The Gazette 1994

GAZETTE

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

1994

award (rule 0.36) - a healthy development.

on a daily basis. Notwithstanding the fact that these continuing problems have been clearly and frequently articulated it is regrettable to find that the appropriate authorities have failed to provide a workable and effective solution. The real victims continue to be the general public and the effective administration of justice. The remaining chapters in this part cover Customs Excise and Revenue offences, proceedings under the Fisheries Act, 1959 to 1991, Probation and Community Service Orders and Extradition Proceedings - a complicated area which receives comprehensive coverage. Subjects covered here include Appeals to the Circuit Court, Cases Stated and Judicial Review. The proposed new rules will permit a cash lodgement in lieu of a Surety in respect of an Appeal to the Circuit Court - an area where, currently, there are differing views. Judicial Review remedies are extensively explained by reference to many examples. There is also a step by step guide to the procedures involved. This part incorporates the relevant provisions of over 17 Acts of the Oireachtas together with informative comment, all of which are extremely relevant to daily District Court Practice. The issue of Search Warrants under the Misuse of Drugs Acts is an area of the law which has benefited from a number of judicial pronouncements the most recent of which is a decision of Carney J. delivered in the High Court on the 14th October 1994 in the case of DPP -v- Henry Part IV - "Appeals and Review of Proceedings" Part V - "Miscellaneous Jurisdictions"

Plead" it is interesting to note that the author includes reference to a procedure under Section 207 of the Mental Treatment Act, 1945 - a most unusual piece of legislation. It was intended to repeal it under the Health (Mental Services) Act 1981. However the 1981 Act has never been brought into operation. The topic itself and the procedure laid down by this section are interesting, to say the least, and may well merit further comment on another occasion. Finally, it may fairly be said that the content of this book is ample testimony to the enormous and vital contribution which the District Court provides to the daily administration of justice in this country. By Raymond Byrne and William Binchy, Dublin, The Round hall Press, liv + 662pp 1994, £85 Hardback. "Some litigants find that on leaving the Courts They have found themselves fame in the Legal Reports. For reasons they never will quite understand, They have added a bit to the law of the land. Their case has decided some interesting law, Which maybe their barristers never foresaw - Thus litigant laymen acquire legal fame, Whose lawyers may never accomplish the same." The Annual Review of Irish Law 1992, ! published in November 1994, is the j sixth volume in the annual series. Containing some 716 pages, the Review represents a monumental j achievement providing practitioners, academics and students with an analytical and perceptive account of I legal developments, judicial and statutory, together with references to works of scholars and practitioners during 1992. | J.P.C. Poetic Justice 4 (1947) Ronald J Lynam Annual Review of Irish Law 1992

The Criminal Justice Act, 1993 is also referred to with regard to the provisions which entitle the District Court Judge to award compensation in a criminal case up to a maximum of £5,000.

Part III

This addresses the jurisdiction of the District Court to deal with various types of indictable offences and the procedures involved where appropriate. At Pages 267, 649, 650 and earlier in the book the author deals with the time limit for the commencement of proceedings applicable to indictable offences and, in particular, to Section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1951. The High Court decision in McGrail -v- Ruane [1990] IR 555 - Barron J. placed a construction on Section 7 which basically stated that the general time limit (six months) prescribed by Section 10 (4) of the Petty Sessions Act 1851 does not apply to an indictable offence when such offence is tried summarily. This construction was subsequently overruled in the case of DPP -v- William Logan which was decided in the High Court in February 1993 and subsequently in the Supreme Court in a judgment delivered on the 12th of May 1994. This judgement is authority for the proposition that a prosecution in the District Court for an assault contrary to common law under Section 42 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 and Section 11 of the Criminal Justice Act 1951 is not a complaint in respect of an indictable offence and therefore must be initiated within 6 months from the date of the alleged offence. Chapter 3 is most helpful in that it makes readily available many of the complex procedures applicable to and the detention centres available for the sentencing/correction of children and young persons. This area of the law continues to cause intolerable difficulties for District Court Judges

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Dunne. This case, for obvious reasons, is not referred to in Mr Woods' book.

As regards to the issue of "Fitness to

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