In the Irish Courts
| Date | 01 October 1948 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834801200408 |
| Published date | 01 October 1948 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
403
In the Irish Courts
SUPREME
COURT OF
EIRE
ALL:EG:ED
FORMAL D:EF:ECTS
IN
CONVICTION
The State (Bruce) v. Shannon &Lennon
ON being charged with an
attempt
to procure an
act
of
gross indecency with another male person, with
indecent assault and with assault,
the
appellant in The
State (Bruce) u. Shannon &Lennon (unreported,
but
see
82
I.L.T.
&
S.J.,
at
p. 180) was convicted of indecent
assault
and
his conviction was affirmed on appeal. He
obtained conditional orders of habeas corpus and certiorari,
however, and brought his case eventually to
the
Supreme
Court, upon a series of points of technicalities of procedure.
In
the
first place, he urged
that
the
conviction was
bad
ex facie, in
that
it
was
not
adequately described (and, in
particular, did
not
refer to
the
statute
creating
the
offence)
in
the
column of
the
Justices' Minute Book, headed
If
Justices' Ruling and Signature". Since Tangney v. District
Justice for CQuntyKerry (1928,
I.R.
358),
it
has repeatedly
been
stated
that
the
note in the Minute Book, which con-
stitutes
the
record of
the
conviction,
must
contain a concise
statement
of
the
effect of
the
conviction.'
But
it
was held
in
the
instant
case
that
if
the
substance of
the
charge is
contained in
the
earlier columns, there is no need to repeat
it
in
the
'conviction column'.
It
was further objected
that
the
conviction was void for uncertainty, since
the
entry
"2
months imprisonment" did
not
specify whether
it
was
to
be with or without
hard
labour. Since R. o. Solomon
(1786, 1 T.R. 249)
it
has been clear
that
"the
adjudication
on every point to which
it
refers
must
be precise and
1. See The State
(Carr)
v. District Justice for Youghal
cl;o
am.
(79I.L.T.R.
34,
and
p.
1360£
Volume
9o£
this
JOURNAI,)
;The State (KeohaM) v. Cork
Circuit Court Judge
cl;o
anr. (1946, T. R. 365,
and
p. 292 of
Volume
11 of
this
JOURN.u.);
and
The State (Howard) v. Shannon
cl;o
Fitzpatrick (p. 86 of
Volume
12
of
this
]OURNAI.).
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