Criminal and Malicious Injuries (Amendment) Act 1923

PART I. Injuries Committed on or before the 11th day of July, 1921.

1 No legal proceedings in respect of certain Criminal injuries.

1.—(1) No proceedings under the Criminal Injuries Acts shall be instituted after the passing of this Act in respect of any injury to which this section applies.

(2) All proceedings under the Acts aforesaid which are pending at the passing of this Act in respect of an injury to which this section applies and in which no decree has been made shall be and are hereby declared to be void and to be discharged, and no party to any such proceedings shall have any claim against any other party thereto in respect of costs incurred in such proceedings.

(3) It shall not be lawful for any person after the passing of this Act to take any steps to recover or enforce payment of the amount of any decree made before the passing of this Act under the Acts aforesaid in respect of any injury to which this section applies.

This sub-section shall apply to all costs and expenses as well as to compensation awarded by any such decree and to the interest on any such compensation which carries interest.

(4) This section shall apply to proceedings in and decrees on any appeal as well as to proceedings in and decrees of a court of first instance

(5) This section shall apply to any injury whether to property or person committed in Ireland during the period between the twenty-first day of January, nineteen hundred and nineteen, and the eleventh day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, both inclusive.

(6) This section shall not apply to or prevent the presentation or prosecution of a claim to or before any Commission of Inquiry in respect of an injury to which this section applies.

PART II. Injuries Committed after the 11th day of July, 1921.

2 Applications already disposed of may be re-opened and re-heard.

2.—(1) Every application under the Criminal Injuries Acts for compensation for an injury to which this Part of this Act applies on which a decree has been made before the passing of this Act shall be re-opened and re-heard on the application at any time within three months after the passing of this Act of the applicant or of the Minister for Finance.

(2) Every applicant who intends to apply under this section to have any such application as aforesaid re-opened and re-heard shall serve a notice of his intention so to do in the form and on the persons prescribed by the Minister for Home Affairs.

(3) In every case in which the Minister for Finance intends to apply under this section to have any such application as aforesaid re-opened and re-heard he shall cause notice of his intention so to do to be served on the person who was the applicant in such application, and may in such notice state the grounds on which the application for a re-hearing is made and whether the fact that the applicant suffered an injury in respect of which he would be entitled to compensation on the re-hearing is or is not disputed, and if such fact is not disputed, the notice aforesaid may also contain an offer of such compensation (either subject to or free from a re-instatement condition) as the Minister shall deem proper, and in case such offer or any amended offer is accepted within fourteen days after service of the notice aforesaid or such further time as the Minister of Finance may allow, a decree shall, subject to the provisions of sub-sections (5) and (6) of this section and to the provisions of this Act relating to re-instatement conditions, be made for the amount of the compensation mentioned in the offer or amended offer so accepted.

(4) Parts II. and III. of this Act shall apply to every re-hearing under this section as fully as they would have applied thereto if such re-hearing had been an original hearing commenced after the passing of this Act.

(5) Whenever a decree has been made for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Acts, in respect of an injury to which this part of this Act applies, and

(a) the compensation awarded by such decree was assigned, mortgaged or charged before the 1st day of January, 1923, and

(b) Notice of such assignment, mortgage, or charge was duly given before the 6th day of February, 1923, to the County or County Borough Council liable under such decree to pay the compensation thereby awarded, and

(c) an application is made under this section to have the application for such decree re-opened and re-heard; and

(d) compensation is awarded on such re-hearing,

then and in every such case, every such assignment, mortgage, or charge shall, subject and without prejudice to any re-instatement condition attached to the compensation awarded on such rehearing, affect such last mentioned compensation in the same manner and as fully as such assignment, mortgage, or charge affected on the 6th day of February, 1923, the compensation awarded by such decree: Provided always that whenever in any such case a re-instatement condition is attached to the compensation, or to any part of the compensation awarded on such re-hearing the Judge, if he considers it just and equitable so to do, may on such re-hearing extend or transfer any such assignment, mortgage, or charge to the building to be erected pursuant to such re-instatement condition, so that such assignment, mortgage, or charge shall affect such building either in conjunction with or in exoneration of the compensation awarded by such decree, and in such manner and to such extent as the Judge shall direct, and any such extension or transfer of an assignment may take the form of giving to the assignee a charge on the building aforesaid for the amount of the consideration actually paid on such assignment.

(6) Whenever a decree has been made for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Acts in respect of an injury to which this part of this Act applies, and

(a) such decree was made by a Judge of the High Court, and

(b) The Council of the County or County Borough in whose functional area the injury occurred appeared by Counsel or Solicitor at the hearing before such Judge of the High Court and bona fide opposed the awarding of any compensation or the awarding of the amount of compensation claimed, and

(c) the compensation awarded by such decree was assigned, mortgaged, or charged before the 1st day of January, 1923, in consideration of or to secure a sum not more than the amount of such compensation, and

(d) Notice of such assignment, mortgage, or charge was duly given before the 6th day of February, 1923, to the County or County Borough Council liable under such decree to pay the compensation thereby awarded, and

(e) an application is made under this Section to have the application for such decree re-opened and re-heard;

then and in every such case the amount of compensation awarded on such re-hearing shall not be less than the consideration actually paid on such assignment or the amount actually paid on such mortgage or charge (as the case may be), but nothing in this sub-section shall prevent a re-instatement condition being attached to the whole or any part of the compensation awarded on such re-hearing, nor shall the provisions of this sub-section be taken into consideration by the Judge when deciding whether a re-instatement condition is or is not to be attached to the compensation to be awarded on such re-hearing: Provided always, that whenever in any such case a re-instatement condition is attached to the compensation or to any part of the compensation awarded on such re-hearing, the Judge, if he considers it just and equitable so to do, may on such re-hearing extend or transfer any such assignment, mortgage, or charge to the building to be erected, pursuant to such re-instatement condition so that such assignment, mortgage, or charge shall affect such building, either in conjunction with or in exoneration of the compensation awarded by such decree, and in such manner and to such extent as the Judge shall direct, and any such extension or transfer of an assignment may take the form of giving to the assignee a charge on the building aforesaid for the amount of the consideration actually paid on such assignment.

(7) In this section the word “decree” includes a decision refusing compensation as well as a decision awarding compensation.

(8) On any re-hearing under this section the Judge may, in addition to the costs of such re-hearing, award to the applicant the whole or such part as the Judge shall consider reasonable, of the costs incurred by the applicant of or incidental to the previous application, and the costs so awarded shall be paid at the same time and in the same manner as the costs of the rehearing.

(9) This section shall not apply to any decree made in respect of an injury to which this part of this Act applies, where such decree has been varied or affirmed upon an appeal, at the hearing of which the local authority or authorities concerned were represented and bona fide opposed the decree.

3 Extension of time for lodging applications.

3.—The time for lodging applications for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Acts in respect of an injury to which this Part of this Act applies is hereby extended for three months after the passing of this Act.

4 Notice to be served by applicants.

4.—(1) Every person who has before the passing of this Act applied or who after the passing of this Act applies under the Criminal Injuries Acts for compensation in respect of an injury to which this Part of this Act applies shall serve such notices in such form and on such persons as the Minister for Finance shall prescribe.

(2) Every notice served in compliance with any order or regulation made by the Minister for Finance under the Resolutions passed by Dáil Eireann on the 1st day of November, 1922, shall be deemed to have been served in compliance with this section.

(3) If on the hearing of any application under the Criminal Injuries Acts for compensation in respect of an injury to which this Part of this Act applies the Judge is not satisfied that the provisions of this section have been complied with he shall adjourn the hearing of the application until such provisions have been complied with, and if such provisions are not complied with within one month after the date of the adjournment of the hearing he shall dismiss the application on such terms as to costs as he shall think fit.

(4) The notices to be served under this section shall be in addition to and not in substitution for the notices prescribed by the Criminal Injuries Acts.

5 Right of Audience of the Minister for Finance.

5.—The Minister for Finance shall be entitled to appear and be heard by Solicitor with or without Counsel, to examine and cross-examine witnesses and tender evidence at and generally to take part in the hearing of every application under the Criminal Injuries Acts for compensation in respect of an injury to which this Part of this Act applies and every proceeding by way of appeal or case stated arising out of or following on any such application.

6 No compensation for consequential loss.

6.—The right to compensation under the Criminal Injuries Acts shall as respects any injury to which this Part of this Act applies be limited to compensation for the actual damage done to the property injured and shall not extend to any compensation for any loss consequential on such actual damage and in particular shall not extend to compensation for the loss of the use of the property injured or for the loss of mere pleasure or amenity.

7 No compensation for loss of certain chattels.

7.—(1) No compensation shall be payable under the Criminal Injuries Acts in respect of the loss or destruction of or damage to any of the chattels to which this section applies occasioned by an injury to which this Part of this Act applies.

(2) The chattels to which this section applies are—

(i.) Watches, jewellery or articles of personal ornament kept by the owner otherwise than as part of his stock-in-trade.

(ii.) Coins, bank or Government notes or currency of any country.

(iii.) Postage or other adhesive stamps.

(iv.) Postal orders or post office money orders.

8 Railway Companies not to be entitled to compensation.

8.—(1) No Railway Company shall be entitled to any compensation under the Criminal Injuries Acts or this Act in respect of any injury to which this Part of this Act applies committed against any property belonging to such Railway Company.

(2) The Minister for Finance may enter into agreements with any Railway Company or Companies for the payment, out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas, to such Company or Companies of compensation in respect of any injury to which this Part of this Act applies, or, in lieu of such compensation, for the re-instatement out of moneys aforesaid of the property damaged by such injury, and may in any such agreement provide for the ascertainment of the amount of such compensation or the nature of such re-instatement (as the case may be) and the terms and conditions on which the same is to be paid or done.

(3) No action shall lie against any Railway Company for or in respect of the loss of or damage to any property entrusted to such Railway Company for carriage or storage in any case in which such loss or damage was caused by—

(a) An injury to which this Part of this Act applies, or

(b) a wrongful act for which an application for compensation could be lodged under this Part of this Act.

9 Conduct of applicant to be considered.

9.—An applicant for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Acts in respect of an injury to which this Part of this Act applies shall be wholly disentitled to any compensation under those Acts if it is proved to the satisfaction of the Judge that the applicant connived at, assisted in or actively facilitated the committal of the injury or if in the opinion of the Judge the applicant was at or about the time the injury was committed

(a) associated or combined or in league with the person or persons by whom the injury was committed for the committal of that injury or for the committal of other similar injuries to property, or

(b) a member or helper of or active sympathiser with any organisation engaged in armed opposition to the late Provisional Government of Ireland or the Government of Saorstát Eireann.

10 Attachment of re-instatement conditions to decrees in respect of buildings.

10.—(1) If on the hearing of an application to which this section applies, the Judge is of opinion that the applicant is entitled to compensation it shall be lawful for the Judge, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this section, to attach to his decree one or other of the conditions following, that is to say—

(i) a condition (in this section called a “full re-instatement condition” that the compensation shall be applied either in or towards erecting a new building on the site of the injured building or in or towards repairing the injured building, but so that the new or the repaired building shall be either of the same character as the injured building or of a character suitable to the neighbourhood and not less valuable than the injured building;

(ii) a condition (in this section called a “partial re-instatement condition”) that the compensation shall be applied in or towards the erection on or near the site of the injured building of another building (in this section called a “substituted building”) of a nature named by the applicant and specified in the decree and differing from the nature of the injured building: Provided always that whenever a partial re-instatement condition is attached to a decree, the person by whom such condition is to be performed may, at any time within three months after the date of the decree, submit to the Judge a scheme for the application of the compensation to which the condition is attached in or towards the erection of a building or buildings of a residential character at any specified place in Saorstát Eireann in lieu of the substituted building specified in the decree, and if the Judge is satisfied that the building or buildings specified in such scheme will be suitable to the neighbourhood in which it is proposed to erect the same and that there is a demand in that neighbourhood for buildings of that character the Judge shall amend the partial re-instatement condition attached to his decree by substituting therein the building or buildings specified in such scheme for the substituted building originally specified in the decree.

(2) In every case in which it is lawful for the Judge under this section to attach a full re-instatement condition to his decree, the Judge shall observe the following rules:—

(a) If the injured building was situate in Upper Sackville Street, commonly known as Upper O'Connell Street, in the City of Dublin, or was before the injury ordinarily used for the purpose of any trade or business, the Judge shall attach a full re-instatement condition to his decree;

(b) If, in any case not coming within the foregoing rule, the Judge is of opinion that the injury to the building has not materially prejudiced the economic welfare of the district, and the applicant does not show reasonable cause why a full re-instatement condition should be attached to the decree, the Judge shall not attach a full re-instatement condition to his decree;

(c) In any case not coming within either of the foregoing rules, the Judge may attach a full re-instatement condition to his decree if, in all the circumstances of the case, he thinks it reasonable so to do;

(d) In considering whether it is reasonable to attach a full re-instatement condition to his decree, the Judge shall have regard to the use ordinarily made of the building before the injury, and shall not have regard to any proposal for a different future use of the building if reinstated.

(3) The Judge if he thinks it right to do so may in any case (except a case in which he is by this section required to attach a full re-instatement condition to his decree) attach a partial re-instatement condition of his decree provided he is satisfied that the substituted building named by the applicant would not be unsuited to the neighbourhood and that there would not be an unreasonable discrepancy between the cost of erecting the substituted building and the market value thereof when completed.

(4) In every case in which a full re-instatement condition is attached to the decree the amount of the compensation shall not exceed the amount of the cost of the full re-instatement less the amount, if any, by which in the opinion of the Judge the price of the premises as reinstated would by reason of the re-instatement exceed the price of the premises in the condition in which they were immediately before the injury or destruction, the price in each case being estimated according to normal market conditions as at the date of the award and on the basis of a sale of the fee simple interest in the premises.

(5) The compensation in any case in which no re-instatement condition is attached to the decree shall not exceed the amount by which the market value of the buildings was reduced by the injury.