State (Attorney General) v Shaw

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1979
• Date: 01 January 1979
• Docket Number: [1977 No. 34 SS.]
• Court: High Court

(H.C.)

State (Attorney General)

and

Shaw

District Court -Jurisdiction - Statute - Invalidity - Severance of enactment - District Court Rules, 1948 (S.R. O. No. 431), r. 67 - Customs, Inland Revenue, and Savings Bank Act, 1877 (40 41 Vict. c. 13), s. 5 - Constitution of Ireland, 1937, Article 50.

Section 5 of the Act of 1877 states that in all prosecutions, suits, or proceedings "at the suit of the Crown" under the Customs Acts the same rule as to costs shall be observed as in proceedings between subject and subject. The phrase "at the suit of the Crown" had not been adapted by the Adaptation of Enactments Act, 1922, or otherwise. Rule 67 of the Rules of 1948 gives a District Justice, in any case of summary jurisdiction, a general power to award costs subject to certain exceptions including an exception in respect of proceedings relating to any fine, penalty or forfeiture incurred under the Customs Acts. The prosecutor brought proceedings in the District Court against a certain defendant and sought an order under s. 207 of the Customs Consolidated Act, 1876, condemning certain goods which had been seized by customs officers and directing the sale of the goods. Those proceedings were dismissed by the respondent District Justice, who ordered the prosecutor to pay £45 costs to the defendant. The prosecutor obtained in the High Court a conditional order of certiorari to quash the order of the respondent, unless cause were shown to the contrary, on the ground that the respondent had no power to award costs in those proceedings. The prosecutor applied for an order absolute, notwithstanding the cause shown by the respondent. The respondent contended that, in interpreting s. 5 of the Act of 1877, the words relating to the Crown should be excised as they were inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution, and that the remainder of that section, allowing an award of costs, would then be continued in force by Article 50 of the...