1920-1922 жылдардағы ирландия сот жүйесі

Irish judiciary, 1920–1922

The Dáil Courts (also known as Republican Courts) were the judicial branch of government of the Irish Republic, which had unilaterally declared independence in 1919. They were formally established by a decree of the First Dáil on 29 June 1920, replacing more limited Arbitration Courts that had been authorised a year earlier. The Dáil Courts were an integral part of the Irish Republic's policy of undermining British rule in Ireland by establishing a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. They continued in operation until shortly into the life of the Irish Free State, which was established on 6 December 1922, after the approval of the Anglo Irish Treaty.

The precursor of the Dáil Court system was a forum for arbitration commonly known as the Sinn Féin Court. In 1904, Arthur Griffith had reiterated the idea of National Arbitration Courts in every county:

At a meeting of the Ministry of Dáil Éireann on 23 June 1919, it was decided to set up a committee on Arbitration Courts. Unlike the rules that then regulated who could become a Justice of the Peace, women were expressly eligible to become judges in the new courts. The general idea of Parish and District Courts on the lines of those then operating in South County Mayo, County Galway and West County Clare was approved. The Parish Courts were usually arbitrated by local Irish Republican Army, Catholic clergy, or Sinn Féin figures who had authority in the area. In appearance they were less formal than the British civil courts and its officers did not wear regalia associated with the legal profession of the time such as gowns and wigs. They filled a vacuum created by the conflict, and sought to persuade people who were inclined to fear the IRA's revolutionary nature that an independent Ireland would not set aside personal and property rights. During the war, the courts gradually extended their influence across most of the country, usurping the British law courts as the British government lost its authority in the eyes of the majority. On 4 March 1920, Austin Stack submitted a report regarding "courts with coercive jurisdiction". However, he did not think that it was yet feasible to make them immediately operational and pointed out that the Dáil Decree, (Decree No. 8, Session 4, 1919) only provided for Arbitration Courts. The Dáil Courts replaced the Sinn Féin Arbitration Courts, authorised in June 1919. The latter, only fully operational in the west of Ireland and with limited jurisdiction in property disputes, had been coming under pressure to try criminal cases. The critical difference between the two systems was the power to adjudicate assumed by the new courts regardless of the wishes of the parties. While the Arbitration Courts could have been characterised as within the tradition of contract law, the latter assumed powers of coercion characteristic of a state. The new system of Dáil Courts established on 29 June 1920 was therefore much more ambitious and more geographically widespread than its predecessor. A proposed amendment, by Ulster deputies Joseph O'Doherty and Ernest Blythe, to remove the right of clergymen to sit as ex officio members, was defeated. The first meeting of a Sinn Féin/republican court was in Ballinrobe, South Mayo. In his witness statement, (Bureau of Military History) William T. O'Keeffe, a Staff Officer with the South Mayo Brigade, IRA, credited men from the Claremorris Battalion, Commandant P. R. Hughes in particular (Hughes was Officer in Command of IRA Intelligence and Communications and later appointed one of the first District Justices of the Irish Free State in 1923) along with solicitor Connor A. Maguire (who became a Barrister at Law in 1922, and who later served as Attorney General of the Irish Free State (1932), President of the High Court (1936) and Chief Justice (1946)) as being responsible for the establishment of the first Sinn Féin courts. Subsequently, Comdt. Hughes and Maguire sat as judges in the courts.

Hostility to the courts was not confined to those against the Irish Republic. Peadar O'Donnell, a socialist and senior IRA officer in north east County Donegal, attempted to subvert its decisions when he felt that the interests of large estate holders were being upheld. He prevented Republican Police in his Brigade area from enforcing such judgements, particularly of the Land Arbitration Courts. O'Donnell's insubordination finally provoked the intervention of Headquarters. After the Truce declared between the British and Irish sides in July 1921,the Dail Courts, which had largely been suppressed during hostilities, re emerged across the country. Minister Austin Stack instructed local Sinn Fein and IRA leaders to set up and administer Courts in all localities and republican judges such as Diarmuid Crowley, who had been arrested in 1920 were released and were able to resume their work. It was during the Truce period that the republican courts took on much of the burden of administering justice throughout Ireland. However difficulties also crept into the Dáil Court system. Ken Loach's film The Wind That Shakes the Barley, features an extended fictional scene from a Dáil Court in session. The presiding judge, Lily, (Fiona Lawton), is undermined by Teddy O'Donovan, (Pádraic Delaney), the local senior IRA officer. Rather than enforcing the decision of the court, Teddy releases a convicted prisoner because he has been financing the purchase of rifles. He is publicly challenged by Lily to return to the Court, where the IRA rail against the Gombeen man's conviction (charging a poor old woman an exorbitant rate of interest). The script indicates how the more 'pragmatic' militants were prepared to subvert other institutions of the Republic when they deemed it expedient. This duplicity is a portent of the 'practicality versus principles' dilemma that soon leads to Civil War.