The High Court yesterday rejected habeas corpus applications by two men interned in Northern Ireland. The court ruled that the men, James McElduff and Sean Keenan, had not shown they were being held unlawfully. Mr Keenan and Mr McElduff were arrested by the army on August 9. Since then they have been held in the internment centre on board the Maidstone, an army ship moored in Belfast Dock. They are appealing against the decision.
In his judgment yesterday, the vacation judge, Mr Justice Ackner, said a sufficient case had been made out that the court had jurisdiction to issue the writ. But, he said, an English writ of habeas corpus did not run in Northern Ireland.
The judge said that “... the jurisdiction of English courts to issue the writ was considerably modified by the Habeas Corpus Act of 1862. By that Act no writ of habeas corpus shall issue out of England... into any colony or foreign dominion of the Crown where the Crown has a lawfully established court having authority to grant and issue the writ and to ensure its due execution...”
Mr Justice Ackner said the applications for the writs had been made ex parte in private last week. But he had been asked to give his judgment in public.
It had been established that the person having custody of the applicants was the prison officer on the Maidstone. He had been appointed by the Northern Ireland Government, the judge said. The appropriate procedure - “assuming there had been an unlawful detention” - seemed to be an application to the High Court of Northern Ireland. “When I was offered no explanation for such an application not being made I specifically asked if there was one,” Mr Justice Ackner said. Counsel for the applicants was unable to offer any reason.
‘Sufficient case’
“It is, of course, not for me to speculate why the ordinary procedure should have been avoided,” the judge said. Counsel had contended that Northern Ireland was still a Dominion, and that the English writ ran there.
“I do not have to be satisfied that (counsel’s) submissions...are correct, and I do not so decide. However, I am satisfied that he has made out a sufficient case that the jurisdiction exists...” The point to be considered then was whether “probable and reasonable grounds” existed for saying that Mr Keenan and Mr McElduff were unlawfully detained.
Both men had been taken into custody by troops under the powers conferred by Regulation II of the Special Powers Act. This empowers agents of the Northern Ireland Government to take steps for maintaining order.
