The judge's charge in criminal trials' (Thomson Round Hall, 2008) Genevieve Coonan and Brian Foley

• Author: Nial Fennelly
• Position: Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland
• Pages: 182-188

Judicial Studies Institute Journal [2009:1

182

BOOK REVIEW

“THE JUDGE’S CHARGE IN CRIMINAL TRIALS”

(Thomson Round Hall, 2008)

Genevieve Coonan and Brian Foley

THE HONORABLE MR. JUSTICE NIAL FENNELLY

The very title of this impressive work, as much as the fact

of its appearance, testifies to the enduring and intense importance

of jury trial in Ireland. Lord Justice Auld in his 2001 Review of

the Criminal Courts of England and Wales described jury trial as

the “practical and public manifestation of the citizen’s

involvement in the administration of criminal justice”,1 and a

“powerful contributor to public confidence in [that] system”.2

At the same time, official statistics show consistently that some

90% of convictions on indictment result from a plea of guilty. So,

most do not get to the jury.

The two young barrister authors disclose in their Preface an

aspiration to fill a gap at the issue desk of the Law Library.

They have regularly witnessed the doyens (unnamed, but one can

guess) of the criminal bar “taking out Charleton, McGrath and

Walsh in one swoop”.3 The perceived gap relates to the absence

of any work dealing with “the most important time in a criminal

trial”.4 This work will fill it, and will add a kilo or so to the

weight to be borne by the doyens.

I wonder, however, if the authors are right to perceive an

increasing amount of appeals to the Court of Criminal Appeal

grounded on alleged defects in the summing up. In September

2008, the Law Reform Commission of the State of Victoria

_____________________________________________________

 Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland.

1 Review of the Criminal Courts of England and Wales, Chapter 1 available at

http://www.criminal-courts-review.org.uk/ccr-01.htm.

2 Review of the Criminal Courts of England and Wales (precious note).

3 Coonan and Foley, The Judge’s Charge in Criminal Trials (Dublin: Thomson

Reuters, 2008), ix.

4 Coonan and Foley (previous note), ix.