Maher v Attorney General
| Jurisdiction | Ireland |
| Court | Supreme Court |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1974 |
| Docket Number | [1971. No. 3735 P.] |
| Date | 01 January 1974 |
Administration of justice -Judicial function - Assessment of evidence -Statutory provision stating certificate to be conclusive evidence of matters certified - Whether statutory provisions severable - Road Traffic Act, 1968 (No. 25), s. 44, sub-s. 2 (a) - Constitution of Ireland, 1937, Articles 15, 34, 37, 38.
Section 44, sub-s. 2 (a), of the Road Traffic Act, 1968, provided that a certificate, stating that a specimen of a person's blood contained a specified concentration of alcohol, should be "conclusive evidence" that, when the specimen was taken, the concentration of alcohol in that person's blood was as specified in the certificate. The plaintiff was convicted of an offence under s. 49 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961, in the District Court after a trial in which such certificate was admitted in evidence as an essential proof. The plaintiff claimed in the High Court a declaration that the sub-section was invalid having regard to the provisions of the Constitution, and an order annulling his conviction. On appeal by the plaintiff from the dismissal of his action, it was Heldby the Supreme Court, in allowing the appeal, 1, that the administration of justice in a criminal trial was confined by the Constitution to the Courts and judges constituted and appointed in accordance with the provisions thereof and, therefore, that the essential ingredients of...
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