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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 20 Sep 1923

Vol. 5 No. 2

EXTERNAL MINISTERS— - COURTS OF JUSTICE BILL.—FIRST STAGE.

I beg to move for leave to introduce "A Bill for the establishment of Courts of Justice pursuant to the Constitution of Saorstat Eireann, and for the purposes relating to the better administration of justice."

Just before the close of the last session I moved for permission to introduce this Bill. Permission was given, and the Bill is now in print, but the fact that it was not passed in the last session leaves us in the position of having to introduce it again from the very beginning. For the benefit of members of the Dáil, who were not members of the Third Dáil, I should say that this Bill is drafted on the lines recommended by a Committee which was set up by the Executive Council to consider the whole question. It was stated during the last session of the Dáil that owing to its importance, and to the fact that it marked such a distinction, such a passing away of what might be called old landmarks and the establishment of a new system, it would be advisable that this particular Bill should be before the country for some time. It has now been before the country for nearly two months, and, as far as I have been able to find out, there has been no criticism of it. The Bill is drafted to suit the needs of the country. It follows out the lines laid down in the Constitution, and we hope that it will give that confidence which courts of justice ought to command in any country. There are certain objections to it from certain quarters, but they have not found any real volume of public opinion behind them. I am sure it will not be taken as any slight upon either of the professions mainly concerned if I say that it is natural that there should be objection to it, having regard to the fact that law is going to be made somewhat cheaper for the ordinary citizen in the country. Naturally, if a particular commodity that was very expensive is going to be made cheaper, somebody must suffer, and, consequently, there will be dissatisfaction among the sufferers.

In introducing the Bill to the Dáil, on the last occasion, I laid some stress on the fact that the system by which the Bench was recruited in the old days did not lend itself to popular approval, and, as a consequence, the courts came to be termed "British Courts." During the struggle that took place for the assertion of the rights of the Nation, alternative courts of justice, called Dáil Courts, were established, and it might have been urged against the Saorstát that a considerable time elapsed before we attempted to bring into being courts which should command, and which ought to command, the confidence of the people, because the system, as it was, was not of our making, and the system that is outlined in this particular Bill is of our making.

This Bill does not within itself deal in a detailed manner, and could not deal in a detailed manner, with the whole organisation for the administration of justice. It creates the framework of courts of justice into which the detailed organisation will be fitted. It prescribes, in accordance with the recommendations of the Judiciary Committee, the various grades of courts and measure of jurisdiction in each grade. It provides that each court shall, by means of a Rule-making Authority, settle the detailed scheme of administration of the courts. The Rules that will be made for that purpose will be laid upon the Table of both Houses of the Oireachtas, so that they can be examined to see that they are administratively satisfactory and really enable the new courts to fulfil the high hopes entertained for a more efficient, expeditious, and less costly judicial system. I accordingly move for permission to bring in this Bill.

Question put, and agreed to.
Second Reading ordered for Tuesday next.

I move that the Dáil do now adjourn until Tuesday next at 3 o'clock.

Question put, and agreed to.
The Dáil adjourned at 5.20 p.m.
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