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authority; and that, consequently, the detention of G.R. Lawless did
not conflict with the stipulations of the Convention; whereas on this
point the Irish Government, not relying before the Court, as they had
done before the Commission, on paragraph 1 (b) of Article 5
(art. 5-1-b), have made submissions which include the following: that
Article 5 paragraph 1 (c) (art. 5-1-c) refers to two entirely separate
categories of cases of deprivation of liberty - those where a person
is arrested or detained "on reasonable suspicion of having committed an
offence" and those where a person is arrested or detained "when it is
reasonably considered necessary to prevent his committing an offence,
etc."; that it is clear from the wording of the said clause that the
obligation to bring the arrested or detained person before the
competent judicial authority applies only to the former category of
case; that this is the meaning of the clause, particularly in the
English version;

- that the preliminary work on Article 5 (art. 5) supports this
construction of the said clause; that account must be taken of the
fact that the said Article (art. 5) is derived from a proposal
submitted to the Committee of Experts by the United Kingdom delegation
in March 1950 and that the French version is consequently only a
translation of the original English text; that, as regards
paragraph 1 (c) on the Article (art. 5-1-c), the words "or when it is
reasonably considered necessary" appeared in the first draft as "or
which is reasonably considered to be necessary" and, in the English
version, clearly refer to the words "arrest or detention" and not to
the phrase "effected for the purpose of bringing him before the
competent legal authority"; that this clause subsequently underwent
only drafting alterations;

- that Article 5, paragraph 3 (art. 5-3) does not conflict with this
construction of paragraph 1 (c) of the same Article (art. 5-1-c); that
paragraph 3 (art. 5-3) applies only to the first category of cases
mentioned in paragraph 1 (c) (art. 5-1-c) and not to cases of the
arrest or detention of a person "when it is reasonably considered
necessary to prevent his committing an offence"; that this
interpretation is supported by the fact that in Common Law countries a
person cannot be put on trial for having intended to commit an
offence;

- that Article 5, paragraph 3 (art. 5-3), is also derived from a
proposal submitted in March 1950 by the United Kingdom delegation to
the "Committee of Experts" convened to prepare the first draft of a
Convention; that the British proposal was embodied in the draft
produced by the Committee of Experts; that this draft was then
examined by a "Conference of Senior Officials" who deleted from
paragraph 3 (art. 5-3) the words "or to prevent his committing a
crime"; that paragraph 3 (art. 5-3), after amendment by the
Senior Officials, accordingly read as follows:

"Anyone arrested or detained on the charge of having committed a
crime, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 (c)
(art. 5-1-c), shall be brought promptly before a judge or other
officer authorised by law.";

- that it follows from the foregoing that the Senior Officials
intended to exclude from Article 5, paragraph 3 (art. 5-3),
the case of a person arrested to prevent his committing a crime;
that this intention on the part of the Senior Officials is further
confirmed by the following passage in their Report to the Committee of
Ministers (Doc. CM/WP 4 (50) 19, p. 14):

"The Conference considered it useful to point out that where
authorised arrest or detention is effected on reasonable suspicion of
preventing the commission of a crime, it should not lead to the
introduction of a regime of a Police State. It may, however, be
necessary in certain circumstances to arrest an individual in order to
prevent his committing a crime, even if the facts which show his
intention to commit the crime do not of themselves constitute a penal
offence. In order to avoid any possible abuses of the right thus
conferred on public authorities, Article 13, para. 2 (art. 13-2),
will have to be applied strictly.";

- that it is clear from the report of the Senior Officials that
they - being aware of the danger of abuse in applying a clause which, as
in the case of Article 5, paragraph 1 (c) (art. 5-1-c), allows the
arrest or detention of a person when it is reasonably considered
necessary to prevent his committing an offence - wished to obviate
that danger not by means of a judicial decision but through the strict
enforcement of the rule in Article 13, paragraph 2, of the
draft, which later became Article 18 (art. 18) of Convention; and that
Article 5 (art. 5) subsequently underwent only drafting alterations
which, however, did not make the meaning of the text absolutely clear
or render it proof against misinterpretation;

- whereas the Irish Government have contended that Article 6 (art. 6)
of the Convention is irrelevant to the present case, since there was
no criminal charge against Lawless;
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