The Irish Constitution: Explained by Darrell FiggisFiggis, Darrell
History
The Irish Constitution: Explained by Darrell Figgis
Figgis, Darrell
Ireland -- Politics and government -- 1922-1949
It is not, however, necessary that the details of the judicial system
should be worked out in the Constitution. It is not, indeed, desirable
that they should be (a consideration worthy of attention, not alone here,
but in connection with the provisions for the Executive also), for such
details belong to later legislation. All that is required in the
Constitution is the general outline of the Judiciary, and a statement of
its organic relation to the other parts of the powers of government
created under it. How that outline will be completed, and the details of
the organic relation made good, must be dealt with in a subsequent
Judiciary Act, preceded probably by a Judiciary Commission established to
review the whole of the present system and to report to Government on the
changes required. In the meantime the present system will continue,
subject to the principles and plan of the Constitution, which is the law
fundamental to the later Act, and therefore at once of effect in respect
of its general principles and plan.
According to that plan the entire system of courts and titles that derive
from ancient feudal practice is abolished. A new and simple system comes
into existence, comprising a number of courts, civil or criminal, of
original instance and a Court of Final Appeal. The Court of Final Appeal
is to be known as the Supreme Court, and the chief of the courts of first
instance as the High Court. In these courts all cases are entered, and the
Civil Authority of the Nation is made paramount in all circumstances. "The
jurisdiction of Courts Martial," says Article 69, "shall not be extended
to or exercised over the civil population save in time of war, and for
acts committed in time of war, and in accordance with the regulations to
be preserved by law. Such jurisdiction shall not be exercised in any area
in which the civil courts are open or capable of being held, and no person
shall be removed from one area to another for the purpose of creating such
jurisdiction." Moreover, soldiers themselves are relieved from Courts
Martial, unless they are on active service, except for purely military
offences. For Article 70 reads: "A member of the armed forces of the Irish
Free State not on active service shall not be tried by any Court Martial
for an offence cognisable by the Civil Courts."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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