O'Neill –v– Judge Pattwell OrsNeutral Citation: IEHC 98 High CourtJudgment was given by Mr Justice Peter Charleton on March 26th, 2010
Judgment
This was a challenge by way of judicial review of a drunk driving conviction on the grounds that the judge in question was sitting outside his district. Mr Justice Charleton said the applicant had received a fair trial in a court that had jurisdiction to dispose of the offence by summary trial, and there was no basis upon which he should be relieved of the criminal responsibility for his own actions.
Background
William O’Neill was arrested at Ballynoe, Co Cork on March 3rd, 2008 for driving a vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. On testing, the concentration of alcohol in his urine was found to exceed the legal limit, and he was summonsed to appear before Tullow District Court, Co Waterford on September 12th, 2008. The case was then adjourned to January 9th, 2009.
In the meantime, on November 4th, 2008, the District Court Districts and Areas (Amendment) Order came into force. This meant that, though the offence was committed in District Court area 21 (Ballynoe), the case was moved into District Court area 20, a part of Co Cork, and was fixed for February 27th in Fermoy. It came before Judge Michael Pattwell, where the applicant argued that it should be heard in District Court area 21, but this argument was rejected. The applicant then sought to review that decision. Mr Justice Charleton pointed out that Article 34.4 of the Constitution provided for courts of local and limited jurisdiction, and their jurisdiction was outlined in the Courts of Justice Act 1024.
Areas were regulated by the Court Officers Act of 1926, subsequently amended.
Whenever a Minister makes an order under the Courts Service Act 1998 he may make provision for securing the continuation and completion of any business in the District Court which is initiated before the commencement of such order, he said. In addition, the Courts Service Act of 1998 empowered the Courts Service to make orders that were previously the province of the Minister. The District Court Districts and Areas (Amendment) Order 2008 was such an order.
There were no grounds upon which it could be argued that the Courts Service exceeded its jurisdiction, as the District Court Districts and Areas (Amendment) Order 2008 mirrored the Courts of Justice Act 1953, as amended. The framers of the Constitution and the Oireachtas had in mind that District Court areas could change, and the transfer of an accused person from one to another was a purely administrative matter.
Decision
The statutory scheme provides a complete answer to the plea of lack of jurisdiction underpinning the conviction of the accused on a drunken driving charge, Mr Justice Charleton said.
The applicant was properly arrested and summonsed, he was tried before a judge exercising the jurisdiction to try that crime in the District Court, and his trial was fair. Even if the legislation did not cover the issue of the location of the trial, which it did, Mr Justice Charleton said he would have refused the application for judicial review. The grounds for an order of certiorari are discretionary, and an order quashing a conviction is not necessarily to be exercised in favour of those who are able to display a non-compliance with legal form.
“This offence is a menace to those who wish to use the roads lawfully. The applicant received a fair trial in the court having jurisdiction to dispose of that offence by summary trial. The requirements of true social order provided for in the preamble to the Constitution must require the court to look, in appropriate circumstances, at the merits of an application as well as reviewing it by reference to its form,” he said.
Refusing judicial review, he said he could see no basis upon which the applicant could be relieved of criminal responsibility which directly flowed from his own actions.
The full judgment is on www.courts.ie
Bernard Condon SC, Diana Stuart BL, instructed by Healy Crowley Co, Fermoy, Co Cork, for the applicant; Jonathan Newman BL and Eilis Brennan BL, instructed by the Chief State Solicitor, for the State.