DPP v McNeill

JurisdictionIreland
Judgment Date02 May 1975
Date02 May 1975
CourtCourt of Appeal (Ireland)
(C.A.)
Director of Public Prosecutions
and
Mc Neill and others

Validity - Act of Northern Ireland Parliament controlling fisheries - Restriction on salmon fishing at certain times - Whether Act ultra vires in its application to sea fishing -Whether coastal waters part of the territory of Northern Ireland - Whether within jurisdiction of United Kingdom Parliament - Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 11 Geo. 5, c. 67), ss.1 (2), 10 (2) - Irish Free State (Agreement) Act1922 (12 13 Geo. 5, c. 4), Sch. - Ireland (Confirmation of Agreement) Act 1925 (15 16 Geo. 5, c. 77), Sch. Fishery - Complaint of illegal fishing off Northern Ireland coast - Act of Northern Ireland Parliament creating offence - Power to legislate for sea fisheries given by statute of United Kingdom Parliament - Whether statute ultra vires - Whether United Kingdom statute can be challenged in Northern Ireland court - Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 (c. 17), s. 99 - Fishery Limits Act 1964 (c.72), s. 4.

A complaint of illegal fishing off the Northern Ireland coast was preferred against the respondents under section 99 of the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland), 1966. At the hearing before him the resident magistrate queried the jurisdiction of a court in Northern Ireland to deal with sea fisheries, and adjourned the hearing to enable the point which he had raised to be argued. At the resumed hearing the complainant contended that the power to legislate for sea fisheries had been conferred on the Government of Northern Ireland by section 4 (2) of the Fishery Limits Act, 1964, a statute of the United Kingdom which could not be challenged in a domestic court. The resident magistrate dismissed the complaint, holding that the effect of a series of constitutional enactments in the period 1920 to 1925 was to remove from the United Kingdom Parliament the power to legislate for sea fisheries anywhere in the coastal waters of the island of Ireland, and that, accordingly, section 4 of the Fishery Limits Act, 1964, was ultra viresthe powers of that Parliament, and the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) was ultra vires the...

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