The Gazette 1989

GAZETTE

FEBRUARY 1989

majority of pre- 1922 Statutes -

these cannot be obtained in the

Government Stationery Office.

Due to the inactivity of succes-

sive Governments many of the

main Statutes governing criminal

law fall into that category. The

Vagrancy Act 1824, The Offences

against the Person Act 1861, The

Dublin Police Act 1842, The

Childrens Act 1908 and the

Larceny Act 1916 are cases in

point. On several occasions I have

witnessed legal argument in

Court in relation to these Acts

falter and end as the Act in

question was not readily available

even in the Court offices.

The Round Hall Press have

commenced a series of books

called Irish Statutes Annotated

which may rectify the problem to

some extent. The first book in the

series, "The Larceny Act, 1916",

contains the full text of that Act

together with all subsequent

amendments. Also included is an

introduction to the Act, a full case

index, a commentary on the

various Sections of the Act and

finally some thoughts on reform.

This introduction deals with the

whole concept of larceny as a

crime against possession as

opposed to ownership and the

difficulties the law has had in

reconciling that concept with

various dishonest actions which

deprive persons of their goods but

which do not amount to the crime

of larceny. Indeed some of the

illogical and peculiar English

decisions are judicial attempts to

criminalise obviously dishonest

behaviour which does not come

within the framework of the Act.

It also discusses at length the

difficult problem of "Possession"

in law which has also given rise

to irreconcilable judicial judgements.

The commentary on the Act

itself is informative and easily

readable though uneven in places.

Because the Act is so old many

of the Sections now are otiose

and in some cases almost

certainly unconstitutional. I would

have liked a greater discussion of

the unconstitutional aspects of

the Act though the Author does

point out several sub-sections

such as s.43 (1) - (Prosecution

empowered to put previous con-

victions of accused in evidence

(and s.42 (2) (Chief Officer

authorising searches) which are

almost certainly unconstitutional.

However, no comment is made in

relation to s.37 (6) which author-

ises the sentence of whipping

(maximum sentence 50 strokes).

The final part of the Book is a

readable discussion of possible

reforms to the larceny code. The

Theft Act was introduced in 1968

in England but many problems

have remained unsolved. One

difficulty is that the very structure

of the State is partly built on

dishonesty and unfairness. A

Statute that attacked all forms of

dishonesty would therefore be an

attack on the State itself as it now

exists. Abuse of monopoly power,

insider trading, misuse of the

protection given to corporate

entities can all be said to be

dishonest but not criminal and yet

can cause more harm to the

public than petty theft. Whatever

one feels about this there can be

no doubt that the Act is in need

of reform. Many of its Sections

are outdated, unconstitutional

and even morally objectionable.

The Irish Statutes Annotated

series is to be welcomed as a

necessary innovation in legal

publishing. I am delighted that the

series commenced with this Act.

The second book in the series will

deal with the Civil Liability Act

1961. For the reasons outlined

earlier I would ask the Editor to

annotate as many pre-1922

Statutes as possible. I would also

hope that the subsequent books

would keep up the same standard

as this one. Despite the fact that

the Book deals with a technical

subject it is readable and

interesting and contains very few

errors. I would recommend it to

any lawyer who appears regularly

before our Criminal Courts. In fact

those lawyers who do not appear

before our Courts should read it

also - every man is presumed to

know the law after all.

Mi chael Staines

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