State (Walshe) v Murphy

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: High Court
• Judgment Date: 16 December 1981
• Docket Number: [1981 No. 252 SS.]
• Date: 16 December 1981

(S.C.)

The State (Walshe)

and

Murphy

Validity of appointment -Whether appointment of temporary District Justice reviewable by the courts - Statute - Interpreation - Purpose of enactment - Statutory qualifications for person to be appointed - Criminal law - Practice - Fair procedures - Production of document by prosecution - Courts of Justice Act, 1936 (No. 48), s. 51 - Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 1978 (No. 19), ss. 22, 23 -Constitution of Ireland, 1937, Articles 13, 15, and36.

The prosecutor, as defendant, was convicted in the District Court by the first respondent at the hearing of a complaint that the prosecutor had driven a motor vehicle in a public place while there was present in his body an unlawful concentration of alcohol, contrary to s. 49, sub-s. 3, of the Road Traffic Act, 1961. At the date of the conviction the first respondent was acting as a temporary justice of the District Court, having been appointed to that office by the President of Ireland. Prior to the hearing of the complaint, the complainant had failed to comply with the prosecutor's...