Constitutionality and Locus Standi - Lecture Notes

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, cases, and concepts related to constitutionality, locus standi, and related exceptions from the lecture notes.

Locus standi

The legal standing to bring a constitutional challenge; the plaintiff must be directly and personally affected and have rights that are infringed or threatened.

Presumption of constitutionality

Post-1937 legislation is presumed constitutional; burden on the claimant to prove unconstitutionality; applied especially strictly to tax and social welfare laws.

Art 34 (Irish Constitution)

Article 34, which deals with courts and restricts where questions of validity of laws can be raised, giving High Court exclusive jurisdiction in constitutional questions (with some appellate exceptions).

Pre-1937 Acts carried over (Art 50)

Laws in force before 1937 were carried into the new state unless inconsistent with the Constitution; post-1937 framework changed applicability.

Adoption Act 1952 - M v An Bord Uchtála (1975)

High Court held the Adoption Act 1952 unconstitutional for violating freedom of religion; illustrates limitations of the presumption and pre/post-1937 distinctions.

Statute of Limitations (1957)

Time limits for bringing claims; awareness of the SofL can affect locus standi analyses, as in Cahill v Sutton.

Cahill v Sutton (1980)

SC held the plaintiff lacked locus standi to challenge the Statute of Limitations, noting awareness of SofL and no standing to argue rights of a third party.

Norris v AG (1984)

Plaintiff claimed marital privacy rights; court recognized locus standi based on personal rights as a gay man, even without prosecution.

Hall v Minister for Finance (2013)

Hall lacked locus standi; strict locus standi rules can be overridden only by transcendent need, which was not shown.

Transcendent need

A high public-interest necessity that can override strict locus standi rules in exceptional cases.

Exceptions to Locus Standi - habeas corpus (Art 40.4.2)

Allows any person to complain about unlawful detention, expanding standing beyond direct injury.

Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC)

May bring constitutional challenges on human rights grounds on behalf of individuals or groups.

Bona fide interest group

A genuine group with a real concern in upholding the Constitution; may have standing to sue (e.g., Society for Protection of the Unborn Child v Coogan).

Society for Protection of the Unborn Child v Coogan (1989)

SC allowed a pro-life group to argue on behalf of the unborn in a constitutional challenge.

Irish Penal Reform Trust v Governor of Mountjoy Prison (2005)

Plaintiffs allowed to argue on behalf of prisoners in constitutional challenges.

Actio popularis

Standing where the rights and interests of the public as a whole are affected, not just those of a specific individual.

Crotty v An Taoiseach (1987)

SC allowed a plaintiff to argue that the Single European Act undermined state sovereignty in foreign policy.

McKenna v An Taoiseach (No 2) (1995)

Plaintiff allowed to challenge government funding of a Yes vote in the second referendum on divorce.

TD v Minister for Education (2001)

Strict locus standi may yield to overriding necessity that acts should not go unchallenged simply because rights affected are hard to demonstrate.

Adoption Act 1952

Legislation restricting adoption by interfaith couples; deemed unconstitutional in M v An Bord Uchtála (1975) for infringement of religious freedom.