Misplaced Pages

Politics of the Republic of Ireland
Constitution Amendments
PresidencyPresident Michael D. Higgins Council of State Presidential Commission
GovernmentCabinet Taoiseach: Simon Harris Tánaiste: Micheál Martin Departments of State Public Service Civil Service State Agencies Attorney General Rossa Fanning
Oireachtas Dáil Éireann Ceann Comhairle: Seán Ó Fearghaíl Seanad Éireann Cathaoirleach: Jerry Buttimer Opposition Leader: Mary Lou McDonald Committees
Courts Supreme Court Chief Justice: Donal O'Donnell Court of Appeal President: George Birmingham High Court President: David Barniville Special Criminal Court Circuit Court President: Patricia Ryan District Court President: Paul Kelly
Elections Constituencies Political parties By-elections Electoral Commission Recent elections General 2016 2020 2024 Presidential 2004 2011 2018 Local 2014 2019 2024 European 2014 2019 2024
Administrative geography Counties Local government
Foreign relations Department of Foreign Affairs Minister: Micheál Martin Irish neutrality Diplomatic missions of / in Ireland Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy Ireland–United Kingdom relations Politics of Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement Ireland–UK border Brexit and the Irish border British–Irish Council Australia–Ireland relations Ireland–New Zealand relations Canada–Ireland relations Ireland–United States relations Politics of the European Union
Ireland portal Other countries
v t e

The Court of Appeal (Irish: An Chúirt Achomhairc) is a court in Ireland that sits between the High Court and Supreme Court. Its jurisdiction derives from Article 34.4. It was established in 2014, taking over the existing appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in 2014 and replacing the Court of Criminal Appeal and the Courts-Martial Appeal Court (subject to transitional provisions). Appeals to the Supreme Court are at that Court's discretion.

Establishment

The superior courts provided under the Courts of Justice Act 1924 and the 1937 constitution were the High Court and the Supreme Court. By the 1990s, there was a large backlog of cases in which the Supreme Court was required to hear appeals from the High Court. The Supreme Court heard a greater number of cases than its counterparts in other common law states. A working group which reported in 2009 recommended introducing a new court to hear most appeals of High Court judgments, freeing up the Supreme Court to restrict itself to cases of constitutional importance. This would require amending the constitution to remove the general right to appeal to the Supreme Court and allow that court the discretion to decide which cases to hear itself.

A constitutional amendment along the lines of the 2009 report was approved in a referendum on 4 October 2013. The Court of Appeal Act 2014 gave effect in primary legislation to the new constitutional provision. The Rules of the Superior Courts and schedule of court fees were then amended by statutory instrument. The court came into operation on 28 October 2014.

In February 2014, the government announced that serving High Court judge Sean Ryan would be designated as the president of the new court. On 29 October 2014, the Government nominated Ryan and eight ordinary judges of the Court of Appeal, who were appointed by the President of Ireland on the same day. A ninth ordinary judge, John A. Edwards, was nominated on 11 November 2014, and appointed on 4 December 2014. Nine of the appointees to the new Court were judges of the High Court; one was promoted directly from the Circuit Court.

Cases

On 28 October 2014, the Supreme Court transferred 258 cases to the Court of Appeal. It later transferred more, to a total of about 1,650 cases.

On 10 March 2015, the Court of Appeal upheld a May 2014 High Court ruling that section 2(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 was unconstitutional, thus annulling statutory instruments made under section 2(2) which criminalised various designer drugs. Although the government may seek to appeal this to the Supreme Court, it had also made contingency plans for emergency legislation after the High Court ruling, and an Act was rushed through the Oireachtas on 10–11 March 2015. International media reported on the one-day decriminalisation of MDMA and methamphetamine.

In September 2016, a paper in The Irish Law Times claimed "the Court of Appeal never had a prayer of solving the problem that was put to the people in this referendum, which was solving the backlog", with 1,814 cases pending at the end of 2015 compared to 2,001 cases at the start. A spokesperson for the court said it would process cases faster when it "finds its rhythm". In October 2017, the court's president said it was "coming to the point of being overwhelmed" by its backlog of cases, with about 600 added annually compared to about 320 dealt with. The Supreme Court offered to take back some of the 650 cases still outstanding from those it had transferred in 2014.

In 2014, before the introduction of the Court of Appeal, the waiting time for appeals from the High Court was 5 to 7 years; in 2018, it averaged one year for appeals to the Supreme Court and 2 years to the Court of Appeal.

Composition

The Court of Appeal consists of its president, up to 15 ordinary judges, and two ex officio members: the Chief Justice (head of the Supreme Court) and the President of the High Court. The President of the Court of Appeal is ex officio an additional judge of both the Supreme Court and the High Court. The Courts Act 2019 increased the number of ordinary judges from 9 to 15.

Current members

•   denotes President

Ex officio members

References

1. Butler, Graham (August 2015). "The Road to a Court of Appeal—Part I: History and Constitutional Amendment". Irish Law Times. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2015. This was out-of-kilter with other jurisdictions of a similar nature in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
2. Working Group on a Court of Appeal (May 2009). Report (PDF). Government Publications. Vol. Prn. A8/0153. Dublin: Stationery Office. ISBN 978-1-4064-2117-0. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
3. "Court of Appeal Act 2014". Irish Statute Book. 20 July 2014. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
4. "S.I. No. 485/2014 - Rules of the Superior Courts (Court of Appeal Act 2014) 2014". Irish Statute Book. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
5. "S.I. No. 492/2014 - Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and High Court (Fees) Order 2014". Irish Statute Book. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
6. "Court of Appeal Act 2014 (Establishment Day) Order 2014". Irish Statute Book. Office of the Attorney General. 21 October 2014. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
7. ^ "Appointments to the Court of Appeal". MerrionStreet.ie. 29 October 2014. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
8. "President appoints Appeal Court Judges". Áras an Uachtaráin. 28 October 2014. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014.
9. "Appointment to the Court of Appeal". MerrionStreet.ie. 11 November 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
10. "President appoints Mr Justice John Edwards as Appeal Court Judge". Áras an Uachtaráin. 2 December 2014.
11. "258 cases transferred to new Court of Appeal". RTÉ News. 28 October 2014. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
12. ^ "Court of Appeal President warns court close to being overwhelmed". RTÉ.ie. 26 October 2017. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
13. "Bederev -v- Ireland & ors". Judgments. Courts Service of Ireland. IECA 38. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
14. "Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2015 (Number 21 of 2015)". Bills. Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 22 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
15. McDonald, Henry (10 March 2015). "Irish Es are smiling – ecstasy and other drugs temporarily legal in Ireland". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
16. Minihan, Mary (14 March 2015). "Give Me a Crash Course In . . . the temporary legalisation of ecstasy". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015. Media outlets all over the world picked up on the unusual development.
17. ^ Gallagher, Conor (19 September 2016). "Court of Appeal backlog 'could take over a decade to clear'". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
18. O'Donnell, Orla (4 March 2019). "Wait for Supreme Court to hear appeals falls to a year". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 4 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
19. ^ "Court of Appeal Act 2014, s.6". Irish Statute Book. 20 July 2014. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
20. "Courts Act 2019: Section 1, Amendment of section 1A of Courts (Establishment and Constitution) Act 1961". Irish Statute Book. 23 July 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
21. "The Judges". Courts Service. Archived from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.

External links

Irish Statute Book

• Thirty-third Amendment of the Constitution Act, 2013
• Court of Appeal Act 2014

Courts Service of Ireland

• Court of Appeal Judgments
• Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and High Court Fees
• Court of Appeal Forms
• Court of Appeal Legal Diary

British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)

• Irish Court of Appeal cases

• Appellate courts
• Courts of the Republic of Ireland
• 2014 establishments in Ireland
• Judges of the Court of Appeal (Ireland)
• Courts and tribunals established in 2014