanimous, Kingsmill
Moore J., nevertheless stated that Irish Courts had
recognised foreign divorces, where the parties were
domiciled in the jurisdiction of the Court, as laid down
by the
Le Mesurier
case—(1895)A.C.—and this had
not changed under either the Irish Constitutions of
1922 or of 1937. In the
Caffin
case, the testator had
married his first wife, in London and subsequently
divorced her on the ground of desertion in 1956 in
England; they had no children. He then married his
second wife in a Registry office in Dublin; and were
domiciled in Ireland until his death in 1970 : they also
had no children. The second wife elected to take he
half-share under the Succession Act 1970, and Kenny
J. helt that, under the
Le Mesurier principle, she
was entitled to do so. Finally the lecturer analysed
James O'Reilly's article in
The Irish Jurist
on "The
recognition of Foreign Divorces". Whether residence is
a good basis for the recognition of a foreign divorce
has not yet been decided in Ireland—nor has the
validity of a Northern Ireland divorce granted there
been decided.
Rights to maintenance:
District Justice Herman Good, delivered a lecture on
"The Rights of a Deserted Spouse to Maintenance"
on Sunday morning, 5th November. He said that the
Married Women (Maintenance in Case of Desertion)
Act had been introduced in 1886. This had fixed the
maximum sum payable at £4 per week, irrespective
of the number of children. Under the Courts Act 1971,
the wife may now apply for a sum of £15 weekly, plus
a maximum weekly sum of £5 per child. An applica-
tion can now be made to a higher Court if the husband
is wealthy. The mother of an illegitimate child may
now apply for the payment of £ 4 weekly (formerly
£1) by the putative father. Even under the Courts
Act 1971, it is still difficult to enforce payment against
a recalcitrant husband. If the wife applies to commit
the husband to prison, he is then likely to lose his
good job. The District Court does not know at the
moment how much a husband earns, this should be
made known to the Court, so that portion of his
salary could be attached to make weekly payments to
his wife. If the husband leaves Ireland and goes to
England, one cannot institute proceedings in respect
of an Irish Court Order to recover maintenance and
arrears; if there are children, the husband can be
brought back to Ireland on a charge of neglecting
his children, but otherwise nothing can be done.
Breakdown of family life due to drugs:
There has been an increasing tendency in Ireland
to the breakdown of family life due to such causes as
—poverty, unemployment, cruelty, violence, incompati-
bility, frustration, parental attitude and lack of dis-
cipline in children. The influence of religion is con-
tinuously decreasing and a religious revival is neces-
sary. Unfortunately, an important factor is drugs;
people have appeared before the Justice with fingers
amputated due to the use of heroin. The problem is
growing ever more serious, and the drug squad could
not possibly cope. Up to then, 160 persons had been
charged, but this is only a small beginning. Drug
addiction goes to the root of family life, and proba-
tion officers must try to save the marriage. Justice
Delap alone had 40 cases to deal with—this problem
is increasing, and there are many cases of drunken-
ness. In theory, children's allowances are given to help
supplement the income, but there is an unfortuunate
tendency to commonly deposit the allowance book as
security for a loan to moneylenders—which is an
offence. There are some regular women drunkards,
some of whom have more than 100 convictions.
In reply to the Minister for Justice, who suggested
that religion should have nothing to do with politics,
the lecturer said that if we did not have the anchor
of religion, there was no future for society without
belief.
A heroin addict is not cured by being sent to prison.
They are sick, and need treatment in a special place—
they are not strictly criminals.
Minister's speech:
The Minister for Justice, Mr. Desmond O'Malley, T.D.,
said that one of the most important powers contained
in the Courts Act 1971, was the increase in jurisdiction
granted to the District Court and the Circuit Court.
It was however disappointing to note that to a large
extent the High Court was still the forum for accident
cases; he considered that the trouble entailed and the
costs incolved did not warrant that the cases should
be taken in Dublin. At the moment, he was working
on a Court Officers Bill which would deal primarily
with the powers of District Probate Officers, and the
modernisation and extension of the lunacy laws. He
also wishes to enact the recommendations of the Com-
mittee on Court Practice and Procedure extending the
jurisdiction of the Master of the High Court and
reduce the functions of the jury in civil courts as far
as possible. The present Circuit Court jurisdiction may
have to be further extended.
He frankly admitted that there had been no law
reform legislation in the two and a half years since he
became Minister, but said that he had to take away
law reform officers to deal with security measures, as
he had spent 90 per cent of his time in acting as
Minister of the Interior.
The Charities Bill 1971 had been introduced in the
Senate, and he hoped it would be law early in the
New Year. As regards the problem of deserted wives,
he had tried, with the co-operation of the Lord
Chancellor's Office, to get the British authorities to
draft a bill for the enforcement of civil and com-
mercial judgments, which is already law in the Com-
munity. There will be no difficulty in enforcing these
judgments after our entry into the Community on 1st
January, 1973. As regards drugs, a Misuse of Drugs
Bill will be published shortly, in which the Minister
will have power to transfer a drug addict from prison
to hospital. A psychiatrist will be first called in, and the
transfer will take place on his recommendation to the
Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum or to Grange-
gorman. It is important that the offender should be
kept in a place where he cannot get drugs. Some
parents of addicts were impressed with the improve-
ments they had undergone in prison. The programme
of prison rehabilitation had been retarded by the
destruction of Mountjoy. But the Probation Service
was being greatly improved, and he hoped to appoint
35 Probation Officers spread throughout the country
soon.
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