The courts should be mindful of the potential "Pandora's box" effect of their decisions, particularly those which impact on accountability for matters of serious public concern, the outgoing President of the High Court has said.
Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said many commentators now seem to feel successive court interventions have "virtually paralysed" the investigatory process "where accountability for matters of serious public concern is required".
Speaking to an audience including many serving and retired judges on his final day as President of the High Court, he said courts, in considering their decisions, should be “always mindful of the potential downstream implications”.
“They should never put themselves in the position of realising, all too late, that a particular decision has opened a Pandora’s box of unintended consequences which, had proper consideration been applied at the relevant time, might have led to a different approach being taken.”
This “is particularly the case where the boundaries of the judicial and executive function intersect,” he said.
In his view that was an area where judges and courts “should not be excessively overactive or interventionist.”
He believed that in his 18 years as a judge, in many areas where such an approach was adopted, “it has created more problems than it solved”.
“Many commentators now seem to feel that successive court interventions have virtually paralysed the investigatory process where accountability for matters of serious public concern is required.”
It is not that courts would wish to bring about such a situation “but it is effects of decisions rather than the intention of the court which counts,” he said.
Mr Justice Kearns was responding to a series of warm tributes marking his retirement after a 51 year career in the Four Courts.
He started out in 1964 as a civil servant in the courts’ central office before being called to the Bar in 1968. He had a distinguished career as junior and senior counsel and became a High Court judge in 1998.
He later served on the Supreme Court before returning in 2009 to the High Court as its President, while remaining an ex-officio member of the Supreme Court.
He was the presiding judge on the three judge court which dismissed the challenge by multiple sclerosis sufferer Marie Fleming, who has since died, to the law outlawing assisted suicide.
He also presided over the three judge court which, in December 2014, made orders permitting the end of life-preserving measures for a brain-dead pregnant woman. During his career, he delivered more than 600 judgments.
Among those who paid tribute were the Chief Justice Ms Justice Susan Denham,; President of the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Sean Ryan; Attorney General Máire Whelan and Bar Council Chairman David Barniville. Tributes were also paid on behalf of the Law Society; the Courts Service, the Garda Commissioner, the media and the judge's registrar, High Court Deputy Master Angela Denning. Michael Grimes, a frequent lay litigant, also wished the judge well.
The Chief Justice said Mr Justice Kearns had steered the High Court through very difficult times with “great skill and dedication” and his great contribution to the law and legal system left behind a “solid legacy”.
Mr Justice Ryan said Mr Justice Kearns’ achievements marked an “extraordinary record” of an “extraordinary person” and he would be much missed while the Attorney General said his was a career involving “long and distinguished public service to the State”.
In his response, Mr Justice Kearns extended special thanks for their support to his family, Ms Denning, High Court Chief registrar Kevin O’Neill and his usher, Richard McNally.
Court number four of the Four Courts was packed for the tributes. The attendance included the judge's wife Eleanor and other members of his family; his close friend and former Attorney General, Peter Sutherland, judges from all the various courts, barristers, solicitors, gardaí and Courts Service staff.
