No. 31/1923:

INDEMNITY ACT, 1923

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1 Restrictions on taking proceedings against certain persons.

2 Certificate of Executive Minister to be in evidence of certain matters.

3 Validation and review of sentences of military tribunals.

4 Definition of Provisional Government.

5 Short Title.

AN ACT TO RESTRICT THE TAKING OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IN RESPECT OF CERTAIN ACTS AND MATTERS DONE DURING THE SUPPRESSION OF THE STATE OF ARMED REBELLION CREATED BY THE ATTEMPT TO OVERTHROW BY FORCE THE LAWFULLY ESTABLISHED GOVERNMENT OF SAORSTAT EIREANN, AND TO VALIDATE SENTENCES IMPOSED BY MILITARY TRIBUNALS ESTABLISHED IN THE COURSE OF THE SUPPRESSION OF THE STATE OF ARMED REBELLION AFORESAID, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE REVIEW OF SUCH SENTENCES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES CONNECTED THEREWITH.

[3rd August, 1923.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTAT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1.—(1) No action or other legal proceeding whatsoever, whatsoever whether civil or criminal, shall be instituted in any court of law or equity in Saorstát Eireann for or on account of or in respect of any act, matter, or thing done, whether within or outside the area of jurisdiction of the Provisional Government or the Government of Saorstát Eireann, since the 27th day of June, 1922, and before the passing of this Act, provided such act, matter, or thing

( a ) was done or purported to be done for the purpose or in the course of the suppression of the state of rebellion created by the attempt to overthrow by force the lawfully established Government of Saorstát Eireann (including the Provisional Government), and

( b ) was done in good faith, and

( c ) was done or purported to be done in the execution of the duty of the person doing the same, or for the public safety, or for the enforcement of discipline or otherwise in the public interest, and

( d ) was done by a person holding office under or employed in the service of the Provisional Government or the Government of Saorstát Eireann in any capacity whether military or civil, or by any other person acting under the authority of a person so holding office or so employed.

(2) If any such action or proceeding as is mentioned in the preceding sub-section has been instituted, whether before or after the passing of this Act, it shall be discharged and made void, subject in the case of an action or proceeding instituted before the passing of this Act to such order as to costs as the Court or Judge may think fit to make.

(3) This section shall not prevent the institution or prosecution of

( a ) any proceedings by or on behalf of the Government of Saorstát Eireann or any Minister or Department of that Government, or

( b ) any proceedings in respect of any alleged rights under, or breaches of, any contract, or

( c ) any civil proceedings founded on negligence in respect of damage to person or property, or

( d ) any proceedings respecting the validity or infringement of a patent, or

( e ) any proceedings under the Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923 (No. 15 of 1923), or

( f ) any proceedings for enforcing or otherwise giving effect to any final judgement given by any Court in Saorstát Eireann before the passing of this Act and from which no appeal lies by law or is pending at the passing of this Act.

2.—(1) A statement in writing signed by an Executive Minister certifying any of the matters mentioned in this section shall be conclusive evidence of the matters so certified, that is to say,

( a ) that any act, matter, or thing complained of in any such action or other legal proceeding as is mentioned in section 1 of this Act was done in the execution of the duty of the person by whom it was done;

( b ) that at the time when any such act, matter, or thing as aforesaid was done, the person by whom or under whose authority the same was done held office under or was employed in the service of the Provisional Government or of the Government of Saorstát Eireann.

(2) Any such act, matter, or thing as aforesaid, if done by or under the authority of a person holding office under or employed in the service of the Provisional Government or of the Government of Saorstát Eireann shall be deemed to have been done in good faith unless the contrary is proved.

3.—(1) Every military court or committee or tribunal (in this section called a military tribunal) established since the 27th day of June, 1922, and before the passing of this Act by the Military authorities of the Provisional Government or the Government of Saorstát Eireann for enquiry into the cases of or for the trial of persons taken prisoner as military captives by the military forces of the Provisional Government or persons charged with offences shall be deemed to be and always to have been a validly established tribunal, and every sentence passed, judgement given, or order made before the passing of this Act by any such military tribunal shall be deemed to be and always to have been valid and to be and always to have been within the lawful jurisdiction of the tribunal.

(2) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act there shall be established by an Executive Minister a Board of Commissioners consisting of not less than two members all of whom shall be persons who at the date of their appointment hold or have held judicial office in Saorstát Eireann as Judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland; Recorder or County Court Judge; Judge of the Supreme Court, High Court, or Circuit Court of Saorstát Eireann; or of the late Supreme Court of Dáil Eireann.

(3) The Board of Commissioners established under this section shall have power to review and on such review to confirm or reduce, but not to increase, any sentence of penal servitude or imprisonment imposed by a military tribunal on any person whether such person was or was not at the date of such sentence ordinarily subject to military law.

(4) An Executive Minister shall immediately on the establishment of such Board of Commissioners make rules regulating the procedure of such Board and making provision whereby any person who at the date of the passing of this Act is serving a sentence of imprisonment or of penal servitude imposed by a military tribunal may apply to such Board of Commissioners for the review by such Board of the sentence so imposed on him.

4.—In this Act the expression "the Provisional Government" means the late Provisional Government of Ireland established pursuant to the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland signed on the 6th day of December, 1921, and the expression "Executive Minister" means a Minister who is a member of the Executive Council of Saorstát Eireann.

5.—This Act may be cited as the Indemnity Act, 1923 .