Dodd and Others v Minister for Fisheries

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: High Court (Irish Free State)
• Judgment Date: 24 November 1934
• Date: 24 November 1934
• Docket Number: (1933. No. 3546.)

[Special Ct., I.F.S.]

Dodd and Others

and

Minister for Fisheries

Restriction on close season - Improvement of the fishery -Proposed change injurious to net fishing - Special Court under Fisheries Act, 1925 - Procedure -Jurisdiction - Fisheries (Ir.) Act, 1842 (5 6 Vict. c. 106), ss. 33, 34, 35, 91 and 92 - Salmon Fishery (Ir.) Act, 1863 (26 27 Vict. c. 114), s. 20 - Fisheries Close Season (Ir.) Act, 1895 (58 59 Vict. c. 29), ss. 1, 2 and 3 - Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ir). Act, 1899 (62 63 Vict. c. 50), s. 2 (1) (i); s. 3 (1) (2) and (3) -Fisheries (Ir.) Act, 1909 (9 Ed. 7, c. 25), s. 1(1) -Fisheries Act, 1925 (No. 32 of 1925) s. 28 (1) and(4) - Rules of the High Court and Supreme Court, 1926, Or. XXVII, rr. 1 and 2.

On the 3rd May, 1933, an Inquiry was held at Killarney by two Inspectors of Fisheries with a view to imposing further restrictions upon net fishing for salmon in the Lakes and in the River Laune. On 15th September, 1933, the Minister for Fisheries promulgated a bye-law ("The River Laune Close Season Bye-law No. C.S. 88, 1933") extending the annual close season by one month in the River Laune, its lakes and tributaries. The bye-law did not apply to fishing by single rod and line. The appellants, who were the owners of a several fishery in the River Laune, appealed against the bye-law under the provisions of s. 28 (4) of the Fisheries Act, 1925 (No. 32 of 1925), to a Court constituted as specified in that sub-section. At the hearing of the appeal privilege was claimed on behalf of the Minister for Fisheries for the report made by the Inspectors who had held the Inquiry, so that the evidence given before them was not available to the...