I move the Second Reading of this Bill. Under the Courts of Justice Act, 1924, appeals from the Circuit Court in civil cases are triable by two judges of the High Court, sitting in Dublin. Owing to abnormal circumstances, as I hope, the High Court, as at present constituted, has been unable to cope with its ordinary first instance business and at the same time to hear Circuit Court appeals promptly and with sufficient expedition to keep arrears from accumulating. There are at present 520 appeals pending, the oldest of which dates back to October, 1925. I am satisfied that these arrears cannot be disposed of in any reasonable time without special assistance. It is proposed, therefore, to appoint commissioners who will have jurisdiction to hear these pending appeals. The commissioners will sit in pairs. I anticipate that four commissioners will have disposed of all the outstanding appeals well before the Long Vacation, and I believe that when the High Court is relieved of these arrears it will henceforward be able to cope with current work. Perhaps I ought to give my reasons for that opinion. The Central Criminal Court, which is presided over by a High Court judge, disposed of a very large volume of business since its institution, and the arrears of criminal business have now been disposed of. It is to be presumed that this Court will not make such demands on the time of High Court judges in future. Fifteen days have been taken off the Long Vacation since last year, that is, giving fifteen additional court days, and the High Court is now assisted by a Master. The work performed by the Master used to be done by the judges, and the fact that there is now a Master must mean a saving of practically one judge's time. For these reasons I am reluctant to take the step of recommending the appointment of an additional High Court Judge at this stage. It would be premature to assume that such an addition is necessary. The important thing is to make a speedy clearance of pending Circuit Court appeals, in the interest of litigants, give the High Court a clear start in that way and then watch the situation as it develops as from that date. If six High Court Judges prove to be inadequate to cope with the first instance work and the appellate work the position must be reviewed in the light of our experience, and the necessary remedial measures taken, but I want to emphasise that I am not satisfied at this stage that six High Court Judges, as originally recommended by the Judiciary Committee, will not be enough for our permanent needs. I ask approval of the Dáil of the general principle of the Bill, namely, that special measures must be taken, in the interests of litigants, to hear pending Circuit Court appeals, and that the proper remedy is to appoint Commissioners, with the powers of a High Court Judge, to aid the High Court in disposing of these accumulated arrears.
ORDERS OF THE DAY. - CIRCUIT COURT APPEALS BILL, 1927—SECOND STAGE.
I think that the necessity for overcoming arrears is obvious, and on that account, of course, we would all desire to see the Bill pass. But I think that the remedy that the Minister proposes is one of very doubtful validity. We are told that these Commissioners shall have "all the powers, jurisdictions and privileges of Judges of the High Court." I think that that would make them judges, and I cannot see that we are entitled to appoint Commissioners to do the work of Judges of the High Court and allow them to be dismissed or removed from office at the pleasure of the Governor-General, acting on the advice of the Executive Council. I think we are bound in this case by Articles 68 and 69 of the Constitution. It seems that if this is permissive under the Constitution, then the Constitution——
We have done it before.
If the Minister has done it before I hope it is valid. I hope the Minister will clear away the point of its validity. I do not know, but as I read it a Commissioner who is made a Judge of the High Court must be subject to Articles 68 and 69 of the Constitution, and as I would imagine any decisions of that Court would be invalid I would make that point. I do not know whether it is a right one or not, but it seems to me it is. If we have done it before it seems to me to be a device in conflict with the fundamental law of the State and of doubtful validity or invalidity. I hope the Minister will be able to make the matter clear and remove that doubt before we give a vote on the Bill.
One is glad to hear that the Minister is about taking some steps to deal with this problem of the arrears in the Appeals Court. Like Deputy Johnson, I am somewhat doubtful about the wisdom of the course that he proposes, but the Minister is in the better position to judge of the emergency that has arisen. Whatever course he purposes taking, I hope that no further delay will be permitted, because this question of arrears has become so serious and so alarming that immediate steps are necessary to deal with it. I hope that whatever course the Minister decides on taking he will see that no further delay than is absolutely necessary will be entailed.
Deputy Good speaks of the arrears as alarming. Of course I am a bit more hardened than Deputy Good, but they did not alarm me. When I saw the exact figure, in fact I was rather pleasantly surprised. I had the impression that the figure was substantially higher. I think that within the last three weeks or a month the High Court has itself made considerable inroads on the appeals that had accumulated, and I should think that perhaps three months' work on the part of these Commissioners will clear the slate. I thought, as I say, the figure of the pending appeals was very much higher than 520.
How old are some of the 520 cases?
I mentioned the oldest as October, 1925. The others would range throughout last year.
It is a serious matter to have appeals 15 months in arrears.
We must have some measure of proportion. In the past, under the Assize system, a County Court Judge gave a decision in June or in July, and the appeal on that very often was not heard until March or April of the following year.
I do not want to be unfair to the Minister, but those would be isolated cases. Here is a case in which every appeal is held up and advantage is taken by the commercial community of that situation, as the Minister knows.
Those were not isolated cases. That was a very general matter. A court of first instance — a County Court—gave a decision in June or July of one year, and if there was an appeal, that appeal very often was not heard until March of the following year. So, while the trouble is there and is admitted and we are taking steps to deal with it, I want some kind of a sense of proportion in discussing it. It is not just as big a grievance as Deputy Good makes out.
As regards Deputy Johnson's point on the Constitution, if anyone wishes to raise that he can get it finally determined in the courts. In this matter we proceed on the advice of the Attorney-General, but it is not, in fact, in conflict with the Constitution to appoint Commissioners ad hoc to exercise for the time being the powers of a High Court Judge in the matter of trying these cases. The District Justice is a Judge, and he can be removed from office in a particular way — on the joint certificate of the Attorney-General and the Chief Justice, if he has been guilty of impropriety in office. The Oireachtas legislated to that effect. These Commissioners are not made High Court Judges by the fact of being set up by statute and vested for the time being with particular powers, the particular appelate jurisdiction of High Court Judges. I stress the fact that it is the particular powers of a High Court Judge which are vested in the Commissioners. Four persons will be appointed and they will sit in pairs until these arrears of appeals are cleared off, which I hope will be in a short time. Deputy Good and others may be assured that there will be no unnecessary delay. The moment this Bill is signed by the Governor-General four persons will be ready to proceed immediately to take up the work of hearing these appeals. We have already approached certain members of the Bar and secured their agreement to act in this capacity if the Bill is passed, and there will be no delay after the passing of the Bill.
I would like to be recorded on the Journal as being against the motion.