I beg to move:—
Go gceaduítear Rialacha na nAthchomhare gCoiriúil, 1924, a dineadh do réir Alt 36 den Acht Cúirteanna Breithiúnais, 1924, agus a tíolacadh do Dháil Eireann do réir Alt 101 den Acht san iniu, Dé hAoine, 1 Lúnasa, 1924.
That the Criminal Appeal Rules, 1924, made pursuant to Section 36 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924, and which were presented to Dáil Eireann pursuant to Section 101 of that Act on to-day, Friday, 1st August, 1924, be approved.
Under the Courts of Justice Act, 1924, Section 36, the Minister for Home Affairs, now the Minister for Justice, under the Ministers and Secretaries Act, is empowered, subject to the concurrence of the Minister for Finance in respect of matters affecting revenue or expenditure, to make Rules of Court governing proceedings in the High Court and Supreme Court, including the Court of Criminal Appeal. These rules require the concurrence of the majority of the Committee consisting of the Judges of the Supreme Court and High Court, the President of the Incorporated Law Society, and two practising barristers selected by the Bar Council. That body was duly constituted. Pending the making of these Rules, which is a work of considerable difficulty, there is power to carry on under the existing Rules. The Court of Criminal Appeal, however, is in a class to itself. It is an entirely new conception, and it was inconvenient to hear criminal appeals without at least some temporary Rules. It was represented to me that it would be desirable to have Rules made and approved by the Oireachtas before the Recess in respect of proceedings in criminal appeals, there being no existing Rules under which such appeals could be carried on.
The Rules now before the Dáil, entitled "Criminal Appeal Rules, 1924," were drafted by the Committee of judges and lawyers that I have mentioned, and they have been considered in my Department, and have been duly signed by myself and by the Minister for Finance. The Dáil will appreciate that when the General Rules of the new Courts are being made, these Criminal Appeal Rules can be reviewed if, owing to the haste of their preparation, they are found to be in any way defective in practice. They have been before the Seanad, and have been approved by that body, and I ask the approval of the Dáil for them now on the basis that an opportunity will be given to amend them, or further consider them when the general Rules of the entire courts system will come under review here.
