The Gazette 1972

EDITORIAL

The Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

We are once more indebted to the Committee of Court

Practice and Procedure for their 11th Interim Report

on the Jurisdiction and Practice of the Supreme Court.

This valuable report was presented to the then Minister

for Justice, Mr. Moran, in March 1970, but there has

been a lengthy delay of two years before it has

been printed. It is an excellent idea that, by consent,

all constitutional issues concerning the constitutionality

of legislation initiated in the High Court should be deter-

mined by the Supreme Court and that the Supreme

Court should broadly be given jurisdiction to determine

on a compulsory consultative case stated to it by the

District or Circuit Court any constiutional issue that

may arise. One of the weaknesses of the Constitution

imposed by an amendment in 1941 to the effect that

only one judgment could be pronounced in certain

constitutional cases is rightly criticised by the Com-

mittee who have wisely recommended that, in the inter-

ests of fairness and invaluable jurisprudence every Judge

should be entitled to give his own opinion freely

Undoubtedly copies of Supreme Court judgments,

which form the basis of contemporary Irish jurispru-

dence, should be made available to the public at a

reasonable cost. This is a public service, and the objec-

tionable principle that high charges for judgments

should prevail in order that the costs of the service

should show a profit is to be condemned.

The Criminal Law Revision Committee

One can only view with consternation the alleged pro-

posals which are supposed to be contained in a forth-

coming report of the English Criminal Law Revision

Committee. It is proposed to abolish the caution, by

which the police warn persons that they need not say

anything, but if they do, it may be taken down in

writing, and used in evidence against them; this is an

essential safeguard for the ignorant population who

form the vast majority of suspects. By abolishing the

caution, it is obvious that the police can induce most

persons by pressures to incriminate themselves. There is

little doubt that the proposal to admit general evidence

of previous convictions before the jury is dangerous, as

it may induce the police to pressurise anyone whom

they do not like to plead guilty if necessary to trumped-

up offences. The average accused will be deterred by

all this apparatus in Court from defending himself

properly if not given legal aid. This may seem exag-

gerated, but the number of cases with which police are

charged with fraud and ill-treatment of persons in

custody is constantly increasing. The manner in which

the Judge's Rules and the rules of evidence are ignored

by the English police is frightening.

It is also proposed that in future the accused should

be required to go into the witness box, where he could

refuse to answer questions, and not be punishable for

contempt, for doing so. The speeches from the dock,

which achieved such notoriety in Irish history, are about

to disappear. This proposal appears to savour of the

Star Chamber system. It is fortunate that in Ireland

the accused can ultimately rely on the Constitution if

his rights are infringed, and not be subject to the

inexcusable alterations in the law proposed by Lord

Justice Davies and his colleagues. One cannot forget

that this same Judge proudly imposed deliberately

vindictive and retributive sentences in some criminal

trials which appear to have achieved little useful pur-

pose.

There should obviously be a standard sentence f°

all crimes, even aggravated ones, and no Judge should

be in a position to impose his purely personal preju-

dices

One can only view with scepticism the advice ten-

dered by the English Lord Chancellor to lay magi

trates to be as severe as possible, and that if necessary

they would be put right by a higher Court; this is the

gravest distortion of the notion of justice. One must

also view with suspicion the proposed changes in the

law of evidence which the Irish Minister of Justice

proposes to introduce, particularly as he was careful not

to give particulars.