State (Browne) v Feran

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Supreme Court
• Judgment Date: 24 July 1967
• Docket Number: [NO. 59 SS of 1966.]
• Date: 24 July 1967

(S.C.)

State (Browne)

and

Feran

Appeal from decision of High Court granting order of Habeas Corpus - Constitution of Ireland, Articles 34, 36, 40, 50 - Certiorari - Order of District Court -Failure to state jurisdiction on order - Criminal Justice Act, 1951, ss. 2, 3.

The prosecutor was charged with having committed an indictable offence. He was tried summarily in the District Court and convicted of the offence. The District Court was empowered to try the prosecutor summarily under s. 2 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1951, and was also so empowered, subject to certain other conditions precedent, under s. 3 of that Act. It was not clear which section had been invoked. The prosecutor obtained in the High Court absolute orders of habeas corpus and certiorari. An appeal lay to the Supreme Court. Held by the Supreme Court ( Ó Dálaigh C.J. Haugh, Walsh, Budd and FitzGerald JJ.): 1. That the appeal was maintainable as the Constitution of Ireland provides that an appeal lies to the Supreme Court from all decisions of the High Court save to the extent to which that appellate jurisdiction is restricted, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, by an Act of the Oireachtas; and that there was no relevant restriction. Warner v. Minister for...