Analyse and discuss the administration of justice and the Court Structure in the Irish Legal System

“Analyse and discuss the administration of justice and the Court Structure in the Irish Legal System.”


ALEKSANDRA KURDZIEL
D08117482

Haw we know every country have own rules, rudiments, custom, language, politics and of course law. According the Thomas O’Malley “Some low is a science, to others it is an art but, in may ways it is also a craft.” To purpose of this essay is explain haw work administration of justice and haw look the Court Structure in the Ireland. Firstly we must understand what is law?? Law: the principles and regulations emanating from a government and applicable to a people, whether in the from of legislation or of custom and policies recognized and enforced by judicial decision.
If we want analyse and discuss the administration of justice we should be know what does “justice” mean? The justice this is “the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments”
Under the constitution the judicial function is the third organ of government power and consists of the interpretation of the constitution and the law and its application by rule or discretion to contention which arise between the state and - individual, and between individual –individual. Justice must be administered in courts established by statute law by judges appointed in the manner regulation in the Constitution.
Judges
Fallow the book “Principles of Irish Law” the justice shall be administered in courts established by the law by judges appointed in the manner provided by this Constitution moreover shall be administered in public. The judge in an Irish courtroom usually sits on a raised platform at the top of the court and wears white collars, a black gown and wig. Judges must have at least 10 years experience as a barrister or solicitor and usually they have many more years of experience before they are appointed. The practicing barrister of a certain seniority were eligible for appointment to the Circuit Court, High Court or Supreme Court. However solicitors could be appointed only as judges of the District Court. But the Act 1995 opens the way for solicitors and can appointed as judges of any courts. Judges of the ordinary courts are appointed by the President on the advice of the Government. A judge cannot be a member of the Oireachtas (national parliament made up The President of Ireland and two Houses of the Oireachtas ; Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann) or hold any other position of emolument and on appointment makes a constitutional declaration.(Serkin J &Binchy W) This declaration should be made with 10 days of entering office, a judge is considered to have vacated that office. Through the statute can be regulated for example; age of retirement, pension, terms of appointment or number of judges. If people would like appointed to the High Courts or Supreme Courts will be select from four categories; 1) practicing barrister of not less than twelve years standing 2) serving judges 3) a judge of the EU Court or the Court 1st Instance or EU Court of Justice 4)Circuit Court judges of four years standing To quality for appointment to the Circuit must be a practicing barrister or solicitor of not less than 10 years standing ; service as a judge of the District counts as practice for this purpose. District Court judges are likewise appointed from amongst practicing barrister and solicitors of not less then 10 years experience. Judges this is premier person in court. And he give final judgment. But also in some jurisdictions, the judge's powers may be shared with a jury. Moreover the judges must be independent and justly for everyone person and situation.
I would like analyses what justice can do to reduce the numbers of serious crime? For this question answer has not been found over the past few years. I strongly believe that the best solution of this problem is to change the law.
First of all the judgments for criminals must be stricter. Death penalty cannot be abolished due to the fact that more and more offenders are no longer afraid of being punished. In my opinion justice should be more consistent and give sentences which will immediately frighten criminals.
Furthermore it seems to me that capital punishment in some cases is indispensable. Even though in certain countries this special sentence does not exist I believe that for instance a terrorist responsible for the death of dozens of people should not be kept alive.
As oppose to above ideas many people are still thinking that one person can‘t decide about somebody’s live or death.
All things considered I’m absolutely convinced that death penalty is a good idea to prevent the increasingly number of crimes but it should be used very carefully and only in necessity.


Moreover in 1998 (Ward T) the Government established the Court Service The function for the Court Service is :
1) To manage the court 2) Provide support service for the judges. 3)Provide information on the court system to the public. 4)To provide ,manage and maintain court buildings. 5)Provide facilities for users of the court. The board is responsible for the determination of policy and overseeing its implementation by the Chief Executive. This person is responsible for the day to day to management of the administration, business, stuff or service in the court. The Chief Executive is externally recruited, moreover have a the qualities, experience and skills required for the task.

Courts Dublin is an ancient city with a lot of monuments and antiques. At the river “An Life” is occur the Court in capital of Ireland. The courts formally established the hierarchically system of courts envisaged by the constitution of Ireland in 1937 but the essential elements of the existing system envisaged in 1922remained in place. In Ireland are four main courts; the District Court, the Circuit Court, the High Court and the Supreme Court. Other courts in operation are the Special Criminal Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal. I show kind of courts on the simple table.


The District Court
“The District Courts is the busiest court in the nation and it’s the main interface between the general public and judicial system”( Ward T.)In 2007 was 400,000 cases and there are currently 55 judges sitting in the District Court in different districts throughout the country.
This is the lowest Court In the system through In handle san enormous number of cases. In all Ireland is 23 District Court Districts including the Dublin Metropolitan District. Each District is in turn divided into District Court areas district courts. There is a President of the District Court and a number of District Judges. In this case the barrister and solicitors must have a ten years of experience .District judges retire at sixty- five years thought this may be extended to seventy years.
The district court is possessed of original jurisdiction in civic matters in that damages of up 200,00 euro can be awarded in contract and civic wrong cases.
In criminal cases, the District Court hears summary offences. Examples of summary offences include driving a motor vehicle without proper insurance cover, non payment of a TV licence, shoplifting, lettering or littering. In the case of Indictable offences is for to more serious offence.
The Circuit Court
This is the next court in the system. It consists of a president of the Circuit Court who is ex oficcio a judge of the High Court, and a number of ordinary judges. The Circuit Court is divided into several circuits, and the judge assigned to each circuit travels to different towns within that circuit a number of times each years. There are, because the volume of business, permanent Circuit Court sitting in Dublin and Cork. In this court barrister and solicitors must have ten years experience in judges of District Courts and also can appointed judges of the Circuit Court. Moreover the retirement age is seventy years. The jurisdiction of the circuit court is limited to 100,000 euro and can award at present is 38.092.14 euro . An appeal lies from the decision of the Circuit Court judge, who sits alone when hearing the case, to the High Court and the Circuit Court may consult the Supreme court of point of law. If the appealed is unsuccessful then district court can appeal to the Circuit Court which rehears the case and substitutes its own decisions.


The High Court
The High Court exercised jurisdiction over the whole country. It sits generally in Dublin but does visits other cities to hear cases if demanded. It consists of a President of The High Court where is ex officio , both a member of The Supreme Court and a member of the Council of State and twelve other High Court ,and all retire such must have seventeen of age. The power to use have jury. Moreover has full jurisdiction in and power to determine all matters and questions whether of law or fact , civic or criminal. Its jurisdiction also extends to the question of the validity of any law having regard to the Constitution. The High Court acts as an appeal court from the Circuit Court in civic matters. The High Court sits in Dublin to hear original action .It also hears personal injury and fatal injury actions in several provincial location for example Cork Sligo ,Limerick . The High Court have a lot off power because can award unlimited damages. The jurisdiction is wide and covers matters such as civic wrong, succession, thrust, wards of courts and the winding up of companies. The important parts of gave a judgement is extends to the question as to whether any statute is invalid or inconsistent having regards to the provision of the Constitution. Besides the High Court have possesses considerable supervisor jurisdiction over inferior courts person and administrative bodies. This jurisdiction is exercised by way of judicial review. Always the review of judicial is discretionary and may be refused in instances of delay in bringing the processing or where order remedies are available. The Newspaper Court Service News wrote in July 2008 ; ”In High Court will sit at number of venues around the country to deal with non-jury work before end of July”. This changed will be helpful to client and this improve the court service.

The Court of Criminal Appeal
This court only sits to hear certain appeals. In the case is one justice of the Supreme Court and two Justice of The High Court. There justices have to sits together to form the court. The decision is be majority and only one judgment is given. Leave to appeal to the court of Criminal Appeal will usually be given only where there is a dispute on a point of law. However, it may also be given in exceptional circumstances where new evidence becomes available which could not have been presented before the original court.


The Central Criminal Court
The central criminal, the High Court exercising its criminal jurisdiction, tries serious crimes such as murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder and serious sexual offences. On the case are heard by a High Court judge and a jury. The Court of criminal appeal from the Central Criminal Court and the Special Criminal Court take convicted. The appeal is not a repeat of the case but is detail transcript of the evidence given at the trial and that verdict was against the weight of the evidence.

Special Criminal Court
The special Criminal Court was established in 1972. Members of that court must be a judge of High Court, Circuit Court or District Judges or 7 years expired barrister or solicitors or can be any army officer above the rang of commandant. This court can try a great variety if offences from capital murder to simple assault. A Special Criminal Court consists of three members and the decision is that of the majority. After this case can appeal assembles to the Court of Criminal Appeal.

The Supreme Court
This court stands at the top of judicial system consists of the Chief Justice and seven ordinary Judges. The President of the High Court in an ex-officio Judge of the Supreme Court., the number of ordinary judges is increased by one. The Supreme court has original jurisdiction to determine if the President of Ireland has become permanently incapacitated. Barrister of twelve years experience may be appointed to the Supreme Court and they must retire at seventy years of age. In constitutional case must sit minimum of five judges, whereas in legal cases sit only three judges from quorum. Except in certain constitutional cases each judge, in keeping with judicial tradition, may deliver a separate judgment and the decision of the courts is that of the majority. The Supreme Court has little criminal jurisdiction. The can appeals from the Court of Criminal Appeal provided that court of the directory of public prosecutions certificated that the case involved a point of law of public importance. When the courts is fully operational the Court Of Criminal Appeal will stand abolished and it jurisdiction will vest in the Supreme Court. (with can hear range of criminal appeals). But below I would like show more specifics tables at of the previous, at this tables we have captive details about Irish system in the courts.


This table comes from web page www.courts.ie

Ireland has not an indigenous body of laws. Currently, Irish law draws on many different sources such as a written constitution, the laws of the European Union, statute law and judicial decision. A body of law thus exists which can be styled as distinctively Irish. Summing up the law is classified in different ways. First class this is public and private law. The public law this is domestic law governing the relations between the state and the individual however the private is the portion of the domestics law which is relations between individuals within the state. Law is also divided into criminal law and civic law. The bought kind of law are closely connected but each as is different. The law also drawn a distinction between the rules of law, referred to substitute law, and the enforced in the courts.

Bibliography

 1 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice

 http://www.courts.ie/Courts.ie/library3.nsf/pagecurrent/4DB5B6802917FBB380257139003E1D3C?opendocument

 Doolan B.(1981) Principles of Irish Law, Gill and Macmillan Ltd. Dublin page31-39,40-50

 Hanly C.(2006) An Introduction to Irish Law, 2th ed, Dublin, Gill & McMilliran

 http://www.citizensinformation.ie Citizens Information Centre

 http;//www.courts.ie, DC District and Areas changes w. e. f. 1 January 2007 , The Courts Service of Ireland, 2007

 Niall S.(1992) Essential of the Irish Business, Gill and Macmillan Ltd. Dublin pages; Administration of Law

 McCann.(2007)”Known your Rights”Blackhall Publishing.Blackrock p.77,233,257-258,285-287,

 Sarkin J.&Binchy W.(2004)”The Administration of Justice- Current themes in comparative perspective( Four Court Press),Anthony Rowe Ltd,Portland, p.32-52,67-85,72-77,86-94,121-123256-262

 O’Malley T.(1993)”The round hall guide to the Sources of Law” Colour Books Ltd, Blackrock, p.1,18,19,24,27,137

 Casey J.(2000)”Constitutional Law in Ireland”3th ed, Round hall Sweet &Maxwell, Dublin.p.101,139,230-238,239-240,275-290

 Newspaper; Courts Service News, Volume 10 issue 4,December 2008, “The High Court outside the Dublin- an expanding business” p7

 Newspaper; Courts Service News, Volume 10 issue 3,”Understanding the Civil Law “ October 2008

 Newspaper; Courts Service News, Volume 10 issue 2, July 2008, “Helping us to do things better” page 8

 Newspaper; Irish Time, 16/07/04, “Courts handled 100,000 more cases in 2003”

 Newspaper; Irish Examiner 12/03/8 “Commercial Court cases rise by 43%”



REFERENCE
 Sarkin J.&Binchy W.(2004)”The Administration of Justice- Current themes in comparative perspective( Four Court Press),Anthony Rowe Ltd,Portland p.32-52,67-85,72-77,86-94,121-123256-262,
 Ward T. (2007)”Justice Matter- Independence, Accountability and The Irish Judicary” Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Dublin p.38,94-96
 O’Malley T.(1993)”The round hall guide to the Sources of Law” Colour Books Ltd, Blackrock p.1,18,19,24,27,137