Supreme Court of Ireland
The Supreme Court (Supreme Court; Irish: An Chúirt Uachtarach ) is the highest judicial authority in the Republic of Ireland and also checks judgments and laws on their constitutionality. The Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice, who shall preside, and seven other judges. Judges of the Supreme Court are proposed by the government and appointed by the President of Ireland. The Supreme Court has its seat in the Four Courts in Dublin. It is chaired currently (as of May 2012), Judge Susan Denham Gageby.
History
The basis for the (modern) Supreme Court was created under the 1937 Constitution. Unusual is the fact that the Court but has only existed since 1961, since the transitional provisions of the Free States Constitution to the Constitution of 1937, the Supreme Court of the Irish Free State still allowed to exist as long as no law creates the new jurisdiction. And so - accidentally to some extent - in 1961, the new Supreme Court launched by law. Some lawyers doubted that all decisions of the old Court from 1937 to 1961 were lawful because the new Supreme Court had further powers; particularly on issues regarding the constitutionality of laws - but the old court was set up under an old Constitution. The question of whether decisions from this period are really final and can not be revised employs Irish food today.
Composition and duties
The exact number of judges is set by law, but can be changed. Currently (2005) the Supreme Court consists of seven judges and a president. Ex officio the President of the High Court (Supreme Civil and Criminal Court ) is part of the Supreme Court judgments are in a group of 3, 5 or 8 judges like it, and it must always be 5 or 8 judges in constitutional matters. Judges of the Supreme Court can be removed from office, but only in cases of abuse of office or inability, and if this has been decided by both houses of Parliament together in a resolution. With such a resolution, the judge is then dismissed by the President.
The Supreme Court serves as the appellate court for decisions of the High Court as well as ( in special cases ) of lower courts, but is limited as a rule to review the legality of judgments. Article 12 of the Constitution also stipulates that the Supreme Court can decide with a number of at least 5 judges that the president "is not permanently in a position to exercise his office " and then to remove him from office. The salary of a judge can not be reduced as long as he is in office.
Today, the Irish judiciary shares her powers with two - national courts: the International Criminal Court and the European Court. In questions regarding the correct interpretation of European law, the decisions of the European Court of Justice take precedence over those of the Supreme Court also the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights are superior in Ireland.
Legal review
The Irish Constitution requires in Article 15.4.2 that every law that is passed by Parliament ( Oireachtas ) and the breach in any form of this Constitution, in the scope of this discrepancy is invalid.
The activities of the Irish government ( as executive) must therefore be both legally and constitutionally correct. The Constitution gives the Supreme Court the right to review the laws and to interpret the Constitution. The court may therefore laws (or parts thereof) declared invalid if they violate the Constitution. The Supreme Court interpreted but also ordinary laws and clarifies questions about their interpretation. A draft law, which has been tested by the discretion of the President in advance by the Supreme Court on the constitutionality and have not objected, however, can not be invalidated after the entry into force of the law. Only after a few decades, the importance of the Supreme Court, which has taken in recent years, some important decisions grew.