The State (C.) v Minister for Justice

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Supreme Court
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1968
• Date: 01 January 1968

(S.C.)

The State (C.)

and

Minister for Justice

District Justice -Pre-Treaty statute - Repugnancy to Constitution - Statute authorising detention by ministerial order of prisoner in mental institution - Prisoner on remand from District Court - Whether Justice exercising a judicial function on preliminary investigation of indictable offence - Whether ministerial order an interference with such function -Constitution of Ireland, 1937. Articles 6, 28, 34, 37, 50 - Lunatic Asylums (Ireland) Act, 1875, s. 13 - Criminal Justice Act, 1960, s. 8 (2)-Adaptation of Enactments Act, 1922, s. 11 -Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924, s. 1 Sch. -Provisional Government (Transfer of Functions) Order, 1922 - Mental Treatment Act, 1945, s. 165.

The provisions of s. 13 of the Lunatic Asylums (Ireland) Act 1875, authorised the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to order that a person, who had been remanded by a justice for further examination and who had been...