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as too lenient, and those who thought the penal]
system was too harsh. The three necessary elementsl
in punishment were Deterrence
(discouraging
others), Retribution (a link between the heinousness
of the crime and the severity of the punishment)
and Restitution (Restoring to a victim as far as
possible what has been taken away). As Pope Pius
XII said, retributive punishment should help towards
rehabilitation, yet one cannot be rehabilitated until
one recognises one's sin. While the prisoner should
be prepared to accept the justice of the punishment,
at the same time the judges and the public should
identify themselves more actively with the future of
the prisoner. The Chief Justice thought that, in
assessing punishment, judges were laymen and that
as far as possible they should interest themselves in
the future welfare of the prisoners whom they have
sentenced ;
the community should help ex-prisoners
in securing employment. It was disturbing that on
the whole imprisonment had no beneficial effect on
prisoners ; perhaps the idea of a week-end prison to
enable prisoners to purge short term sentences could
be considered. On the Continent, the injured party
could take an action for damages for murder, and a
study of penology by law students should be actively
considered.
Mr. Edward Fahy, B.L., stated that he knew from
personal experience that the best detectives in Dublin
had left the force, and that consequently the number
of crimes now detected had diminished considerably.
The major cause of juvenile delinquency was lack of
parental control, and this applied as much to rich as
to poor parents. When visiting the Malone Institute,
Belfast, he had been impressed by the letters which
the ex-borstal boys had written to the Governor.
Dr. Keith Simpson stressed that many habitual
criminals were mental patients who required essential
treatment. In the Welfare State, too many people had
obtained big pay packets who did not know how to
make the best use of the money.
Dr. Eustace, Rev. Professor O'Doherty, Dr.
Meenan and Mr. Donough O'Donovan also spoke.
Mr. Justice Murnaghan, in summing up, stated that
in most cases the mental condition of the prisoner
towards his punishment was inalterable. In his view
the prevalence of divorce in England had lowered the
moral outlook of the people, and was responsible
for the great increase in crime. The practical applic
ation of imposing punishment was the most difficult
task a judge had to perform, as so many factors, such
as the effect on the prisoner's family, had to be
considered.
APPELLATE PROCEDURE IN ENGLAND
" The Times " for Friday March 23rd reports that
the Master of the Rolls presiding in the Court of
Appeal announced that in view of comments by
United States jurists on the English appellate system
immediate steps would be taken by way of experiment
to reduce the time taken in the hearing of appeals by
the court. For the purposes of the experiment each
member of the court will have read (i) the pleadings
or the originating summons (or their equivalent),
(2) the order under appeal, (3) the notice of appeal
and respondent's notice (if any) and (4) the judgment
of the trial judge together with ?ny cases cited by
him in his judgment. It was proposed to introduce
the experiment in connection with the appeals
tribunal list on the following week. The proposal
was made with the full support of the Lord Chancellor
and representatives of the Bar and the Law Society
had been consulted. The visiting American jurists
had drawn attention to the length of time so fre
quently taken up in the court by the reading of
documents, including the judgment under appeal
and the cases therein cited, and it had been pointed
out that the result must often be substantially to
increase the costs. It was not, however, intended to
fetter in any way the right of counsel to full oral
argument of their cases. (See also [1962] i All E.R.
897).
CHARITIES ACT, 1961
The attention of members is drawn to the following
important provisions of the Act:—
Ci) In the Schedule to the Act, the whole of the
Charitable Donations and Bequests ("Ireland) Act
1844 is repealed as from the ist July, 1961 ;
this
includes
inter alia
Section 16, and it is therefore no
longer necessary to make use of an " O'Hagan
clause " in a will in order that a charitable donation
or devise will be valid if made within three months
of the death of the testator.
(2) Under Section 29 of the Charities Act 1961,
the powers given to the Commissioners to frame
cy-pres schemes in cases where the charitable inten
tion of the testator cannot be carried out are con
siderably widened ;
the Commissioners may hence
forth direct this intention to be carried out with due
regard to the spirit of the gift, if the charitable gift
does not exceed £5,000 and for this purpose the
value of the land is to be taken as 50 times the poor
law valuation.
(3) Under Section 32 of the 1961 Act, the Com
missioners are henceforth given power to invest
charity funds under their control in securities not
authorised by law or not authorised by the trust
instrument, and the Commissioners may permit
ordinary charity trustees to do likewise. Investments
of charity funds however will be confined generally
to Irish securities.