State (Dixon) v Roe

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 11 July 1985
• Docket Number: [1985] No. 43
• Date: 11 July 1985
• Court: High Court

High Court

[1985] No. 43 SS]

The State (D.D.P.) v. Judge Roe

The State (at the prosecution of The Director of Public Prosecutions

and

His Honour Judge Francis Roe

Case mentioned in this report:—

The State (Minister for Lands & Fisheries) v. Judge Sealy [1939] I.R. 21. (1938) 73 I.L.T.R. 21.

State side - Certiorari - Practice - Costs - Appeal from the District Court - Conviction by the District Justice under the Road Traffic Act, 1961 (No. 24) s. 53 - Jurisdiction of the Circuit Court to award costs of appeal - Whether limitation of costs under rule 67, of the District Court Rules, 1948, (S.R. & O. No. 431) applicable - Rules of the Circuit Court, 1950, (S.I. No. 179) O. 48; O. 58, r. 1.

Certiorari.

The Director of Public Prosecutions obtained a conditional order of certiorari on the 21st January, 1985, directed to the Circuit Court Judge of the Western Circuit, Judge Francis Roe to bring before the High Court for the purposes of being quashed, an order of the said Circuit Court Judge made at the sitting of the Circuit Court, held at Galway on the 25th July, 1984, on the hearing of the appeal from the conviction by the District Justice, No. 7, District Court area of Galway, on a summons or complaint entitled "Director of Public Prosecutions v. Owen Kennedy" unless cause is shown to the contrary.

The conditional order was obtained on the affidavit of Noel M. O'Donoghue, State Solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions, the material paragraphs of which were as follows:—

"2. At all relevant times Sergeant John McNulty was the Officer in charge of the prosecution against the defendant Owen Kennedy, in a prosecution brought against him on a charge of dangerous driving.

3. The defendant was convicted on the said charge in the District Court on the 7th March, 1984, by District Justice John Garavan and a fine of £40 was imposed against the defendant with an order for the endorsement of the said conviction on the said defendant's driving licence. I beg to refer to a copy of the said order of the District Court when produced.

4. The said defendant Owen Kennedy appealed against the said Order of Notice dated the 9th March, 1984.

5. The defendant's appeal came before the Circuit Court at Galway presided over by Judge Francis Roe on the 25th July, 1984. I appeared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

6. Sergeant McNulty gave evidence of the defendant's driving in particular the fact that he swerved across the road in front of him into a space between two parked cars without any indication and...