The Gazette 1989

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GAZETTE DECEMBER 1989
Viewpoint 419
Larceny Bill, 1989 -
New offence of handling
stolen property 421
President's Column 427
Practice Notes 433
Law Society Committees
1989/90 434
Irish Solicitors in London
Bar Association A.G.M. 435
People and Places 436
Lawbrief 439
Status of Children born
outside marriage and
their Property Rights
Cover Photo:
Solicitors Benevolent Association Christ-
mas Concert. Mrs. Nanette Ivers, Mezzo
Soprano, with Ms. Marie Askin, Pianist.
*
Executive Editor:
Mary Gaynor
Committee:
Eamonn G. Hall, Chairman
Michael V. O'Mahony, Vice-Chairman
John F. Buckley
Gary Byrne
Patrick McMahon
Charles R. M. Meredith
Daire Murphy
John Schutte
Advertising:
Seán Ó hOisín. Telephone: 305236
Fax: 307860
Printing:
Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford.
*
The views expressed in this publication,
save where otherwise indicated, are the
views of the contributors and not
necessarily the views of the Council of
the Society.
The appearance of an advertisement in
this publication does not necessarily
indicate approval by the Society for the
product or service advertised.
Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.
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GAZETTE INCORPORATE D
LAWSOCIETY
OF IRELAND
Vol. 63 No. 12 December 1
Viewpoint
In a comprehensive report on Re-
ceiving Stolen Property published
in 1987, the Law Reform Commiss-
ion stated:-
"Our present law on Receiving
is in many respects unnecessar-
ily favourable to the accused,
presents unreasonable obstacles
to the prosecution and is
seriously out of date . . . it also
facilitates crimes of dishonesty
over a wide area".
The Larceny Bill 1989 is a direct
response to this report. The prin-
cipal changes incorporated in the
Bill are the introduction of the new
offence of dishonest handling of
stolen property (following the
English Theft Act 1968) and a
refining of the necessary mens rea
required for conviction. The Law
Reform Commi ss i on Report
perceived the present requirement,
that an accused in order to be guilty
of receiving must know the
property to be stolen, to be the core
of the problem. It advocated the
concept of recklessness in its
place. While the Government has
not gone all the way with its
recommendation, it now proposes
that guilty knowledge shall com-
prise "knowing or believing" and
goes on to say in Section 3(2):-
" Believing property to be stolen
property includes thinking that
such property was probably
stolen property".
Lawyers will rightly quibble with
the retention of Section 43 of the
Larceny Act 1916 in amended form
which allows the prosecution to
adduce evidence of previous con-
victions under the Larceny Act
within the previous five years or
evidence of possession of other
stolen property within the previous
12 months. The Law Reform Com-
mission recommended the repeal of
this section. It is rarely if ever used
and is probably open to constitu-
tional challenge.
The Bill contains a number of
other proposals. It seeks to end the
situation where a person accused
of receiving can be acquitted by
proving he was the thief, and now
makes the possession of articles
for the purpose of taking a car or
stealing from one an offence. In
addition it makes the handling of
property stolen outside the juris-
diction an offence here.
The Larceny Bill 1989 introduces
a number of necessary and wel-
come reforms. There are now three
Criminal Justice Bills before Dáil
Éireann with more to follow. The
manner in which Ray Burke T.D. has
assumed the Office of Minister for
Justice allows for cautious optim-
ism. Having achnowledged the
Government's gratitude to the Law
Reform Commission will he now
allow that body the resources
necessary to carry out a compre-
hensive review of our Criminal
law?
Finally one hopes that Mr. Burke
will address the problems in our
prisons. Years of neglect by suc-
cessive governments have made
these institutions profoundly in-
human. Has he the energy and
commitment to take the Whitaker
Report off the shelf? •
419