Court of Appeal Criminal - Latest Developments

NOTICE OF SITTINGS IN CORK AND LIMERICK

The Court of Appeal will sit in The Courthouse, Anglesea Street Cork on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the week beginning the 13th July 2020 and in The Courthouse, Mulgrave Street Limerick on the Thursday and Friday of that week to hear sentence appeals including undue leniency applications.

Practitioners who are interested in having a case heard in Cork or Limerick during that period should notify the Registrar of the Court of Appeal by sending an email to courtofappealcriminal@courts.ie as soon as possible. Notification should also issue to the solicitor for the other side.

Hearing dates for the Cork and Limerick lists will be allocated by the President at the general List to Fix Dates on Monday the 23rd day of March 2020 at 10 o'clock in Court 16, Criminal Courts of Justice and it is envisaged that the submissions of the appellant or applicant as the case may be will be lodged in the court office and served on the solicitor for the respondent in advance of the List to Fix Dates.

G. Manners
Registrar of the Court of Appeal
17th day of December 2019

COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL)

LISTING PROCEDURES – CHANGES DUE TO COVID-19

LIST TO FIX DATES
The List to Fix Dates scheduled for Monday the 23rd day of March 2020 has been deferred. A new date will be fixed in due course and published in the Legal Diary when the Court resumes its scheduled sittings. In the meantime and while priority will be given to appeals in the deferred List the usual arrangements apply in relation to inclusion in the List ie appeals are entered in the List on receipt of the submissions of the moving party. The List of such cases will be published in the Legal Diary in due course and cases will be added to the List as submissions of the moving party are filed.  For administrative reasons the List closes on the preceding Wednesday and any case where submissions of the moving party are received after 1pm that day and before the date of the List will be added to the end of the List as a “late addition”. Otherwise the case will be included in the subsequent List to Fix Dates (date to be published in the Legal Diary). If there is a degree of urgency in the appeal the office will, at the request of the solicitor for the moving party, include the appeal in a management list on a convenient Friday to facilitate an application for a priority hearing.

Where an appeal extends to sentence as well as conviction practitioners are requested to ensure that the submissions deal with both aspects of the appeal.  With effect from Easter term 2018 the court has endeavoured, as far as practicable, to hear the sentence appeal on the same day as the conviction appeal to save time and to avoid additional listings although it may be that a decision on sentence is not required if the conviction appeal is successful.

Replying submissions:
As a matter of practice the Court requires that the replying submissions of the respondent to an appeal be filed and served no later than two weeks before the hearing date allocated.

Books of Authorities:
Four copies of the Book of Authorities of the moving party should be lodged no later than two weeks before the hearing date and a copy of the index furnished to the solicitors for the respondent.  Four copies of a Book of any authorities not included in the moving party’s Book and intended to be relied on by the respondent are to be lodged no later than one week before the hearing date and a copy of the index furnished to the solicitors for the moving party. Practitioners will be aware that in undue leniency applications the Chief Prosecution Solicitor prepares an eversion of the Book of Authorities on which the Director of Public Prosecutions intends to rely and furnishes such eBook to the solicitors for the respondent and to the Court.  This practice is currently under review as to whether it may be extended to other appeals coming before the Court. 

Note:  practitioners are reminded that the Court is very familiar with the leading cases on principles of sentencing and there is no need to include such cases in the Books of Authorities – a reference in the submissions to any such case and, if deemed necessary by counsel, a short extract setting out the principles concerned, will for the most part suffice.

Documentary exhibits:
Three copies of any relevant documentary exhibits are to be lodged by the solicitors for the moving party no later than one week before the hearing of the appeal.  Practitioners will be aware of the contents of the Practice Direction CA02 dealing with documentary exhibits in sentence appeals and undue leniency applications including any post-sentencing materials intended to be put before the Court in the event of an error in principle being found. The Practice Direction has been revised to provide for the availability of four (rather than three) copies of any post-sentencing materials to be put before the Court.

MANAGEMENT LIST
The weekly management lists have been suspended and the date of the resumption of such lists will be published in the Legal Diary when the Court resumes its scheduled sittings.  Priority will be given to appeals deferred from lists scheduled for Hilary Term 2020.

Procedural note: all motions, applications for enlargements of time to appeal, applications to transfer a legal aid (appeal) certificate, applications for priority hearing dates and other miscellaneous applications which can be dealt with by a Judge sitting alone will be listed on an ongoing basis on the Friday of each week during term at 10 o’clock before the President. Unless the Court otherwise directs no application for a hearing date will be entertained at the Management List unless the submissions of the moving party have been filed. 

Applications for bail pending appeal
Such applications are brought by way of Notice of Motion grounded on affidavit and made returnable for a management list for directions not less than 7 days after service of the motion papers on the Chief Prosecution Solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions.  It should be noted that instead of allocating a date for the hearing the application for bail the Court may give directions for the filing of submissions and fix an early hearing date for the appeal.

Applications for a legal aid (appeal) certificate
Where an appellant was legally aided for the trial and application is made to the Court of Appeal for a legal aid (appeal) certificate such application will be dealt in chambers and ruled in open court at a management list. There is no requirement that the solicitors for the appellant attend for such ruling as notification of the grant of a legal aid (appeal) certificate (which will be on the same basis as the representation at the trial) will issue to the solicitors concerned.

Any enquiry in relation to the List to Fix Dates or the Management List may be made via email to courtofappealcriminal@courts.ie
G. Manners
Registrar of the Court of Appeal
19th day of March 2020