Warrants issued to Customs officers to search for pornographic material were defective, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
The court ordered that material seized from Utopia shops on foot of the warrants be returned.
Giving the court's majority decision upholding a challenge to the warrants by Simple Imports Ltd and Seven Imports Ltd, operators of the Utopia shops, Mr Justice Keane said the case had raised issues which had concerned the courts for some time about the validity of some search warrants.
The warrants were issued by three District Court judges and authorised Customs officers to enter premises owned by the two companies at Capel Street, Dublin, Earl Street, Limerick, and Dean Street, Cork.
The officers removed magazines, videos and documents relating to the import, export, sale and distribution of such goods.
The two companies claimed the search warrants were unlawful and of no legal effect because they did not disclose that the Customs officers had reasonable grounds to suspect that prohibited goods or documents were on the premises.
They also did not disclose that the District Court judges had reasonable cause for believing that the Customs officers had such a suspicion, the companies' counsel argued.
The late Mr Justice Shanley rejected the companies' claims in the High Court in 1998 and they appealed to the Supreme Court.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Keane said the warrants were in standard form, with blank spaces filled with hand-written entries.
Counsel for the two companies said the District Court judge in each case had simply accepted what a Customs officer told the court, that the officer suspected there were prohibited goods or documents on the premises.
In doing so, counsel claimed, the District Court judges had not complied with 1988 legislation which stated that before issuing a warrant a District Court judge must conclude from information supplied on oath that the Customs officer's suspicion was reasonable.
Since search warrants authorised the forcible invasion of a person's property, the courts must ensure that any conditions imposed by the legislature were strictly met, Mr Justice Keane said.
It was not sufficient that the Customs officers considered they had cause to apply for the warrant, he added.
A warrant which stated it had been issued on a basis not authorised by the legislation could not be regarded as valid.
Mr Justice Keane said the warrants used to raid the Utopia shops were invalid and must be quashed. The two companies were entitled to the immediate return of the seized property, he said.