Toppin v Coleman

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 14 February 1910
• Date: 14 February 1910
• Court: King's Bench Division (Ireland)

Toppin

and

Coleman (1).

K. B. Div.

CASES

DETERMINED BY

THE KING'S BENCH DIVISION

OF

THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN IRELAND,

AND ON APPEAL THEREFROM IN

THE COURT OF APPEAL,

AND BY

THE COURT FOR CROWN CASES RESERVED.

1910.

Licensing Acts — “Structural Separation” — Movable net-work — Sale of Intoxicating Liquors (Ireland) Act, 1906, s. 2 (6 Edw. 7, c. 39).

A wire net-work which is constructed on a wooden frame fastened with holts to the walls, and is of such a character that liquor could be passed through it by an expedient, is not a “structural separation” within the meaning of 6 Edw. 7, c. 39.

A movable structure which is dependent for its attachment and detachment on the volition of the publican and his servants, and which might be left unattached through their negligence, is not a “structural separation.”

Per Gibson, J.—What the statute contemplates is something structurally annexed to the premises, operating as a permanent or quasi permanent separation.

Case Stated.

The following is a copy of the case as stated by the Justices:—

At a Petty Sessions holden in and for the Petty Sessions district of Queenstown, county of Cork, on the 19th day of January, 1910, before us, the undersigned Justices of the Peace, acting in and for the said county of Cork, in the Petty Sessions district aforesaid, one Michael Coleman, the above-named defendant, was charged in and by a certain summons for that:—

1. He being a person duly licensed to sell intoxicating liquors by retail at his licensed premises, 17, 18, and 19 West Beach, Queenstown, did at a time prohibited by law, and at a period during which such licensed premises are by law required to be closed, to wit, at 10 o'clock, p.m., on Saturday, the 4th day of December, 1909, unlawfully open such licensed premises for the sale of intoxicating liquors against the form of the statute in such case made and provided; and

2. He being a person duly licensed to sell intoxicating liquors by retail at his licensed premises at 17, 18, and 19 West Beach,

Queenstown, did, at a time prohibited by law, and at a period during which such licensed premises are by law required to be closed, to wit, at 10 o'clock, p.m., on Saturday, the 4th December, 1909, unlawfully keep open such licensed premises for the sale of intoxicating liquors against the form of the statute in such case made and provided; and the parties respectively being then present, the charge was duly heard before us, and on such hearing we adjudged it to be dismissed on the merits.

And whereas the said Henry Toppin, D.I., hath, pursuant to the provisions of the aforesaid mentioned statute, given us notice, and required us, to state and sign a case, setting forth the facts and ground of our determination upon the hearing of the said complaint, in order that he might take the opinion of the Court thereon.

Now we, the said Justices, pursuant to the said notice and the provisions of the said statute, do hereby state and sign such case as aforesaid, as follows:—

The only witness examined for the prosecution was Sergeant Deeney, R.I.C., Queenstown, who swore that Mr. Coleman (who has recently taken over the premises in respect of which the prosecution took place, and who has spent a considerable sum of money in making the addition of a tobacco shop...