In the Irish Courts
| Published date | 01 January 1971 |
| Date | 01 January 1971 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201837103500108 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
In
the Irish Courts
SUPREME
COURT
IN
EIRE
Q.UESTIONS OF
LAW
AND
Q.UESTIONS OF
FACT
The State (Turley) u. O'Floinn
By
S.2
of
the
Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1857, as amended, a
party
to proceedings
heard
summarily may ask the Justice to state
a case for the opinion of the High Court,
if
he is dissatisfied with the
Justice's deterInination
"as
being erroneous on a point
oflaw".
The
Justice
may
refuse to do so only
if
of opinion
that
the application is
"merely frivolous".
In
The State v. O'Floinn (1968,
I.R.
245),
the
defendant was
convicted
of
using a place for public dancing without a licence,
contrary to the Public Dance Halls Act, 1935. At the hearing, evi-
dence was given to
the
effect
that
the
tennis club
at
which the
dancing
had
taken place adInission was obtainable without any
formal preliIninaries,
and
the Justice came to the conclusion
that
the
tennis club was a club only in name,
and
that
the membership
cards were a masquerade. Defendant's counsel subInitted
that
he
had
no case to answer.
The
Justice refused this application
and
counsel
then
asked for a case to be stated.
The
Justice replied
that
no question of law was involved
and
that
he was deciding the case
as a question of fact. Counsel
then
put
his client in the witness-box
to assist the Court on the questions of fact. When, however,
the
Justice reasserted
that
counsel's application was frivolous, counsel
withdrew his client from
the
box,
and
the Justice convicted.
The
Justice having certified his refusal to state a case, on the
ground
that
no point of law
had
arisen, application was
made
to
the
High
Court
for
an
order of mandamus calling
on
the Justice to state
a case.
The
President of the
High
Court
made
the
order absolute
on
the
ground
that
"there
are real questions
of
law involved in this
case", e.g., whether a tennis club which ceases to play tennis ceases
to be a club, whether membership of a club must be annual, whether
there must be formalities
prior
to
the
admission
of
persons to mem-
bership
of
aclub, whether dancing restricted to club members is
public dancing, whether the adInission
of
non-members makes
the
dancing
"public",
etc. These
are
questions
"of
such complexity"
that
they
warranted
the stating
of
a case.
63
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