Moriarty v Corporation of Dublin

JurisdictionIreland
JudgeKENNY J:
Judgment Date01 January 1979
Neutral Citation1978 WJSC-HC 2919
Date01 January 1979
CourtHigh Court

1978 WJSC-HC 2919

THE HIGH COURT ON CIRCUIT

COUNTY OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN

RECORD NO. 1223/76
MORIARTY v. DUBLIN CORPORATI0N

BETWEEN:

DERMOT MORIARTY
Applicant

and

THE LORD MAYOR ALDERMEN AND BURGESSES OF DUBLIN
Respondents
1

Judgment delivered 10th October 1978 KENNY J:

2

Dermot Moriarty ("the applicant") parked his car, a Morris 1100, on 17th October 1975 at Percy Place and left it to do some business. It was in good condition and fit to be driven on a public road. When he returned to it later, he found that it had been driven by some one without his consent for a distance of 200 yards, that the four wheels and tyres had been removed and the car left propped up on concrete blocks. In addition, the lock of one of the doors and of the boot had been forced open and the upholstery of the rere seat had been ripped. The four wheels and tyres were not recovered and there was no evidence that they had been damaged in any way. The boot was probably forced to get the jack to lift the wheels off the ground and the door lock forced to enable the aimless damage - which is such a feature of our modern urbanised society - to be done. I have no doubt that the dominant motive of those who did this damage was the theft of the wheels.

3

The cost of repairing the damage (apart from the replacement of the wheels and tyres) was £49.10: that of replacing the wheels and tyres was £157.61. The applicant applied to the Circuit Court for compensation for criminal injury and included a claim for the replacement of the wheels and tyres. He was given a decree for £202 and the respondents ("the Corporation") have appealed against the award insofar as it includes compensation for the wheels and tyres. Their counsel has said that this "cannibalisation" of cars has become so common that they want a ruling of the High Court as to whether they are liable.

4

I am indebted to counsel on both sides for their very full citation of the numerous and conflicting decisions on this branch of the law. Before dealing with the more authoritative of these, I think I should refer to the words of the relevant sections as these - and not what judges have said they mean - must ultimately determine the issue.

5

Section 135 of the Grand July (Ireland) Act 1836 provided for the award of compensation in cases of "maliciously or wantonly setting fire to. burning or destroying" certain specified kinds of property. Section 5 sub-s. 1 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 as amended reads:

"There shall be transferred to the Circuit Court the business in relation to compensation for criminal injuries, that is to say, compensation under the enactments mentioned in Part I of the First Schedule to this Act, and of those enactments section 135 and the following sections of the Grand Justice Act, 1836, so far as unrepealed, shall extend to the case of maliciously setting fire to, destroying or injuring property of any description, whether real or personal, in like manner as they apply to the setting fire to, injuring or destroying the particular descriptions of property specified in the first mentioned Section: provided that this Act shall not extend the application of the said sections to any case except where the malicious act done was a crime punishable on indictment under The Malicious Damage Act, 1861".

6

The enactments mentioned in the first schedule are: s. 106 and ss. 135 to 140 of the Grand Jury (Ireland) Act 1836, the whole of the Malicious Injuries (Ireland) Act, 1848, The Malicious Injuries (Ireland) Act, 1853 and s. 515 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894.

7

Section 5(1) of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 extends the enactments in the First Schedule to "setting fire to, destroying or injuring" property of any description and the enactments mentioned refer to "setting fire to, burning or destroying", "setting fire to, burning or sinking", "damaging, injuring or destroying" (the 1836 Act), "destroy or demolish or partially destroy or demolish or otherwise damage or injure" (the 1853 Act), "plundered, damaged or destroyed" (the 1894 Act).

8

Compensation is thus limited to setting fire to, destroying, sinking or injuring...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT