Peter Mitchel Andrew Charleton (born 11 April 1956[1][2]) is an Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the
Supreme Court of Ireland since June 2014. He previously served as a Judge of the
High Court from 2006 to 2014.[3]
He was called to the
Bar in 1979, and became a
senior counsel in 1995. He was the first senior counsel to appear in an Irish court without a wig, following the enactment of the Courts and Court Officers Act 1995.[9] He was appointed to the Advisory Group on Criminal Law and Procedure in 1996 by
Minister for JusticeNora Owen.[10]
He worked as senior counsel for the
Morris Tribunal into allegations of corruption in the Donegal division of the
Garda Síochána. He was joined by
Paul McDermott SC and
Anthony Barr.[18] He left the Morris Tribunal two years before it finished to take up an appointment to the High Court.[19]
He is the author of a number books on criminal law and has also published on family and constitutional law, copyright, extradition and judicial review. He lectured in the King's Inns in the law of tort between 1982 and 1984, Trinity College Dublin in criminal law between 1986 and 1988,
Fordham University, The University of Washington, and
China University of Political Science and Law.[22][5] He is also an adjunct professor of criminal law and criminology at University of Galway and regularly delivers lectures there.
[1]
He was appointed as a Judge of the
High Court in December 2006,[4] and assigned to the Commercial Court from 2010.[3] In 2014 he criticised a firm of stockbrokers for taking risks with the personal fortune of a person with special needs.[23] As a judge of the Central Criminal Court, in a case called The People (DPP) v WD he introduced sentencing bands for rape cases and followed this up with supervision of the Judicial Researchers Office to produce sentencing guidelines for a range of serious indictable crime.[24]
Charleton has written judgments for the Supreme Court on key aspects of criminal law. In 2016, he outlined the nature of consent in law in the context of sexual offences.[28] He developed the substance of Irish common law defences of duress and provocation in the Gleeson and McNamara cases respectively, in both instances deploying tests using mixed standards of objective and subjective elements.[29][30]
Disclosures Tribunal
In 2017, he was appointed sole member of the
Disclosures Tribunal investigation into allegations of
Garda Síochána malpractice.[31] He published two substantive reports as chair of the Tribunal.[32]
The portion of the inquiry presided over by Charleton ran from February 2017 until October 2018.[33] In his findings from the inquiry, he found that a Garda sergeant, Maurice McCabe, had been subject to a smear campaign by the
Garda CommissionerMartin Callinan and a Garda press officer, but not from subsequent Commissioner
Nóirín O'Sullivan and other Gardaí.[34] He was also critical of the Child and Family Agency in handling claims of rape.[35]
In his concluding remarks on his findings, he criticised the Gardaí and the Child and Family Agency for not having organisational mentalities of learning from their errors. He was particularly critical of the credibility of evidence given by several senior members of the police force.[36]Drew Harris, O'Sullivan's successor as commissioner, said on its publication that the report was "difficult reading for the organisation" and the Gardaí would move to have "an open and inclusive culture".[34]
Subsequently, he criticised the manner in which tribunals of inquiry are conducted in Ireland. He suggested that instead of being run in a format akin to criminal trials, the main aspect of the inquiry should be directed from the tribunal itself.[37] He later co-authored a journal article about his proposals for change.[38]
Personal life
He is married to Fiona Daly.[39] He has three children, Clara, Anna-Rose and Maitiú.[11] He was a founder-member of the National Symphony Chorus
RTÉ Philharmonic Choir and a member of the board of the Irish Baroque Orchestra.[32]
Publications
Charleton, Peter (October 1980). "Improperly Obtained Evidence and the Constitution". Law Society Gazette.
Charleton, Peter (1982). "Family Law - Mareva Injuntions". DULJ. 4 (95).
Charleton, Peter. "The Powers of the Police: A Critical Overview". Law Society of Ireland Gazette. 1982.
Charleton, Peter (May 1982). "An Outline of Extradition Law". Law Society of Ireland Gazette: 161.
Charleton, Peter (1983). "The Scope of the Remedy of the Barring Order". Irish Law Times.
Charleton, Peter (1982). "Family Law - Mareva Injuntions". DULJ. 4 (95).
Charleton, Peter (1984). "Criminal law - Protecting the mentally subnormal against sexual exploitation". DULJ. 6 (165).
Charleton, Peter (1985). "The Scope of the Doctrine of Common Design". Irish Law Times.
Charleton, Peter (1986). Controlled Drugs and the Criminal Law. Dublin: An Cló Liúir.
ISBN0951103709.
Charleton, Peter (1990). "The Victim in Irish Constitutional Law: A New Departure". Irish Law Times. 8: 140–143.
Charleton, Peter (1991). "Causation in the Law of Homicide". Irish Criminal Law Journal. 1 (1): 68–85.
Charleton, Peter (1992). Offences Against the Person. Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Round Hall Press.
ISBN9780947686857.
Charleton, Peter (December 1992). "Judicial Discretion in Abortion: The Irish Perspective". International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family. 6 (3): 349–380.
doi:
10.1093/lawfam/6.3.349.
Charleton, Peter; Kelly, Sinéad (2013). "The Oracle Speaks Case C128/11". The Bar Review. 18 (3): 33–44.
Charleton, Peter; Reilly, Sinéad (2015).
"Passing Off: An Uncertain Remedy"(PDF). Fordham Intellectual Property Conference.
Archived(PDF) from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2021. {{
cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (
help)
Charleton, Peter; Molloy, Saoirse (2015). "Case Management: Fairness for the Litigants, Justice for the Parties". The Bar Review. 20 (3): 59–64.
Charleton, Peter; Cox, Angelina (February 2016). "Accepting the Judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU as Authoritative: The Supreme Court of Ireland, the European Stability Mechanism and the Importance of Legal Certainty". Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law. 23 (1): 204–215.
doi:
10.1177/1023263X1602300113.
S2CID157440882.
Charleton, Peter; Kelly, Sinéad (2017). "Passing Off: A Flexible Safety Net for the Traders". 20 Years of the Boards of Appeal at EUIPO: 136.
Charleton, Peter; Herlihy, Ciara (2018).
"The impact of the digital age on law". Irish Judicial Studies Journal. 2 (1): 50–66.
Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
Charleton, Peter; Herlihy, Ciara (2018).
"L'Impacte de l'Age Numérique sur le Droit". Irish Judicial Studies Journal. 2 (1): 55–72.
Archived(PDF) from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
Charleton, Peter; Herlihy, Ciara; Carey, Paul (2019). "Clocha Ceangailte agus Madraí Scaoilte or How Tribunals of Inquiry Ran Away from Us". Dublin University Law Journal. 41 (2).
Charleton, Peter; Charleton, Clara; Laurent, Quentin (2019).
"Patents granted to computer systems?". Dublin University Law Journal. 42 (1): 209–220.
Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
Charleton, Peter; Rakhmanin, Ivan (2023).
"The Safe Use of Expert Evidence". Irish Judicial Studies Journal, Volume 1 2023: 52-69. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
Charleton, Peter; Lochrin, Liam (2023).
"The Mysteries of the Common Law". Irish Judicial Studies Journal, Volume 2 2023: 45-62. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
^"Charleton, Peter Mitchel Andrews, (born 11 April 1956), a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland, since 2014". Who's Who. 1 December 2016.
doi:
10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U287142.
^Charleton, Peter; Herlihy, Ciara; Carey, Paul (2019). "Clocha Ceangailte agus Madraí Scaoilte or How Tribunals of Inquiry Ran Away from Us". Dublin University Law Journal. 41 (2).