People (Attorney General) v Moore

JurisdictionIreland
Judgment Date01 January 1950
Date01 January 1950
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeal
C.C.A.
The People (Attorney General)
and
Moore

Charge of having had unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl between the ages of 15 and 17 years - Absence of corroboration of girl's evidence - Necessity for trial judge to direct attention of jury to such absence - Reference to want of corroboration implicit in judge's charge but not expressly mentioned - Reference in judge's charge to practice of warning juries of danger of acting on uncorroborated evidence -Failure of judge to give such warning - Conviction quashed - Evidence of girl and of accused conflicting -Direction by trial judge to jury that the question before them was a to which of such witnesses should be believed - Direction incorrect as tending to allow jury to forget that onus of proof lies on prosecution - Conviction quashed.

  1. (1) In a charge of having had unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl over 15 but under 17 years of age contrary to s. 2, sub-s. 1 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1935, it is not sufficient in a case where the evidence of the girl is not corroborated, that a warning to the jury of the danger of convicting on such uncorroborated evidence of the girl is implicit in the judge's charge. Such warning must be given in explicit terms, and the attention of the jury be specifically...

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5 cases
  • People (Attorney General) v Trayers
    • Ireland
    • Court of Criminal Appeal
    • 1 January 1956
    ...and a new trial ordered. The People (Attorney-General) v. WilliamsIR [1940] I. R. 195, and The State (Attorney General) v. MooreDIJR[1950] Ir. Jur. Rep. 45 followed. Nature and extent of the trial Judge's discretion to comment on the failure of an accused person to give evidence on oath con......
  • DPP v M.K.
    • Ireland
    • Court of Criminal Appeal
    • 19 July 2005
    ...not propose to elaborate on this rule which has been explained and adopted by Maguire C.J. in The State (Attorney General) v Moore [1950] Ir. Jur. Rep. 45." 82 These are, of course, pre-1990 cases but where in the context of the present law a discretionary warning is given, it is still, in......
  • DPP v P.J.
    • Ireland
    • Court of Criminal Appeal
    • 31 July 2003
    ... 1993 2 IR 186 AG V CRADDEN 1955 IR 130 AG V WILLIAMS 1940 IR 195 R V BASKERVILLE 1916 2 KB 658 AG V TRAVERS 1956 IR 110 AG V MOORE 1950 IR JUR REP 45 O'R (E) V DPP & SHEEHY 1996 2 ILRM 128 1996/7/2102 O'R (D) V DPP 1997 2 IR 273 B V DPP 1997 3 IR 140 M (S) V DPP UNREP MCGUINNESS 20.12......
  • People (Attorney General) v Cradden
    • Ireland
    • Court of Criminal Appeal
    • 20 June 1955
    ...It was for these reasons that the Court allowed the appeal. (1) Before Maguire C.J. , Haugh and Teevan JJ. (1) [1940] I. R. 195. (2) [1950] Ir. Jur. Rep. 45. (3) (1954) A. C. (4) [1905] I K. B. 551. (5) [1896] 2 Q. B. 167. (1) [1916] 2 K. B. 658. (2) [1935] I. R. 908. (3) [1940] I. R. 195. ......
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