The New System
The jurisdiction of all of the courts then sitting in the Irish Free State was transferred to the new courts created by the Act:
- The Court of Appeal was replaced by the Supreme Court of Justice and a Court of Criminal Appeal.
- The High Court of Justice was replaced by a new court with the same name and similar jurisdiction. However, the new court was no longer divided into separate divisions (i.e. the King's Bench and Chancery divisions). The President of the High Court replaced the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland as chief judge of this court.
- The Assizes were replaced, in Dublin, by the Central Criminal Court. Outside Dublin they were intended to be replaced by Courts of the High Court Circuit, but this was never constituted.
- The jurisdiction of the Quarter Sessions and the County Court was merged into a single Circuit Court of Justice.
- The jurisdiction of the temporary District Justices and the divisional magistrates of the Dublin Metropolitan Police Court was merged into a single District Court of Justice, which could also try minor civil matters. The temporary District Justices had been introduced in 1923 to replace Petty Sessions, which had not been held for some years in much of Ireland due to the War of Independence.
The offices of justice of the peace and resident magistrate were permanently abolished. As a result there would in principle no longer be any lay magistrates in the Irish Free State: all judges would be legally qualified and would work full-time. However, the lay office of peace commissioner was created to exercise some of the functions of magistrates. Section 88(2) of the Act also required that a Peace Commission for a county in the Gaeltacht should "have a knowledge of the Irish language adequate for the transaction of the business of his office in that language".
All criminal prosecutions would now take place in the name of the People at the suit of the Attorney General, rather than The King as had previously been the case.
The Act did not affect the right of appeal from the Free State to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.
Read more about this topic: Courts Of Justice Act 1924
Famous quotes containing the words the new and/or system:
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