The Structure of the Irish Court System

The court structure is organised on a hierarchical basis (See diagram on our Moodle page
which sets out the civil & criminal court structures). We will now consider the courts set
out in that diagram and we will distinguish between the courts when exercising its civil or
criminal jurisdiction.

SUPREME COURT

The Supreme Court is, as we mentioned earlier, is the final court of appeal in Ireland.
Usually three to five judges will hear the appeal case but this has on occasion been increase
to seven for important constitutional case. The Supreme Court normally concerns itself with
constitutional and civil cases and it has little criminal jurisdiction. It can only hear appeals
from the Court of Appeal in criminal matters provided that the Court or the Director of Public
Prosecutions certifies that the case involves a point of law of public importance.

There are currently 11 Supreme Court judges including the President of the High Court and
the Court of Appeal who are ex-officio additional judges of the Supreme Court. The head
judge of the Supreme Court is known as the Chief Justice. The Supreme Court has both an
appellative and a consultative jurisdiction. Thus the lower courts, such as the High Court
may consult it by way of a “case stated”. In the DPP (at the suit of Detective Garda Barry
Walsh) v John Cash, the Supreme Court dealt with a case stated from the District Court on
appeal from the High Court. (See www.supremecourt.ie) In instances, where a case is
“stated” to the Supreme Court, the lower court is seeking guidance on an important point of
law. Under Article 26 of the Constitution, the President of Ireland may refer a Bill to the
Supreme Court to establish a Bill’s constitutionality. The Supreme Court also deals with
issues such as the permanent incapacity of the President.

COURT OF APPEAL

The Court of Appeal was established on 28th October 2014 by the Court of Appeal Act
2014. The court is composed of a President and nine ordinary judges. The Chief Justice
and the President of the High Court are ex officio judges of the Court of Appeal. The Court
may sit in divisions of three judges. Some interlocutory and procedural applications may be
heard by the President alone or by another judge nominated by the President.

There has been for the last number of years, an enormous number of outstanding civil &
constitutional law appeals from the High Court dating back in some cases to 2008. The
Thirty-Third Amendment of the Irish Constitution (Court of Appeal) Act 2013 was approved
by the electorate as a result of a constitutional referendum run on the 4th of October, 2013.
This amendment sought to bring about the establishment of the Court of Appeal which is
positioned between the existing Supreme Court and High Court. It is hoped that the new
court will eliminate these current court delays.

The Court of Appeal will deal with civil appeals from the High Court. It will be possible for
the Supreme Court to hear appeals from the Court of Appeal where the issue involved
concerns a matter of general public importance or where it is in the interests of justice that the
appeal be heard by the Supreme Court. It will also be possible in exceptional circumstances
for the Supreme Court to hear appeals directly from the High Court where this is in the public
interest or the interest of justice.

The Court of Appeal will also deal with criminal cases which were due to be heard by the
Court of Criminal Appeal (now abolished). It will hear appeals against conviction and/or
sentence from the Central Criminal Court, the Special Criminal Court and the Circuit
Court. The appeal is not a rehearing of the case but is based on the transcript of the
evidence given at the trial and is usually confined to points of law, or alternatively that the
verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence. On hearing the evidence, the Court of
Appeal may exercise a number of options including allowing the appeal and acquitting the
defendant or dismissing the appeal.

HIGH COURT

The High Court is described in Article 34 as having full original jurisdiction in civil and
criminal matters and has power to determine all questions of law and fact. The High Court
has a power known as constitutional judicial review, and this power is of enormous
significance in the defence of constitutional rights and guarantees. The power has impacted
greatly on the development of Irish law since 1937. Thus, any person who is affected by a
law or common law rule may challenge the validity of the law before the High Court and
argue that it is contrary to the Constitution. If the High Court agrees with the applicant, then
the law will be declared invalid and will not be implemented by the Courts.

The High Court presently consists of 37 judges including the President of the High Court and
a number of ex-officio judges such as the President of the Circuit Court. Normally each judge
sits alone. The Courts and Court Officers (Amendment) Act 2007 allows for the
appointment of a total of 35 ordinary judges. The President of the High Court (who is also a
Supreme Court judge) who is responsible for the running of the court and the allocation of
work amongst the judges. The High Court hears civil claims for damages in most cases over
€75,000 and personal injury cases over €60,000. The High Court is responsible for cases
involving the winding up of companies and the judicial review of the decisions of public
bodies and lower courts. It also deals with defamation actions. In the case of McKeogh v
John Doe & Others [2016] IEHC 95 found that the publication of a YouTube video and
associated comments were defamatory. The court ordered that the material concerning the
plaintiff should be removed from the internet.

It also has a consultative role in relation to the District Court (i.e. it can hear a case by way
of “case stated”). When the High Court deals with a civil case such as defamation, a vote of
nine out of twelve jurors is sufficient for judgment to be given in favour of the plaintiff. The
High Court possesses supervisory jurisdiction over the inferior courts, state bodies and
individuals. The High Court has power to issue a number of orders such as a Habeas
corpus order. This order requires the person in custody and the detainer to attend before the
High Court to explain the circumstances of, and justification for, the detention. Thus, the
Governor of Mountjoy prison or the Director of the Central Mental Hospital could be asked
to explain why a prisoner or patient respectively, are detained in their institutions. If the High
Court deems the detention to be unlawful the prisoner or patient must be immediately
released from custody.

CIRCUIT COURT
Ireland is divided into eight circuits, and there is a President of the Circuit Court, 37
ordinary Judges and 6 specialist Judges (who will deal with personal insolvency cases)
and two ex-officio Judges (one of whom is the President of the District Court). At lease
one Judge is permanently assigned to each circuit while in Dublin and Cork there are many
additional Judges due to the volume of cases to be dealt with. The Circuit Court deals with
indictable criminal offences, by judge and jury. There are 12 people on each jury and
normally a unanimous vote is required for a guilty verdict to be recorded. The vast majority
of serious crimes are dealt with in this court since the Circuit Court hears all indictable
offences not serious enough to be tried in the Central Criminal Court. Therefore, it deals with
all indictable offences, except, for murder, treason, piracy, rape and aggravated sexual
assaults.

An example of an indictable offence which was dealt with by the Circuit Court in the
relatively recent past was the case of DPP v Carl Loving (2006). The defendant was
convicted of a theft offence and possession of child pornography under section 6 of the Child
Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. The Circuit Court judge sentenced Loving to two
years on the theft offence and five years with the last two years suspended on the child
pornography charge. The defendant appealed this sentence to the Court of Criminal Appeal
(now called the Court of Appeal) and it was reduced to six months on the theft charge and
two years on the child pornography charge.

In civil cases, the Circuit Court has monetary jurisdiction where the damages claimed by
the plaintiff are between €15,000 and €75,000 (between €15,000 and €60,000 for personal
injury cases). For example, if a plaintiff suffers a loss amounting to approximately €20,000 in
a breach of contract case, the plaintiff must take his case to the Circuit Court. The plaintiff
must also decide on the geographical jurisdiction of the case. In breach of contract actions,
the plaintiff may elect to have his action dealt with in the Circuit Court area where the
defendant habitually resides or carries on business or alternatively where the contract was
entered into.
Applications for divorce, judicial separation and nullity of marriage are also heard in this
court. The court has jurisdiction to hear ejectment actions, applications for new liquor
licences, and probate actions. Decisions of some administrative tribunals, such as the
Employment Appeals Tribunal, may be appealed to the Circuit Court. It also hears appeals
in civil and criminal cases from the District Court.

DISTRICT COURT

The District Court is described as a court of limited and local jurisdiction. In the District
Court, one legally qualified Judge sits alone and makes a decision without a jury. It is the
lowest court in the hierarchy of courts. Ireland is divided into 24 district court areas, and
there are 61 District Judges allocated to these courts. The District Court sits at
approximately 230 venues throughout the entire country.

The District Court has jurisdiction to hear, among other things, the following categories of
civil claims:

1) Family law matters, such as maintenance and access applications,

2) Debt collection and breach of contract matters,

3) Certain licensing applications, such as the transfer of liquor licences

The civil jurisdiction of the District Court is limited to cases where damages claimed do not
exceed €15,000.

In relation to criminal law matters in the District Court, the court usually only hears
‘summary offences’ (minor offences) and 98% of the proceedings started in this court also
end in this court. Examples of summary offences are careless driving, drunk driving and
minor assaults. The maximum penalty that can be imposed by the court in a summary case is
12 months imprisonment and/or a fine not exceeding €1905.00. However, the Court may also
deal with less serious indictable cases, such as assault and burglary, if the Director of Public
Prosecutions (DPP), the defendant and the District Court judge all consent. The District
Court can deal with relatively less serious indictable child pornography offences and in less
than 15% of convictions in 2017 were prison sentences imposed by the court.

The defendant has a right to appeal to the Circuit Court against his conviction and/or
sentence imposed by the District Court. If he pleads guilty he can only appeal against his
sentence. There is also the option to appeal by way of ‘case stated’ to the High Court
where it appears that the lower court has wrongly interpreted or misapplied the law. Many of
the cases “stated” to the High Court from the District Court have been on points of law
concerning drink driving cases.

The District Court deals with issues of juvenile crime, under the Children Act 2001. When
the District Court is hearing charges against children (under 18 years), it is known as the
Children’s Court. The Act provides that a child is not criminally responsible for their acts
if they are below the age of 12 years and there is a rebuttable presumption that a child
between the ages of 12 and 14 is not so responsible. However, this section of the Act has not
been brought into force by the Minister for Justice, who, controversially has decided to alter
the age of criminal responsibility from seven to ten instead. The Children’s Court sits at
different times and days from the ordinary sittings of the court. The District Court has
jurisdiction to deal most criminal cases except homicide (murder and manslaughter case).
However, in the case of indictable offences the child’s parents must have consented to the
case being dealt with summarily. Generally, the same court venue is used for both the adult
and juvenile cases. However, the Children’s Court when it sits is held in camera.

THE SPECIAL CRIMINAL COURT

The Special Criminal Court was established under the Offences Against the State Act 1939
and it exists to try serious criminal cases without a jury. The Act provides that the
Government shall appoint serving judges to sit in the Special Criminal Court and the panel
of judges are drawn from the High Court, Circuit Court and District Court. The power
to establish such a court appears in Article 38.3 of the Constitution, which states that special
courts may be established where the ordinary courts are inadequate to secure the
effective administration of justice and the preservation of public peace and order. The
rationale for its existence is the belief that the independent functioning of juries might be
undermined by subversive organisations (terrorists), but its remit also extends to ‘ordinary’
crime. The 1939 Act contains a list of scheduled offences which are tried in this court, as
well as a procedure whereby a criminal case can be moved from the ordinary criminal
courts to the Special Criminal Court on the issue of a certificate by the Director of Public
Prosecutions. The criminal gang that murdered Irish journalist, Veronica Guerin, were tried
in the Special Criminal Court because of concerns that a jury might be intimidated if the case
was heard in the ordinary courts, such as the Central Criminal Court. The DPP had issued the
certificate allowing the case to be tried in the court. Appeals against convictions can be heard
in the Court of Criminal Appeals.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT

When the High Court is exercising its criminal jurisdiction, it is known as the Central
Criminal Court. The Court hears all serious crimes that are not heard in the Circuit Court.
Criminal cases tried in this court are therefore confined to murder, attempted murder and
conspiracy to murder, treason, piracy, rape and aggravated sexual assault. Cases are
generally heard by one Judge and Jury (consisting of 12 persons). However, the President
may direct that more than one Judge sits together for the hearing a particular case. A
majority verdict of the jury is required (i.e 10 of the 12 jurors).