The Courts of Ireland Explained

Why this topic is examined

A court's jurisdiction is the set of cases it may hear, and examiners like it because a which-court, what-route problem has a right answer. The marks lie in the limits — the monetary ceilings, the minor/indictable line, and which appeals are rehearings.

The constitutional framework

Article 34.1 requires that "justice shall be administered in courts established by law", and Article 34.2 sets the shape: Courts of First Instance, a Court of Appeal, and a Court of Final Appeal. The Courts (Establishment and Constitution) Act 1961 then formally established those courts.

Two labels do the rest. The District and Circuit Courts are courts of local and limited jurisdiction under Article 34.3.4°, limited by geography and by statute, so a claim pitched above the statutory limit is outside the court's power. The High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court are the Superior Courts, and only they may rule on the constitutionality of legislation.

1. The District Court

The busiest court, exercising summary jurisdiction: a judge sits alone, without a jury. That it may try crime at all is a constitutional concession — Article 38.2 allows minor offences to be tried by courts of summary jurisdiction, an exception to the jury guarantee in Article 38.5. What makes an offence minor was settled in Melling v O'Mathghamhna [1962] IR 1 Binding (IE): chiefly the maximum penalty available, with regard also to the moral quality of the conduct.

An indictable offence may still be tried summarily where the statute permits, the DPP consents and the court is satisfied the offence is minor. Murder, rape, treason and piracy are outside it entirely.

Its civil ceiling is €15,000, set by the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 — a statutory figure that can move, so check it as at your exam date. The claim must be expressly limited to the jurisdiction of the court, or the summons shows no jurisdiction on its face and is dismissed. Appeals run two ways: a full rehearing to the Circuit Court, or a point of law by way of case stated to the High Court.

2. The Circuit Court

The other court of local and limited jurisdiction, organised into eight circuits. Exercising original criminal jurisdiction it is the Circuit Criminal Court and tries most indictable offences, the judge ruling on law and a jury of 12 on fact; a conviction is appealed to the Court of Appeal — a review, not a rehearing.

Its civil ceiling is €75,000, and €60,000 in personal-injuries actions, and unlike the District Court it may grant judicial separation and divorce. It hears District Court appeals de novo — the case tried again from the beginning rather than reviewed for error. Its own first-instance civil decisions go de novo to the High Court.

3. The High Court

Article 34.3.1° gives the High Court full original jurisdiction over all matters of law or fact, civil or criminal — no ceiling. If it can hear anything, how can statute confine small claims to the lower courts? Tormey v Ireland [1985] IR 289 Binding (IE) answered it: routing classes of case to lower courts is constitutionally permissible.

Exercising criminal jurisdiction it is the Central Criminal Court, one judge and a jury of 12, trying the gravest offences; on a murder charge only the High Court may grant bail. It also exercises judicial review, which is not an appeal: an appeal asks whether the decision below was wrong, while judicial review asks whether a body acted within its powers and fairly.

4. The Court of Appeal

The Thirty-third Amendment (2013) and the Court of Appeal Act 2014 created the Court of Appeal, sitting since 28 October 2014, because nearly every High Court civil appeal previously went straight to the Supreme Court.

It takes civil appeals from the High Court, subject to exceptions, and criminal appeals from the Circuit Criminal, Central Criminal and Special Criminal Courts, against conviction and/or sentence; the DPP may appeal an unduly lenient sentence under s 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993. The appeal is not a rehearing, and for most litigants this is where the case ends.

5. The Supreme Court

The court of final appeal under Article 34.2. The Thirty-third Amendment did not just insert a court beneath it — it narrowed the Supreme Court's own appellate jurisdiction. Under Article 34.5.3° an appeal from the Court of Appeal now needs leave, granted only where the case involves a matter of general public importance or an appeal is necessary in the interests of justice; Article 34.5.4° applies the same threshold to a "leapfrog" appeal taken directly from the High Court. A court that once took what came to it now largely selects its own work, and leave is never a formality.

One thing cannot be taken from it: Article 34.5.5° provides that no law may except from its jurisdiction cases on the validity of a law having regard to the Constitution. It also considers Bills referred by the President under Article 26.

The Special Criminal Court

Article 38.5 guarantees jury trial subject to exceptions, and Article 38.3.1° is one: special courts may be established where the ordinary courts are inadequate to secure the effective administration of justice. Part V of the Offences Against the State Act 1939 is the operative regime, and the current Court has sat since 30 May 1972.

It sits with three judges and no jury. Cases arrive two ways: an offence declared scheduled, or a non-scheduled offence the DPP certifies in writing as one the ordinary courts are inadequate to try. Conviction is appealed to the Court of Appeal.

The controversy is structural: the jury guarantee is the rule and this Court the exception, yet it has run continuously since 1972; the way in for a non-scheduled offence turns on the DPP's certificate; and one judge delivers the judgment, any dissent undisclosed.

Related free notes: the doctrine of precedent & stare decisis · solicitor vs barrister · statutory interpretation · all free Irish Legal System notes.