Prevention of Crime (Ireland) Act 1882
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1882 c. 25 |
| Year | 1882 |
Prevention of Crime (Ireland) Act, 1882
An Act for the prevention of Crime in Ireland.
[12th July 1882]
W HEREAS by reason of the action of secret societies and combinations for illegal purposes in Ireland the operation of the ordinary law has become insufficient for the repression and prevention of crime, and it is expedient to make further provision for that purpose:
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
PART I.
Special Commission .
1 Special Commission Court.
(1)1. (1.) The Lord Lieutenant may from time to time direct a commission or commissions to be issued for the appointment of a court or courts of special commissioners for the trial in manner provided by this Act of persons committed for trial for any of the following offences; that is to say,
(a. ) Treason or treason-felony committed after the passing of this Act;
(b. ) Murder or manslaughter;
(c. ) Attempt to murder;
(d. ) Aggravated crime of violence against the person;
(e. ) Arson, whether by common law or by statute;
(f. ) Attack on dwelling-house;
and whenever it appears to the Lord Lieutenant that in the case of any person committed for trial for any of the said offences a just and impartial trial cannot be had according to the ordinary course of law, the Lord Lieutenant may by warrant assign to any such court of Special Commissioners (in this Act referred to as a Special Commission court) the duty of sitting at the place named in the warrant and of there, without a jury, hearing and determining, according to law, the charge made against the person so committed for trial and named in the warrant, and of doing therein what to justice appertains.
(2) (2.) A Special Commission court shall consist of three judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland (other than the Lord Chancellor), to be named in such commission, and they shall try in open court, according to the tenor of a warrant under this Act, all persons named in the warrant who may be brought before them for trial.
(3) (3.) The evidence taken on a trial before a Special Commission court, and the reasons, if any, given by the judges in delivering judgment, shall be taken down by a shorthand writer, who shall be sworn to take the same accurately to the best of his ability.
(4) (4.) A person tried by a Special Commission court shall be acquitted unless the whole court concur in his conviction, and the judges of the said court shall in all cases of conviction give in open court the reasons for such conviction.
(5) (5.) Where a person is tried by a Special Commission court he shall, if acquitted by such court, be entitled to be conveyed free of cost to any place he selects in the county in which he was committed for trial.
(6) (6.) The Lord Lieutenant shall from time to time provide for the payment of the reasonable expenses of witnesses, and in the case of poor persons charged with treason, treason-felony, or murder, for the payment of counsel required for the defence of a person brought for trial before a Special Commission court, and certified to be so required by such court.
Provided that nothing in this Act shall empower a Special Commission court to try a person for any offence, unless a judge and jury in Ireland would, but for this section, have had jurisdiction to try that person for the said offence.
2 Appeal from Special Commission court to Court ofCriminal Appeal.
(1)2. (1.) Any person convicted by a Special Commission court under this Act may, subject to the provisions of this Act, appeal either against the conviction and sentence of the court, or against the sentence alone, to the Court of Criminal Appeal herein-after mentioned, on any ground, whether of law or of fact; and the Court of Criminal Appeal shall (subject to the provisions of this Act) have power after hearing the appeal to confirm the conviction and sentence, or to enter an acquittal, or to vary the conviction or sentence.
Provided that—
(a. ) The conviction shall not be varied save by substituting a conviction for some less offence, for which the Special Commission court had jurisdiction on the trial to convict the appellant; and
(b. ) The sentence shall not be increased.
(2) (2.) The conviction and sentence as confirmed or varied by the Court of Criminal Appeal shall have effect as if it were the conviction and sentence of the Special Commission court, and shall be deemed to be the sentence of a Special Commission court.
(3) (3.) If the appellant establishes want of jurisdiction in the Special Commission court, the Court of Criminal Appeal may quash the proceedings.
(4) (4.) The Court of Criminal Appeal shall have for the purpose of any appeal all the powers and jurisdiction of the Special Commission court.
3 Constitution of Court of Criminal Appeal.
(1)3. (1.) The Court of Criminal Appeal under this Act shall consist of the judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland (with the exception of the Lord Chancellor), and any of those judges not less than five may sit and exercise the powers of the court.
Provided that a judge who sat in the Special Commission court shall not sit in the Court of Criminal Appeal on any appeal against a conviction or sentence by that Special Commission court to which he was a party.
(3) (3.) The determination of any appeal shall be according to the determination of a majority of the judges who heard the appeal.
PART II.
Special Jurors and Venue .
4 Special jurors in criminal cases.
(1)4. (1.) Where the trial of a person charged with an indictable offence would otherwise have been had by a jury before some court not being a court of general or quarter sessions, the Attorney General for Ireland, or the person charged, may, on serving the prescribed notice in the prescribed manner, require that the jury shall consist entirely of special jurors, and the jury shall consist of special jurors accordingly. Where more persons than one are to be tried together on the same charge, and notice for special jurors has not been served by the Attorney General, but has been served by some and not all of such persons, the jury shall consist entirely of special jurors or not, as the court may direct:
Provided that a trial shall not be impeached on any ground connected with the qualification of the jurors or any of them.
(2) (2.) The special jurors shall be taken by ballot in manner provided by the nineteenth section of the Juries Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1876 , from all the jurors upon the panel returned by the sheriff from the special jurors book.
(3) (3.) A county mentioned in the first column of the Second Schedule to this Act, and a county of a city or town set opposite the name of that county in the second column of the said schedule, shall as respects special jurors be deemed to be contributory counties; and the special jurors of each of two contributory counties shall be lawful jurors for the trial of any person who is to be tried by special jurors in either of such contributory counties; and, whenever a trial requiring special jurors under this Act is about to take place in any one of two contributory counties, steps shall be duly taken by the sheriff of each of the said counties for returning to the proper officer of the court in which such trial is held the panel of the special jurors of his county, and the special jury for such trial shall be taken by ballot accordingly from all the jurors upon such two panels indifferently; and the sheriff of each of the said contributory counties shall deliver to the proper officer of the court the cards for such ballot, and the ballot shall be taken in manner provided by the said nineteenth section of the Juries Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1876.
The expression ‘sheriff’ in this section includes any officer who by law performs the duties of sheriff in relation to the return of jurors.
5 Penalty for non-attendance of special juror.
5. The words ‘twenty pounds’ shall be substituted for the words ‘forty shillings’ in section four of the Juries Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1876, in the cue of special jurors.
6 Change of venue.
(1)6. (1.) The Attorney General, on making application to the High Court of Justice or a judge thereof, and certifying that in his opinion it is expedient in the interests of justice that a person awaiting his trial for an indictable offence should be tried in some county named in the certificate other than the county in which he would otherwise be tried, shall be entitled as of right to an order directing such person to be tried in the county named in the certificate; and, if such order is made before any indictment or inquisition has been found, the said offence may be inquired of in the county named in the order in like manner in all respects as if it had been committed in that county; and, if the order is made after an indictment or inquisition has been found, the indictment or inquisition shall be transmitted to the court of assize for the county named in the order, and have effect as if it had originally been duly found at or returned to that court; and, in either case, the offence may be heard and determined, and the person charged with the said offence may be convicted and sentenced, as if the offence had been committed in the county named in the order, but the sentence of the court shall be carried into effect as if such person had been tried in the county in which he would have been tried if the said order had not been made, and such person shall, if necessary, be removed accordingly, in...
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