“ A Government which recognised no such rights, which held the lives, the liberty, and the property of its citizens subject at all times to the absolute disposition and unlimited control of even the most democratic depository of power, is after all but a despotism. ”

“ Unless, therefore, these rights appear plainly from the express provisions of our Constitution to be inalienable, and incapable of being modified or taken away by any legislative act, I cannot accede to the argument that the Oireachtas cannot alter, modify, or repeal them. The framers of our Constitution may have intended "to bind man down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution," but if they did, they defeated their object by handing him the key of the padlock in Article 50. ”

“ The Legislature must be trusted to remember, before lightly passing any amending Acts sacrificing principles of the Constitution, that nothing so much inspires respect for the law and good citizenship as having a Constitution of which all citizens are entitled to feel proud, and which is observed and honoured by those in power. ”

“ A Constituent Act is an Act which sets up a new Constitution, and, as such, must be a document of the first importance. But there is no necessary reason why the members of the Constituent Assembly should seek to set bounds to the march of the nation in the future. As a matter of construction of Article 50 I do not see any ground for limiting the meaning of the word "amendment" as used in that Article in the manner suggested by the appellants. They seek to construe this word as being limited to alteration or improvement of details as distinct from principles. ”

“ Our trust is for the people, our duty and responsibility to the people, and, while bowing inevitably to lawful amendment, when established to have been properly and duly made, we must be watchdogs to protect against unlawful encroachment and to maintain intact, so far as in us lies, the principles and provisions embodied in the Constitution for the protection of the liberties of the citizens in mass and individually. ”

“ In their Constitution, accordingly, they embodied the English, or Anglo-Saxon, principles of trial by jury, an independent judiciary, habeas corpus, and other safeguards of liberty derived from Magna Charta, the English Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement, and they imposed severe restrictions upon the power of the Legislature, and placed almost insuperable obstacles in the path of amendments to the Constitution. They sought to bind within the limitations of the Constitution, as framed by them, not only the Executive but the Legislature itself. ”

“ The answer to all this is that the Court must take the Constitution as it finds it, and there is in fact a very great difference between a Legislation which can only act in accordance with its avowed principles, though it may, from time to time, alter or modify its avowals, and a Legislature which can do just as it pleases without regard to principle. If every one acted up to his professions this would be a different world ”

“ Again, in the case of a power, it is a settled rule that we may not extend its scope beyond what is expressed, or to be implied of necessity from what is expressed, in the instrument containing it and also that the requirements prescribed by the instrument for its due execution must be fulfilled.
A power of amendment is not an essential part of, or provision in, or addition to, a Constitution. ”

“ The Executive decides that the Constitution would be improved by a particular alteration, the Oireachtas, if it approves of the alteration proposed by the Executive, embodies it in the form of an Act, and the Judiciary decides whether that Act can be and has been validly enacted, and then, and not till then, the Executive enforces it as a law upon the people at large. ”

“ In legislation, the words "amendment" and "amend" are constantly employed in the sense of "repeal" especially when reference is made to the amendment of a lengthy document, such as the Constitution or an Act of Parliament, by a repeal, total as to some provisions of the enactment, but partial when considered in relation to the document as a whole. ”

“ It is true that even a unanimous vote of the Legislature does not decide the validity of a law, but it is some evidence that none of those whose duty it is to make the laws see anything in it which they regard as exceptionally iniquitous, or as derogating from the standard of civilisation which they deem adequate for Saorstát Éireann. ”

“ A person is charged with an "offence," however trifling, however grave, whenever alleged to have been committed, whether before or after the passing of the Amendment Act, and the charge is made post factum an offence to be "tried" by the "Tribunal" by means of a certificate under the hand of an Executive Minister, prejudging on his own sole responsibility the fact that the act constituting the alleged offence was done, and testifying his belief that it was done, with the object of impairing or impeding the machinery of government. ”

“ For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments ... A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. ”

“ It is a body which has built up for itself a position high in the esteem of the general public. One had not perhaps realised how high until it was accorded, by an amendment of the Constitution, a kind of constitutional status and, not only that, but a con- stitutional certificate of character for its individual members, certain of whose statements on oath are now declared to be "conclusive evidence, incapable of being rebutted or questioned by cross-examination, rebutting evidence, or otherwise." ”

“ The next sub-section gives the Tribunal power to direct the manner in which, and the authorities by whom, any sentence is to be carried out. It may, if it thinks it "expedient," sentence any person whom it convicts of any offence mentioned in the Appendix to death, to be executed in such manner as it directs, including even the most barbarous lethal process, should a particular "Tribunal" at some future time be overwhelmed by passion or be constituted of members of a perverted morality. Detached measuring of sentences by legal prescription is not to govern the "Tribunal." ”

“ The same considerations apply to Article 7, which declares that the dwelling of each citizen is inviolable. Article 8, in which freedom of conscience and the free profession and practice of religion are laid down as rights of the citizen, is in a somewhat different form. It guarantees these liberties to every citizen. So, also, the right of free expression of opinion and the right to assemble peaceably are declared in Article 9, by guaranteeing them, subject to the equally fundamental qualification that their exercise must not be for purposes opposed to public morality. ”

“ It follows that every act, whether legislative, executive or judicial, in order to be lawful under the Constitution, must be capable of being justified under the authority thereby declared to be derived from God. ”

“ The answer to that argument, however, is that his election to accept citizenship of the Saorstát under Article 3 must be taken to have been made in full view of, and subject to, any amendment which can be lawfully made under Article 50, and the question therefore remains or this, as for any other, purpose, whether the particular alteration of the Constitution is an amendment which can be made lawfully under the power of amendment in Article 50, and if it be so, Mr. Overend's citizen cannot, I fear, rely on the representation in Article 8. He can only rue his folly and bewail his fate. ”

“ It is not made a condition precedent to its exercise that there must be a state of war or armed rebellion, or other danger to the public safety, or that there must be a prevalence of disorder, or that there must be circumstances such as to prevent the constitutional Courts of Justice or any of them from sitting or fulfilling their constitutional functions, or such as to interfere effectively with the constitutional right to trial by jury. ”

“ When a written Constitution declares that "the liberty of the person is inviolable," but goes on to provide that "no person shall be deprived of his liberty except in accordance with law," then, if a law is passed that a citizen may be imprisoned indefinitely upon a lettre de cachet signed by a Minister or, as we have seen, even by a Minister's clerk: The State (Quinlan and Others) v. ”

“ Our decision on this motion must depend on our interpretation of Art. 50 of the Constitution. The general principle applicable to the interpretation of statutes is well settled, although the language in which the principle is stated is not always identical: the words of the statute should be given their ordinary and natural meaning unless that would lead to an absurdity or inconsistency. It is, however, quite consistent with that general principle that certain statutes should receive a liberal construction while others should be strictly construed ”

“ Tribunal." This "Tribunal" is to consist of live members, of whom three are to constitute the "Tribunal" for the purposes of a "sitting," the order or act of a majority of the three who sit being made for all purposes the order or act of the "Tribunal." The only qualification required for membership of the "Tribunal" is that the member shall be an officer of the Defence Forces of Saorstát Éireann not below the rank of commandant. No one of the live is required to have any legal qualification whatever, nor any knowledge of law or legal procedure, civil or criminal, of any kind whatever. ”

“ Article 50 seems to me to occupy its appropriate place, at the end of the group of clauses which deal with the creation, composition, and powers of the Legislature, and every person who became a citizen must be presumed to have been aware of the existence of Article 50, and to have accepted citizenship upon the terms therein set forth. ”

“ As a provision is not usually incorporated into a Constitution unless it is regarded as of fundamental importance, this distinction between Articles of primary and secondary importance is difficult to maintain. ”