The State (Hunt) v O'Donovan

JurisdictionIreland
CourtSupreme Court
Judgment Date01 January 1975
Docket Number[1972.
Date01 January 1975
(S.C.)
The State (Hunt)
and
O'Donovan

Appeal - Criminal law -Statutory right of appeal from court of limited jurisdiction - Procedural amendment of statute removing right inadvertently - Whether any right of appeal under Constitution - Equality before the law - Courts of Justice Act, 1924 (No. 10), ss. 31, 63 - Criminal Procedure Act, 1967 (No.12), s. 13, sub-s. 2(b) - Constitution of Ireland, 1937, Articles 34, 40.

The prosecutor signed a plea of guilty to a charge that he had committed an indictable offence and the District Court sent him forward for sentence with that plea to the Circuit Court pursuant to s. 13, sub-s. 2(b), of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967. The prosecutor did not withdraw his plea and he was sentenced by the Circuit Court to a term of imprisonment. He failed in an attempt to appeal against his sentence because in the circumstances the effect of s. 13 of the Act of 1967 (unlike that of s. 3 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1951, which was repealed by the Act of 1967) was to make it impossible for him to establish that he had been "tried on indictment" as required by s. 63 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924, in conferring a right to appeal from the Circuit Court to the Court of Criminal Appeal. In habeas corpus proceedings brought by the prosecutor in the High Court, he consented that his detention was not in accordance with the law. Held by Finlay J., in dismissingthe application, 1, that the provisions of sub-s. 4 of s. 3 of Article 34 of the Constitution do not confer a right of appeal from orders of courts of local and limited jurisdiction, and that the effect of sub-s. 2(b) of s. 13 of the Act of 1967 was not...

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16 cases
  • Brohoon v Ireland
    • Ireland
    • High Court
    • 4 March 2011
    ...3 I.R. 218; [1998] 1 I.L.R.M. 1. Phipps v. Hogan [2007] IESC 68, [2008] 3 I.R. 221; [2008] 2 I.L.R.M. 208. The State (Hunt) v. O'Donovan [1975] I.R. 39. Todd v. Murphy [1999] 2 I.R. 1; [1999] 1 I.L.R.M. 261. Constitution - Statute - Constitutionality - Personal rights - Equality - Discrimin......
  • Damian McCabe v Ireland and Attorney General and Another
    • Ireland
    • High Court
    • 30 September 2014
    ...DPP v FOLEY UNREP SUPREME 23.1.2014 2014 IESC 2 THE COURTS OF JUSTICE ACT 1924 S29 COURTS OF JUSTICE ACT 1947 S16 HUNT, STATE v O'DONOVAN 1975 IR 39 CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1967 S13 CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (AMENDMENT) ACT 1973 S1 CONSTITUTION ART 40.3 CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1967 S13(2)(B) MURPHY......
  • O'Brien v DPP
    • Ireland
    • High Court
    • 21 March 2017
    ...cases such as: the State (Richard White) v. Judge Martin (Unreported, Supreme Court, 21st October 1976), the State (Hunt) v. O'Donovan [1975] I.R. 39, McCabe v. Ireland (Unreported, High Court, 30th September 2014), all support the proposition that the applicant has a right of appeal again......
  • F(S) v Her Honour Judge Yvonne Murphy, DPP, Ireland and Attorney General
    • Ireland
    • High Court
    • 18 November 2009
    ...ORS 1969 IR 24 1971 105 ILTR 41 DPP, PEOPLE v PRINGLE (NO 2) 1997 2 IR 225 LUTZ v GERMANY 1988 10 EHRR 182 HUNT, STATE v O'DONOVAN & AG 1975 IR 39 COUNCIL OF CIVIL SERVICE UNIONS & ORS v MIN FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE 1985 AC 374 1984 3 WLR 1174 1984 3 AER 935 RSC O.84 r26(4) WADE & FORSYTH A......
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