Beirne, Appellant; Duffy, Respondent v

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: K. B. Div.
• Judgment Date: 14 January 1914
• Court: King's Bench Division (Ireland)
• Date: 14 January 1914

Beirne,

Appellant;

Duffy,

Respondent (1).

K. B. Div.

CASES

DETERMINED BY

THE KING'S BENCH DIVISION

OF

THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN IRELAND,

AND ON APPEAL THEREFROM IN

THE COURT OF APPEAL,

AND BY

THE COURT FOR CROWN CASES RESERVED.

1914.

Licensing Acts — Licensed premises — Business other than sale of intoxicating liquors carried on — Structural separation — Intoxicating Liquors (Ireland) Act, 1906 (6 Edw. 7, c. 39), s. 2.

A sale of drink consists in the order for the drink and the delivery of the drink in pursuance of the order. Where a publican carries on upon the licensed premises a business other than that of the sale of intoxicating liquors, and that portion of the premises used for the sale of such liquors is divided from the portion used for the purposes of such other business by a separation of such a character that, notwithstanding its existence, an effective order for drink can be given by a person in the latter portion to, and be received by, a person in the former portion of the premises, and drink can be supplied in pursuance of that order, such separation is not a “structural” separation within the meaning of sect. 2 of the Intoxicating Liquors (Ireland) Act, 1906 (2).

A separation between the bar of a hotel and a billiard-room (which is not licensed, but which is owned by the hotel proprietor and used for the purposes of profit), if it contain a glass portion through which a signal for drink can be given and received, resulting in the delivery of the drink ordered by taking out the drink from the bar to the billiard-room through a yard, is not a “structural separation” within the above Act and section.

Case Stated under 20 & 21 Vict. c. 43, on the requisition of the appellant, by the justices of the peace for the county of Roscommon, sitting on the 6th November, 1913, at petty sessions at Strokestown.

On the 29th October, 1913, the appellant, a district inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary, took out a summons against the respondent, a hotel proprietress and publican in Strokestown, charging her with three separate offences under the Licensing Acts, namely, that of keeping open her licensed premises at a time and at hours prohibited by law, that of opening her licensed premises for the sale of intoxicating liquors at a time and at hours prohibited by law, and that of failing to close her licensed premises from 9 p.m., as required by sect. 2 of the Intoxicating Liquors (Ireland) Act, 1906, 6 Edw. 7, c. 39, the licensed premises being used for the carrying on of a business other than the sale of intoxicating liquors, namely, billiard-playing (1), and the portion of the premises used for the sale of intoxicating liquors not being structurally separated from the remainder of the building. All the offences were charged as having occurred at 10.5 p.m. on Saturday, the 18th October, 1913.

The summons having been adjourned from the Strokestown petty sessions held on the 23rd October, 1913, came on for hearing on the 6th November, 1913, at Strokestown petty sessions before a bench of magistrates composed of the resident magistrate, Mr. Rice, and six justices, namely, Messrs. Mitchell, Walpole, O'Beirne, Murray, Kerr, and Maguire, when the appellant appeared and prosecuted, and the respondent was

defended by her solicitor, Mr. Gaynor. Upon hearing the evidence, all the magistrates were agreed in...