Egan v Attorney General
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Buckmaster,Viscount Dunedin,Lord Warrington of Clyffe,Lord Tomlin |
| Judgment Date | 27 November 1930 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [1930] UKHL J1127-2 |
| Court | House of Lords |
[1930] UKHL J1127-2
House of Lords
Lord Buckmaster.
Viscount Dunedin.
Lord Blanesburgh.
Lord Warrington of Clyffe.
Lord Tomlin.
After hearing Counsel on Thursday the 3d day of this instant November, upon the Petition and Appeal of William Albert Egan, 16 Livingstone Mansions, Queens Club Gardens, Kensington, London, Charles Justice, 57 Rothesay Road, Luton, County of Bedford, Peter McCarthy, Skibbereen, Farley Hill, Luton, County of Bedford, Helena Shea, 2 Stoneybooth, Luddenden Foot S.O., County of Yorkshire, and Richard Shea, Mary Winifred Shea, Percy Shea and Ambrose Shea, 2 Stoneybooth aforesaid (infants by the said Helena Shea, their mother and next friend), praying, That the matter of the Order set forth in the Schedule thereto, namely an Order of His Majesty's Court of Appeal, of the 8th of November 1929, might be reviewed before His Majesty the King, in His Court of Parliament, and that the said Order might be reversed, varied or altered, or that the Petitioners might have such other relief in the premises as to His Majesty the King, in His Court of Parliament, might seem meet; as also upon the printed Case of His Majesty's Attorney-General, lodged in answer to the said Appeal; and due consideration had this day of what was offered on either side in this cause:
It is Ordered and Adjudged, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the Court of Parliament of His Majesty the King assembled, That the said Order of His Majesty's Court of Appeal, of the 8th day of November 1929, complained of in the said Appeal, be, and the same is hereby, Affirmed, and that the said Petition and Appeal be, and the same is hereby, dismissed this House.
My Lords,
In 1922 an Act of Parliament was passed known as the Constabulary (Ireland) Act of 1922.
Section 1 is in the following terms:—
"The Royal Irish Constabulary shall be disbanded on such day, not being later than the 31st day of August, 1922, as may be fixed by the Lord Lieutenant, and on or before that date every officer and constable of that Force shall retire from the Force as and when required by the Lord Lieutenant, and shall on his retirement be entitled to receive such compensation as may be awarded to him by the Treasury in accordance with the Rules contained in Part 1 of the Schedule to this Act, and in the event of his dying after a compensation allowance has been awarded to him, the Treasury shall grant a pension or gratuities to his widow and children in accordance with the said Rules."
The rules made under the Statute deal with the matter in the following way:—
"2. The annual allowance shall be calculated in like manner as the pension which the officer or constable would have been entitled to receive if he had retired for length of service under the existing enactments applicable to him and had been qualified in respect of his length of service for a pension."
"4. In the event of an officer or constable dying after an annual allowance has been awarded to him under this Act, the Treasury shall grant a pension or gratuities to the widow and children of the officer or constable in like manner as if the allowance were a pension granted to the officer or constable on retirement and as if his years of service had been the years on which the allowance was calculated."
and rule 5 was as follows:—
"5. In these rules the expression 'existing enactments' means enactments in force at the time of the passing of this Act and includes any Orders made under those enactments and in force at that time."
The Appellants are (1) three members of the Royal Irish Constabulary disbanded under the provisions of the Act, (2) the widow of a constable who died after an annual allowance had been made to him under the Act, and (3) four infant children of the widow their father having died more than a year after receiving his compensation or allowance. All these, parties were plaintiffs in the action out of which the Appeal had arisen seeking with uniform illsuccess in the Court of first instance and in the Court of Appeal declarations which in substance were these that in calculating the compensation to (1) and the annual allowance to (2) the sums received by way of allowances over and above the fixed pay had been disregarded and as to (3) that they had been improperly excluded from benefit on the ground that their father had lived more than twelve months after receiving his compensation.
The question to be determined consequently depends upon the true construction of the rules. The remuneration of the Royal Irish Constabulary had consisted of a fixed sum and certain allowances as for example for rent, lodging and a servant. By a Statutory Order made under the Constabulary and Police (Ireland) Act May 12th 1920, a special order was made with regard to these allowances which were all specified in a schedule but it was expressly provided by Rule 16 that "none of the allowances specified in this schedule shall be taken into account for the purpose...
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Preliminary Sections
...and 275 Edward v. Alan Brown (1964) 3 C.L. 79 158 Edward v. Metropolitan Water Board (1922) 1 K.B. 291, 302. 53 Egan v. Attorney-General (1931) A.C.113; 100 L.J. Ch. 19; (2). 168 Ejukolem v. Police (1952) 14 W.A.C.A. 161 143 Ekeleme v. Ugwuiro 8 W.A.C.A. 224. 238 Electrical Development Co o......