The Court of Criminal Appeal ( ga, An Chúirt Achomhairc Choiriúil) was an

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

for criminal cases in the

law of the Republic of Ireland The law of Ireland consists of constitutional, statute, and common law. The highest law in the State is the Constitution of Ireland, from which all other law derives its authority. The Republic has a common-law legal system with a written const ...

. It existed from 1924 until 2014, when it was superseded by the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much ...

, which can hear appeals for all types of case.

Operation

The Court of Criminal Appeal heard appeals for

indictable offence In many common law jurisdictions (e.g. England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore), an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing ...

s tried in the Circuit Court, the

Central Criminal Court A Central Criminal Court refers to major legal court responsible for trying crimes within a given jurisdiction. Such courts include: *The name by which the Crown Court is known when it sits in the City of London *Central Criminal Court of England a ...

, and the Special Criminal Court. The Court sat in a division of three, with one

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

judge and two High Court judges. The court could hear appeals by a

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisd ...

against conviction, sentence or both. Leave to appeal was only given where there was a disagreement on a point of law, although an exception can be made when new evidence becomes available which could not have been presented before the original court. The

Director of Public Prosecutions The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members o ...

could also appeal against a sentence on the grounds that it was unduly lenient. A further appeal to the Supreme Court only lay when the Court of Criminal Appeal itself or the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

certified that a point of law of exceptional public importance needed to be resolved.

History

Before independence

The Crown Cases Act 1848 established a Court for Crown Cases Reserved in each of

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

and Ireland. These courts were sometimes called the "Court of Criminal Appeal", but only heard point of law appeals. In England and Wales, a Court of Criminal Appeal was established in 1907, but in Ireland the 1848 court remained in operation. A Court of Criminal Appeal was temporarily established during the

Irish Land War The Land War ( ga, Cogadh na Talún) was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 18 ...

by the Prevention of Crime (Ireland) Act, 1882. This comprised the judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature except for the

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of ...

. The 1882 Act expired after three years.

After independence

The Courts of Justice Act 1924 established a new court system under the terms of the 1922 Constitution of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

. These included a new Supreme Court and High Court, and a Court of Criminal Appeal comprising judges of those two courts. The courts were re-established in 1961 under the terms of the current (1937) Constitution. The Court of Criminal Appeal was replaced on 5 November 2014 by the Court of Appeal, as mandated by the 33rd Amendment of the Constitution passed in 2013. The Court of Appeal has taken on all hearings of the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Courts-Martial Appeal Court, as well as many backlogged Supreme Court cases.

References

{{reflist

External links

Court of Criminal Appeal – Courts Service of Ireland

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

Courts of the Republic of Ireland 1924 establishments in Ireland 2014 disestablishments in Ireland Courts and tribunals established in 1924 Courts and tribunals disestablished in 2014