MEMOIR: JOHN McBRATNEYreviews 'Tis All Lies, Your Worship . . .': Tales from the District CourtBy Mary Kotsonouris The Liffey Press, 160pp. €19.95
MARY KOTSONOURIS was a District judge for nine years, is the historian of the Dáil Courts, which were the immediate precursor of the District Court, and has written on their creation, work and winding up. She is therefore able to place the District Court, which came into existence by an Act of the Oireachtas in 1924, in its historical context.
The story rightly begins with a description of the unconventional nature of the creation of the Dáil Courts, their acceptance by the citizenry and their brief existence. She describes succinctly some of the men who made those courts work, because it is in large part the same men who initially made the District Court work. In particular, she admires the learning of certain justices, as they were then called, outside the discipline of the law, be it as historian, antiquarian or even playwright. Such diversity is much to be applauded, because the administration of law requires an ability to assess both the defects and the virtues of individuals: the greater variety in the background and learning of such decisionmakers the better the chances that their decisions will be more informed.
Apart from her own experiences as a District judge and as a practitioner before the court, Kotsonouris has consulted those involved in the administration of the District Court as well as various practitioners and has delved deeply into newspaper archives. She describes the evolution in the type of cases now heard in comparison to those heard at the inception of the court. For instance, the vast increase in the number of cars on the road has resulted in cases involving them now being the principal area of the court’s work. It’s also timely that she reminds us of the important fact that, apart from cases involving the Special Criminal Court, all criminal cases begin in the District Court.
One chapter concerns the Rose Tattoocase, the infamous episode in the censorship era of 1950s Ireland when Alan Simpson, the director of the little Pike Theatre in Dublin, was arrested during the run of the Tennessee Williams play on the grounds that it was "an indecent and profane performance". The preliminary hearing became mired in a procedural wrangle, the Supreme Court gave a ruling about the privilege attaching to Garda communications, but eventually the case was dismissed. Unfortunately, the Pike ended up closing.
Kotsonouris points out that in November 2002 in the Dáil, the then government was not prepared to reassure the TD Michael D Higgins that all papers had been lodged in the National Archives of Ireland in relation to that infamous failed prosecution. A lot has happened in Ireland since 2002, and the policy of keeping things quiet has not served the State well. By devoting a chapter to the case and the fact that all State papers in relation to it had not been released in 2002, Kotsonuris issues a reminder of the need for openness in government.
Kotsonouris also provides a disturbing personal observation on the Macarthur case; she was the District judge before whom he was arraigned. (The book refers to Malcolm “McArthur”; the spelling of Mac surnames is not easy: I know, as I possess one.) She writes: “There was no way that anyone standing as far away as the road could see him in the gap, but through the barred windows, I heard a sound that was neither human nor animal, a low but thunderous swelling of noise that was as inchoate as it was meaningless. It is a sound I hope never to hear again – the baying of the crowd. Five minutes later, [Macarthur] was charged with two murders.”
The tales recounted illustrate the variety that makes up the District Court. Many of the anecdotes are fun to read, but the heart of the book lies in the account of the stream of men and women who have undertaken a vast amount of routine work that has to be done in order to make society work, mixed with the harrowing and deeply upsetting cases that the court must determine. She concludes with a challenge: “Perhaps any rethinking on the structure of courts might begin with considering why we think Solomon’s judgment was wise and not egregiously and cruelly shallow”.
John McBratney is a senior counsel