DPP v Farrell

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1980
• Date: 01 January 1980
• Court: Circuit Court

(Cir.Ct.)

Director of Public Prosecutions

and

Farrell

Record - Forfeiture of licence - Grant of licence - Whether endorsement to be carried over to such new licence -Licensing (Ireland) Act 1902 (2 Edw. 7 c. 18), s.6 - Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1927 (No. 15), s.25.

It was agreed between the parties that the following endorsements appeared on the Defendant's intoxicating liquor licence, namely, 1. 5th of February, 1974. 2. 21st of December, 1976. 3. 5th of December, 1977. 4. 18th of September 1979. The Order of the District Court recording the final conviction on the licence, and declaringthe licence forfeit, was under appeal. It was contended for the appellant that s. 25 (3) of the 1927 Act (as amended by s. 31 (1) (b) of the 1960 Act) meant that once the period of the endorsement in the case of the endorsement of the 5th of February (i.e. two years) had expired the appellant was entitled to start de novo as if his licence had never been endorsed. It was also contended for the appellant that s. 25 (4) of the 1927 Act (as inserted by s. 37 (1) (c) of the 1960 Act) meant that the conviction of the 21st December, 1976, was the first conviction and should therefore not have been recorded. Counsel for the appellant also relied upon the fact that on the 7th April, 1976, and in 1977 two Orders pursuant to s. 6 of the Licensing (Ireland) Act, 1902, were obtained by the appellant. He argued that a licence granted under this section amounts to a new licence, and that any convictions attaching to the old licence are automatically removed. Held, After the expiration of the time limit of any particular endorsement the statutory consequences are entirely wiped out. Thus, the endorsement of the 5th of February, 1974, was spent after two years. A clear distinction, however, emerges from various sections of the code between a conviction on one hand and the recording of a conviction on the other. Therefore, notwithstanding s. 25 (3) of the 1927 Act the conviction remains even when the endorsement ceases for all purposes to be recorded. Thus the...