DPP v Wexford Farmers Club

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: O'Hanlon J.
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1994
• Neutral Citation: 1994 WJSC-HC 602
• Docket Number: 351 SS/1993,[1993 No. 351 SS]
• Court: High Court
• Date: 01 January 1994

1994 WJSC-HC 602

THE HIGH COURT

351 SS/1993

DPP BARRON v. WEXFORD FARMERS CLUB

IN THE MATTER OF THE COURTS (SUPPLEMENTAL PROVISIONS) ACT,

1961, Sec. 52

AND IN THE MATTER OF

THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS (AT THE SUIT OF GARDA JOHN BARRON)

PROSECUTOR

AND

WEXFORD FARMERS CLUB

ACCUSED

Citations:

INTOXICATING LIQUOR ACT 1988 S45(1)

COURTS (SUPPLEMENTAL PROVISIONS) ACT 1961 S52

AG V ABLE & ORS (1984) 1 QB 795

INTOXICATING LIQUOR ACT 1927 S58

INTOXICATING LIQUOR ACT 1988 S51

TRADE UNION & LABOUR RELATIONS ACT 1974 S12 UK

INSURANCE COMPANIES ACT 1982 S92 UK

BANKING ACT 1987 S98(1) UK

INTERPRETATION ACT 1889 S19

INTERPRETATION ACT 1889 S2

INTERPRETETION ACT 1923 S(1)(2)

INTOXICATING LIQUOR ACT 1988 S51 SCHED

INTOXICATING LIQUOR ACT 1988 S45

REGISTRATION OF CLUBS ACT 1904 S10

REGISTRATION OF CLUBS ACT 1904 S5

REYNOLDS V AUSTIN (1951) 2 KB 135

SMITH & HOGAN ON CRIMINAL LAW 7ED 1992 104

JAMES & SON LTD V SMEE (1955) 1 QB 78

LOMAS V PEEK (1947) 2 AER 574

INTOXICATING LIQUOR ACT 1988 S45(3)

DCR r48.2

INTERPRETATION ACT 1937 S11(d)(i)

INTERPRETATION ACT 1937 S11(d)

Synopsis:

CLUB

Offence

Charge - Validity - Statute - Interpretation - Person prohibited from performing specified act - Registered club to be guilty of such offence - Whether unincorporated body is a person for the purposes of the enactment - (1993/351 SS - O'Hanlon J. - 30/11/93) - [1994] 1 I.R. 546, [1994] 2 ILRM 295

|Director of Public Prosecutions v. Wexford Farmers Club|

CRIMINAL LAW

Offence

Club - Charge - Validity - Statute - Interpretation - Person prohibited from performing specified act - Registered club to be guilty of such offence - Whether unincorporated body is a person for the purposes of the enactment - Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1988, s. 45 - (1993/351 SS - O'Hanlon J. - 30/11/93) - [1994] 1 I.R. 546, [1994] 2 ILRM 295

|Director of Public Prosecutions v. Wexford Farmers Club|

1 Judgment delivered the 30th day of November, 1993. by O'Hanlon J.

2 A prosecution was initiated against Wexford Farmers' Club, an unincorporated association, alleging the commission of an offence contrary to the provisions of sec. 45 (1) of the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1988, as follows:-

3 That you did during the Month of April, 1992, in the Town of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, in the court area and district aforesaid, ... cause to be published an advertisement drawing attention to a Function, namely, A.C.B.S. Past Pupils Union Table Quiz, to be held on the 29th of April, 1992, on the Premises of the said Registered Club, contrary to Section 45 (1) of the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1988.

4 The matter came on for hearing before District Judge Gerard Haughton at Enniscorthy District Court on the 23rd September, 1992, and having regard to doubts which he expressed as to whether such a charge could properly be brought against an unincorporated body, such as the Club, he decided to state a Consultative Case for the opinion of the High Court on the issue, in accordance with the provisions of sec. 52 of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act, 1961.

5 The difficulty in attaching criminal liability to an unincorporated body at common law was recognised by Woolf J. in Attorney-General v. Able & Ors., (1984) 1 QB 795, in which case the Attorney-General sought declaratory relief against the Voluntary Euthanassa Society. The following passage appears in the course of the Judgment (at p.810):

6 The fact that the supply of the booklet could be an offence does not mean that any particular supply is an offence. It must be remembered that the Society is an unincorporated body and there can be no question of the society committing an offence.

7 I consider that this is a correct statement of the law as it obtained under common law. It has also been accepted, however, that criminal liability may be imposed by statute on unincorporated associations, and examples of this are to be found in the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1927, sec. 58, as amended by sec. 51 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1988, and in English law by the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act, 1974, sec. 12; the Insurance Companies Act, 1982, sec. 92, and the Banking Act, 1987, sec. 98 (1). Furthermore, the Interpretation Act, 1889, provided as follows in sec. 19:-

8 19. In this Act and in every Act passed after the commencement of this Act the expression "person" shall, unless the contrary intention appears include any body of persons corporate or unincorporate.

9 It also expressly provided, however, in sec. 2 of the Act that in the construction of every enactment relating to an offence punishable on indictment or on summary conviction, whether contained in an Act passed before or after the 1st January, 1890, the expression "person" should, unless the contrary intention appeared, include a body corporate, but it did not make any corresponding express provision referring to unincorporated bodies.

10 That Act was superseded, in relation to the Interpretation Act, 1923, and every Act of the Oireachtas passed after the commencement of that Act, by a definition of "person" identical to that found in sec. 19 of the 1889 Act and by a similar provision to that found in sec. 2 of the 1889 Act relating to the interpretation of the word "person" as including a body corporate in enactments relating to offences punishable on indictment or on summary conviction. (Sec. (1), sub-sec. (2)) of the Interpretation Act, 1923). Once again there is no express provision for the case of unincorporated bodies in the sphere of criminal offences.

11 Moving on to the Interpretation Act, 1937, we find that from that time forward in the construction of every Act of the Oireachtas -

12 The word "person" shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be construed as importing a body corporate (whether a corporation aggregate or a corporation sole) and an unincorporated body of persons as well as an individual. (Sec. 11 - (d)).

13 Offences by corporations. References to a person in relation to an offence (whether punishable on indictment or on summary conviction) shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be construed as including references to a body corporate.

14 Once again, there is no specific mention of the position of unincorporated associations where a statute uses the word "person" in relation to an offence, and it can certainly be argued that all three Interpretation Acts proceeded on the basis that a special provision had to be made to include bodies corporate under the description of "person" for the purpose of criminal liability, and that no similar provision was made to bring unincorporated bodies into the same net.

15 The Case Stated contrasts the provisions of sec. 58 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1927, (amended as to penalties by the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1988, sec. 51 and Sch.), with the provisions of sec. 45 of the Act of 1988 under which the present prosecution was brought.

16 Sec. 58 of the Act of 1927 read as follows (prior to amendment):

17 58. (1) If any exciseable liquor is supplied for consumption on the premises of a club registered under the Registration of Clubs (Irl.) Act, 1904, or is consumed on the premises of any such club by any person in contravention of the rules of such club relating to the supplying and consumption of exciseable liquor on the premises of such club, such club shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof, in the case of a first offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, or, in the case of a second or any subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding forty pounds.

18 (2) Proceedings under this section may be brought against a club in the name under which it is registered under the Registration of Clubs (Ireland) Act, 1904, and any summons or other document required to be served on a club for the purpose or in due course of such...