LIBERTY OF THE SUBJECT.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2693, 11 July 1923, Page 5

LIBERTY OF THE SUBJECT.

HOME SECRETARY'S APPEAL FAILS. ( IN ART O'BRIEN CASE. '' t i [By Electric Cable —Copyright.] s [Aust. and N.Z. Cable Association.] t (Received Tuesday, 9 p.m.) I LONDON. July 9. | Lord Birkenhead delivered the rea- ( sons why the House of Lords had no jurisdiction to hear the Home Secretary's appeal in the Art O'Brien case. Lord Birkenhead said their Lordships were not authorised to examine the arguments in law, whereby in the lower courts the Attorney-General attempted to justify the proceedings. The most important rule in connection with I'hc habeas corpus writ was that which lay it down that if a writ' was once directed to issue and its discharge was ordered by a competent ' couit, no annual lay to any superior s court. Correlative with this rule was ' that which permitted unsuccessful ap- t plicants for a writ (o apply from c court to court to the highest tribunal in the land. The Homo Secretary, by forcibly handing over the appli- £ cant to the Free Slate Government, thereby disabled the Court of Appeal from effectively ordering his discharge and deprived him of an ancient constitutional privilege. Lord Birkenhead added that the argument submitted on behalf of the Home Secretary was the most" remarkable he had ever heard or read j. from the lips of an exeeutive in at- ■ tempting to pronounce upon the liberty of the subject. c