HC Deb 13 December 1906 vol 167 cc680-1
MR. SWIFT MACXEILL

I beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland whether, in view of the fact that magistrates at petty sessions in Ireland I are empowered to sentence to terms of imprisonment of not more than one month, on summary conviction, persons brought before them and that such sentences may be accompanied with hard labour; that from these sentences the prisoner has no power of appeal, and that an increase of sentence to admit of the lodging of appeal is not uncommonly refused by magistrates, and that such refusal has been frequently the subject of severe comment by County Court Judges and Judges of the High Court; and; having regard to the fact that in England there is in every case a power of appeal from the decision of magistrates, and that the senior Member for London on the 17th May, 1887, when the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Bill was passing through Committee, gave a pledge, which was not observed, that in all cases under that Act there should be an appeal, he will consider the advisability, with a view of assimilating the English and Irish criminal law, of advising the Government to introduce a measure providing that in Ireland in all cases there should be a power of appeal from the decision of magistrates at petty session.

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. CHERRY, Liverpool, Exchange)

The right of appeal from an order of imprisonment by a Court of summary jurisdiction in Ireland is, as stated in the Question, confined to sentences exceeding one month in duration. Magistrates are sometimes asked by the persons convicted to increase lesser sentences with a view to allowing an appeal, and in some cases they have refused to do so. As the hon. Member is aware, during the course of this session an Amendment to the Street Betting Bill was adopted by the House, extending this right of appeal in Ireland in the case of offences which will be created by that Bill if it becomes an Act. Personally, I see no objection to a more general extension of the right of appeal, and it is prima facie desirable to assimilate the criminal law in England and Ireland in this and in many other respects. These are matters, however, upon which I can give no pledge on behalf of the Government.