News Publication Date: 10 January 2011
A transcript of the swearing in ceremony of the Administration of Oaths for the appointment of His Honour D C Doyle to the office of First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls of the Isle of Man. The ceremony was held before His Excellency Vice Admiral Sir Paul Haddacks KCB, at the Isle of Man Courts of Justice on Monday, December 20 2010.
JUDGE OF APPEAL TATTERSALL QC
Your Excellency, Your Honours, Mr. President, Chief Minister, distinguished guests and friends, we really must save up for a new bell. Such are the financial constraints Chief Minister.
It is my enormous pleasure to welcome you on this occasion when the Second Deemster takes his Oath as the First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls.
I particularly welcome Deemster Doyle’s family and friends and in particular his wife Barbara and his sons Charlie, Ferghus and George. I suspect that Ferghus has always wondered what his father really did when he spent the day away from home. Now he knows that he likes dressing up in fancy clothes.
For me this is an occasion when I have some mixed emotions. A real delight that we can participate in Deemster Doyle being sworn in tinged by some sadness that for tragic reasons it falls to me to preside but today is, and must remain, an occasion of joy and celebration.
Why we are here can probably be summed up in one word, the word responsibility. On the 6 September 1700 Bishop Wilson swore in the Church Wardens of this Island, a duty now performed by the Vicar-General. The Bishop gave them very clear, some might say, very strict instructions about what their responsibilities were to be. They were instructions to report to the Bishop anybody who misbehaved. They were instructions about responsibility and, dare I say it Deemster Doyle, also about accountability. The Bishop also gave a snapshot of what went on on a Saturday night in Douglas. He referred to “idle persons” meeting on a Saturday night which are generally spent in dancing even until the midnight where they are rendered incapable of performing the duties of the following day. How times have changed.
Deemster Doyle responsibility is always in danger of being a dull and grey word. It can be used repressively and even menacingly. Because it has come to be the counter-weight to talk about rights, it is liable to sound like the bad news after the good news. We speak of rights and responsibilities to remind ourselves that there are no free lunches and I suspect that this rather sombre colouring to the word is the result of our understanding responsibility as primarily representing our accountability to others, to society, to authority and so on. In my view the cost of thinking of responsibility in this narrow way is high because it fundamentally ignores another aspect of responsibility that we are responsible for each other.
So Deemster Doyle as you come to take your Oaths as Her Majesty’s First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls, I hope that you will reflect on and hold firmly in your heart the responsibilities you are undertaking. Not only your responsibilities to this Island, to this community, to justice between all persons administered as indifferently as the herring backbone doth lie in the midst of the fish and to all those who work and use these Courts but as importantly that you reflect on and hold firmly in your heart your responsibilities for this Island, for this community and for justice between all people. That is an enormous challenge and you will have my support and that of your other judicial colleagues as you strive to meet it.
I now invite His Excellency to read the Warrant of Appointment.
HIS EXCELLENCY VICE-ADMIRAL SIR PAUL HADDACKS KCB
Thank you. Would you please all stand.
ELIZABETH THE SECOND, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our Realms and Territories QUEEN, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, to all to whom these Presents shall come,
Greeting!
KNOW YE that We of Our especial grace, certain knowledge and mere motion have given and granted and by these Presents do give and grant unto Our Trusty and Well-beloved David Charles Doyle, Esquire, Second Deemster of and in Our Island of Man, theOffice and Place of First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls of and in Our said Island of Man, as from the twentieth day of December, two thousand and ten, in the room of Our Trusty and Well-beloved John Michael Kerruish, Esquire, following his death whilst in that Office. To have, hold, exercise and enjoy the said Office and Place during Our Pleasure together with all honours, rewards, profits and advantages due thereto; he the said David Charles Doyle accounting for all the fees to be by him received as such First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls to the department entitled thereto, but in every respect to hold and enjoy the said Office and Place in as full and ample manner to all intents and purposes as any other person hath formerly held and enjoyed the same.
PROVIDED always and Our Will and Pleasure is that the said David Charles Doyle shall cease to be First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls of Our said Island of Man and these presents shall cease to have effect on the twenty-sixth day of April, two thousand and thirty being the day when the said David Charles Doyle attains the age of seventy years.
PROVIDED ALWAYS that the said David Charles Doyle do perform any additional duties which may be imposed upon him with the consent of Our Lord Chancellor.
GIVEN at Our Court of St. James
The 17 day of December 2010;
In the Fifty-ninth Year of Our Reign.
Elizabeth R
Thank you.
JUDGE OF APPEAL TATTERSALL QC
Can you sit down.
I now invite Deemster Doyle to first of all take the Oath of Allegiance.
HIS HONOUR DEEMSTER DOYLE
I, David Charles Doyle, do swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, her heirs and successors, so help me God.
JUDGE OF APPEAL TATTERSALL QC
I now invite Deemster Doyle to take the Oath of the Deemster.
HIS HONOUR DEEMSTER DOYLE
By this book and the holy contents thereof and by the wonderful works that God hath miraculously wrought in heaven above and in the earth beneath in six days and seven nights, I, David Charles Doyle, do swear that I will without respect of favour or friendship, love or gain, consanguinity or affinity, envy or malice, execute the laws of this Isle justly betwixt our Sovereign Lady the Queen and her subjects within this Isle and betwixt party and party as indifferently as the herring backbone doth lie in the midst of the fish, so help me God and by the contents of this book.
JUDGE OF APPEAL TATTERSALL QC
Thank you very much. Congratulations.
I now invite the First Deemster to sign the Liber Juramentorum.
Now I invite His Excellency to present the Warrant of Appointment to Deemster Doyle.
HIS EXCELLENCY VICE-ADMIRAL SIR PAUL HADDACKS KCB
Your Honour I have great pleasure in presenting to you the Warrant of Her Majesty the Queen, Lord of Mann.
HIS HONOUR DEEMSTER DOYLE
Thank you Your Excellency, thank you.
JUDGE OF APPEAL TATTERSALL QC
His Excellency, Your Honours, Mr. President, Chief Minister, distinguished guests, friends, David Charles Doyle now First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls and yet so young and some might say handsome. A life already full of great achievements but what a hard act you have to follow although I know that you recognise that.
Well first of all can I express on behalf of all the judiciary, both full-time and part-time, our immense pleasure at your appointment and assure you of our unreserved support in facing the challenges which do of course lie ahead.
Most of you will know David’s journey so far. I first met David in 1997 soon after I had been sworn in as the Judge of Appeal. It was a sign of his enormous discernment that when I was sworn in he did not attend. I am sure that he had a very good excuse but he has never told me what it was. In those early days he taught me one important thing about the Island. How quickly news travels and that is because he repeated to me almost verbatim the speech I had made in Court in his absence.
Our paths crossed a few years later when he wrote as you would expect a very erudite article in the Journal of Commonwealth Lawyers. It was about a judgment I had written about whether reference could be made to the European Convention on Human Rights before the Human Rights Act 2001 came into effect.
The article very skilfully attempted to draw a distinction between the exercise of an administrative as opposed to a judicial discretion and David argued persuasively that this Court’s views as expressed by me ought to prevail over different views expressed by the Privy Council. What wisdom. I never had the heart to tell David that no distinction was ever intended. And then of course in 2003 David became the Second Deemster and I’ve now got use to David’s meticulous and detailed preparation and his fulsome notes. I have even got used to the amusing anecdotes in his early judgments and in the seven years when he has been Second Deemster, he has achieved very much. Historically a commercial lawyer thrust into the delights of the criminal law as dispensed by the Court of General Gaol Delivery. He enjoyed it so much he has written a book about it. You need to read page 5 because I wrote that. I agreed in fact to mention it in this speech only to bolster the sales which are obviously flagging at the moment. In the foreword, which I wasn’t paid for I have to tell you, I described it as a work of unadulterated thoroughness and detail covering every aspect of the subject which seamlessly combines both scholarship and practicality and that is David’s consistent approach, thoroughness and detail.
However, I am bound to say that my researches have revealed, with the exception of his success in becoming the First Deemster, that since he became Second Deemster in 2003, his competitive edge has been somewhat blunted and I wonder with some trepidation now that he is the First Deemster what this bodes for the future. I ask you to consider the plain facts.
In the Parish Walk of 2002 he was third in 17 hours 59 minutes and 40 seconds. In the End to End in 2002 before he was Second Deemster he was sixth. In the Manx Harriers annual 25k stroll and run in 2002 he was seventh. Then he became the Second Deemster and his performances markedly deteriorated. Reference to the May 2009 newsletter of the Isle of Man Veterans Athletes Club reveals that in the 2009 spring run he came twenty second and in the Okell’s mountain half marathon he could only manage eighty fifth place. You may well share my concerns for the future.
Recently, I received an email from an Australian judge who had been appointed just to the Federal Court of Australia. On the announcement of her appointment she received a letter from a fellow judge welcoming her to the asylum and quoting what was reportedly said by the Italian Prime Minister to a British journalist of the Spectator magazine, it read thus – To be a judge you need to be mentally disturbed. You need psychic disturbances. “If they do that job he added it is because they are anthropologically different from the rest of the human race”. David, very many congratulations, good luck and try not to take yourself too seriously.
I now call on Her Majesty’s Attorney General to speak.
HER MAJESTY’S ATTORNEY GENERAL
Thank you Your Honour.
On behalf of the Manx Bar, I should like to associate myself with Your Honour’s remarks and congratulations to His Honour Deemster Doyle on his appointment as Her Majesty’s First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls.
It is a particular pleasure to me as His Honour was articled to me in I think 1982 when I was a partner in Dickinson, Cruickshank & Co. I was responsible for a significant amount of Court work in those days and I recall that His Honour was of particular assistance in the preparation and research for cases in the Chancery Division.
As others have observed, His Honour had a particular skill in collecting voluminous notes of cases and minutes of meetings, a skill which is still used to great effect.
In those days, Your Honour, the 1952 Rules held sway. The notion of case management was unheard of and we were just getting to grips with formal discovery of documents. Likewise, skeleton arguments and core bundles rarely featured in the judicial repertoire. I understand that the Court regime is somewhat different today.
In any event after call to the Manx Bar, partnership in the firm quickly followed and His Honour was soon in great demand both as an advocate in Court and as an adviser on commercial and company law cases.
I think I’m right in saying that even as a law student at university, His Honour had aspired to judicial office and his experience in private practice, coupled with a wide variety of outside interests, have proved to be an excellent basis for life as a Deemster and although criminal law did not feature in private practice perhaps as prominently as other areas, His Honour has clearly seized upon this discipline with his typical enthusiasm culminating in the recent publication on Criminal Law and Procedure to which Your Honour has referred.
This book has proved remarkably popular in the criminal division of my Chambers. Clearly there are some prosecutors who feel that their chances of success in criminal cases will be greatly enhanced by their ownership of the book. His Honour has always had a great sense of humour and this is particularly apparent in some of the inscriptions His Honour has signed. Is there perhaps just a tinge of irony in the inscription to one of the senior prosecutors thanking him for his “interesting submissions”.
Your Honour, the Island and its relationship with the United Kingdom, the European Union and the wider world continue to be under close scrutiny and it is therefore of particular importance that we can demonstrate an independent judiciary which is conscious of the need to uphold the rule of law within the context of our unique legal system. We have long been able to assert that independence with full confidence in our Deemsters and I have no doubt that His Honour Deemster Doyle will protect and develop that independence in the future.
On behalf of the members of the Manx Bar, may I again offer our congratulations to Your Honour and wish you a happy and fulfilling tenure as Her Majesty’s First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls.
JUDGE OF APPEAL TATTERSALL QC
Thank you Mr. Attorney.
President of the Law Society, Mr. Wild
PRESIDENT OF THE LAW SOCIETY
Thank you Your Honours.
I firstly wish to echo the previous remarks. I refrain from trying to make this a humorous speech as the Judge of Appeal has apart from indicating that the sales you’ll be relieved to hear in criminal law and procedure are actually progressing quite well at the moment. It is published on behalf of the Law Society and we have sold a few already at the successful book launch and I also resist the temptation to try and compare Parish Walk times with Deemster Doyle.
It is a privilege to be able to congratulate His Honour Deemster Doyle on behalf of the Law Society on this important day for the jurisdiction. We have already reflected on the tragic circumstances which led to the requirement for a new First Deemster for the Island. I am however sure that the late Deemster Kerruish would have wanted the legal community to celebrate the appointment and the achievement of Deemster Doyle our new First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls.
Speaking on behalf of the Society gives me the rare opportunity to address the Deemster personally and publicly. Our members are already well used to addressing the Deemster in Court, presenting their arguments, refining their briefs with oral submissions and attempting to persuade the Deemster of the veracity of their case. They are also well used to receiving in a straightforward way Deemster Doyle’s opinion on their submissions. On occasions our advocates will enjoy judicial approval, sometimes supplemented with His Honour’s own observations and legal analysis. His detailed judgments provide a guidance and clarity for future considerations. Inevitably, on occasion however, the submissions are received but not accepted. He is in office to judge and decide not necessarily to agree. On this occasion, however, I am hopefully quietly confident of receiving judicial approval for my brief representations and I’ll ask you to reflect on the achievements of Deemster Doyle. From articled clerk to revered senior advocate and thereafter from advocate to Second Deemster and now reaching the most senior judicial appointment as our First Deemster.
Your Honour, on behalf of the Law Society and assembled guests, can I wish you continued judicial success measured in many future judgments which will continue to serve this jurisdiction on a wise and fair legal path.
JUDGE OF APPEAL TATTERSALL QC
Thank you very much Mr. Wild.
I now call on His Honour Deemster Doyle, the First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls to respond.
HIS HONOUR DEEMSTER DOYLE
Your Excellency, Your Honours, Mr. President, Chief Minister, ladies and gentlemen.
I thank the Judge of Appeal, the Attorney General and the President of the Isle of Man Law Society for their kind but over-generous remarks.
The Judge of Appeal’s remarks in respect of my diminishing physical fitness levels, which I accept without dissent, are consistent with the chant that my youngest son, Ferghus, taunts me with whenever I ask him to do something unpleasant such as his homework and the chant goes something along the following lines and is delivered with venom – “You’re old and you’re slow and you know it”. Actually right now, Ferghus, I feel relatively young and moderately fast but that feeling may only last a few moments but I shall enjoy it.
With that slight digression, I return to the formal parts of my address this evening. I thank my predecessors in office William Cain and Mike Kerruish for the massive contribution they have made to the administration of justice on this wonderful Island. Thanks to Deemsters Cain and Kerruish and Judge of Appeal Tattersall, the Manx legal system is in pretty good shape in 2010 and to that extent they have made my job a lot easier and I thank them for that.
I am not complacent, however, and I fully recognise that any system can be enhanced but I venture to suggest that now is not the time for radical reform. Now is the time for stability, consolidation and concentration on core judicial functions. We should also recognise the significant contribution that an independent Manx legal profession and an independent Manx judiciary can make to the continuing development of our Manx identity and the continuing success of this unique Island in the modern global community in which we live and work. An independent Manx Bar and an independent Manx legal system are essential requirements of our democratic infrastructure. The Manx legal system depends, to a large extent, on the existence of a strong and well-resourced independent Manx Bar.
I thank members of the Manx Bar for all they do to assist in the smooth running of the administration of justice. I, together with all my judicial colleagues, look forward to their continuing assistance and co-operation in the future. I strongly believe in democratic values and in particular judicial independence and adherence to the rule of law. The rule of law underpins every civilised and decent society.
I take this opportunity to openly acknowledge with thanks the continuing support of my judicial colleagues and all the dedicated support staff within Court Administration headed up so efficiently and effectively by our Chief Registrar, Stephen Cregeen.
This year has been a very difficult year for all of us. Deemster Kerruish would however have wanted us all to get on with the job and get on with the job we will but before I get on with the job, there are some others I must thank.
Finally, and most importantly, I thank my friends and my family, in particular my wife, Barbara, and my three sons, Charlie, George and Ferghus for all their tolerance, love, support and encouragement. I greatly look forward to taking on the exciting challenges that will no doubt be presented to me in my capacity as the Island’s First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls. It is with great pride and renewed enthusiasm that I willingly take on these new responsibilities.
Thank you very much.
JUDGE OF APPEAL TATTERSALL QC
Your Excellency, Your Honours, Mr. President, Chief Minister, distinguished guests and friends can I say three things. Firstly, I am grateful as we all are to all those who have contributed to this particular occasion. I am particularly thankful to Flybe and Ronaldsway Airport. Secondly, I hope that the First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls will cherish the memory of this day and the Oaths which he has taken and I hope that in the very unlikely event that he ever in any way becomes bumptious or intolerant that his wife and his sons will remind him that he is only a judge and not Superman. We all need people to bring us down to earth.
Finally, can I tell you that when I was told that the invitations to this auspicious occasion were to be sent out in my name, I went to see Mrs. Dowd who was helping to organise this occasion. I asked her about the refreshments because I did not want it to be thought that I would be associated with a party without a sufficiency of alcohol. She assures me that the drinks are on sale or return and I think it would be a terrible shame if they had to be returned.
Thank you very much. We will retire.