Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge in the court, and the second most senior Irish judge under English rule and later when Ireland became part of the United Kingdom. Additionally, for a brief period between 1922 and 1924, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland was the most senior judge in the Irish Free State.
History of the position
The office was created during the Lordship of Ireland (1171–1536) and continued in existence under the Kingdom of Ireland (1536–1800) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Prior to the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877, the Lord Chief Justice presided over the Court of King's/Queen's Bench, and as such ranked foremost amongst the judges sitting at common law. After 1877, the Lord Chief Justice assumed the presidency of the Queen's Bench Division of the new High Court of Justice, which sat permanently in the Four Courts in Dublin.
Thomas Lefroy, later Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (LCJ 1852–1866), was used by Jane Austen as the model for her Pride and Prejudice character Mr. Darcy. Lefroy and Austen had had a romance in their youths. Other prominent Lord Chief Justices of Ireland include Lord Whiteside (LCJ 1866–1876), who as a Queen's Counsel had defended Irish nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell in court, Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond, Hugh de Lacy, Risteárd de Tiúit, John Dougherty and Thomas Marlay, James Ley and Peter O'Bryan. James Henry Mussen Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy (LCJ 1916–1918, later Chairman of Seanad Éireann and grandfather of the satirist Patrick Campbell). One Lord Chief Justice, Lord Kilwarden, was killed by a crowd during Robert Emmet's 1803 rebellion.
Abolition of the position
The abolition of the position of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland was originally envisaged in a draft of the Government of Ireland Bill 1920. The Bill originally proposed that the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland would become the Lord Chief Justice of Southern Ireland. However, the then incumbent, The Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas Molony, 1st Bt., vigorously lobbied for the right to continue to hold the title even after the Bill was passed. Ultimately, his arguments were at least in part accepted: The Act, in its transitional provisions, provided that while he would in effect be the first Lord Chief Justice of Southern Ireland, his title remained that of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, although this was a transitional provision and was not a right to be enjoyed by his successors.[1]
Subsequently, the highest ranking judicial posting in Ireland, that of Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was abolished in December 1922.[2] This left the office of the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland as the most senior judge in the Irish Free State but not for very long. The Constitution of the Irish Free State adopted in December 1922 clearly envisaged the early establishment of new courts for the nascent state and the abolition of the position of the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.[3] However, this only took place when the Courts of Justice Act 1924 was finally adopted. Under that Act, the position of the Chief Justice of the Irish Free State superseded the position of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland as the highest judicial office in the Irish Free State.[4]
List of holders
- 1324-7 Nicholas Fastolf (1st term)
- 1327-8 Henry de Hambury
- 1328-30 Nicholas Fastolf (2nd term)
- 1330-1 Elias de Asshebournham (1st term)
- 1331-2 Peter Tilliol
- 1332-3 Thomas Louth (1st term)
- 1333-4 Robert de Scardeburgh ("but probably did not act")
- 1334-7 Thomas Louth (2nd term)
- 1337 Elias de Asshebournham (2nd term)
- 1337 Thomas Louth (3rd term)
- 1337-8 Elias de Asshebournham (3rd term)
- 1338 Thomas Louth (4th term)
- 1338-41 Elias de Asshebournham (4th term)
- 1341-4 Thomas de Dent
- 1344-5 Robert de Scardeburgh (only substantive term)
- 1345-6 John le Hunt
- 1346 Henry de Motlowe
- 1346-51 John de Rednesse (1st term)
- 1351-4 Godfrey de Foljambe
- 1354-6 John de Rednesse, (2nd term)
- 1356 Richard de Wirkeley
- 1356-9 John de Rednesse, (3rd term)
- 1359 William le Petit
- 1359-61 John de Rednesse (4th term)
- 1361-3 William de Notton
- 1363-5 Richard White
- 1365-7 Thomas de la Dale
- 1367-70 John Keppock, or Keppok (1st term)
- 1370-2 William de Skipwith
- 1373–75 John Keppock, or Keppok (2nd term)
- 1381 Sir Thomas Mortimer, knt.
- 1384 John de Sotheron
- 1385 John Penros
- 1386 Edmund de Clay, from the common pleas[5][6]
- 1388 Richard Plunkett, 10 July
- 1388 Peter Rowe, 23 Sep
- 1395 William Hankford
- 1396 William Tynbegh
- 1397 Peter Rowe, second term
- 1397 Stephen de Bray, from the common pleas
- 1404 Richard Rede
- 1406 Stephen de Bray, second term
- 1426 Henry Fortescue
- 1429 Stephen de Bray, third term
- 1435 Christopher Bernevall, or Barnewall, 2nd justice
- 1437 William Boys
- 1437 Christopher Bernevall, or Barnewall, second term
- 1446 Richard Bye
- 1447 Robert Plunket
- 1447 James Alleyn
- 1457 Nicholas Barnewall
- 1461 Sir Thomas Fitz-Christopher Plunket
- 1461 Nicholas Barnewall
- 1463 Sir Thomas Fitz-Christopher Plunket
- 1468 John Chevir
- 1474 Philip Bermingham (d 1490, buried St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin)
- 1490 Thomas Cusacke
- 1494 Thomas Bowring
- 1496 John Topcliffe, from the Exchequer
- 1513 Patrick Bermingham
- 1521 Patrick Bermingham by a new patent
- 1533 Sir Bartholomew Dillon, knt; 2nd justice, from the Exchequer -died same year[7]
- 1534 Patrick Finglas, from the Exchequer
- 1535 Sir Gerald Aylmer, from the Exchequer[8]
- 1549 Sir Francis Bryan
- 1559 John Plunket
- 1562 John Plunket, by a new patent
- 1583 James Dowdall
- 1586 Robert Gardiner, sergeant-at-law in England
- 1604 Sir James Ley, afterwards Earl of Marlborough: resigned
- 1608 Sir Humphrey Winch, knt, chief baron; from the exchequer; made a justice of the common pleas of England
- 1612 Sir John Denham, knt; chief baron, from the Exchequer
- 1617 Sir William Jones, knt; sergeant-at-law
- 1620 Sir George Shurley, or Shirley, knt; serjeant-at-law (d.1647)[9]
- 1655 Richard Pepys, under the Protectorate – died 2 January 1659
- 1659 John Santhey, 19 Jan pro tem on Pepys' death[10]
- 1659 William Basill, attorney general; 24 Jan
- 1660 Sir James Barry, knt; afterwards Lord Santry
- 1673 Sir John Povey, knt; from the Exchequer
- 1679 Sir Robert Booth, knt; died the next year
- 1680 Sir William Davys, knt; prime serjeant
- 1687 Thomas Nugent; removed
- 1690 Sir Richard Reynell, 1st Baronet; dismissed.
- 1695 Sir Richard Pyne, chief justice of the common pleas
- 1709 Alan Brodrick; removed
- 1711 Sir Richard Cox, knt and bart; removed
- 1714 William Whitshed; removed to the common pleas
- 1727 John Rogerson, (previously attorney general)
- 1741 Thomas Marlay; from the Exchequer; resigned
- 1751 St George Caulfeild, (previously attorney general); resigned
- 1760 Warden Flood, (previously attorney general)
- 1764 John Gore, later Lord Annaly, (previously solicitor general); 24 Aug
- 1784 John Scott, created Lord Earlsfort, afterwards Viscount and Earl of Clonmell; 29 Apr
- 1798 Arthur Wolfe, Lord Kilwarden; 13 June; murdered 23 July 1803
- 1803 William Downes afterward 1st Baron Downes; 12 Sep
- 1822 Charles Kendal Bushe (previously solicitor general from 1805), 14 Feb
- 1841 Edward Pennefather (previously solicitor general) 10 Nov
- 1846 Francis Blackburne (previously Master of the Rolls) 21 Jan
- 1852 Thomas Langlois Lefroy
- 1866 James Whiteside
- 1877 George Augustus Chichester May
- 1887 Michael Morris, Chief Justice of Ireland, (became Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 1889)
- 1889 Peter O'Brien
- 1913 Richard Robert Cherry
- 1916 James Henry Mussen Campbell
- 1918 Thomas Molony
Sources
- List from Liber Munerum Publicorum Hiberniae, by Rowley Lascelles, copied in Haydn's Book of Dignities
- Names from 1852 onwards from The Oxford Companion to Law, ed David M. Walker, 1980
- Francis Elrington Ball The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 2 Vols (John Murray London 1926)
References
- ↑ For a thorough account, see: W.N. Osborough, Studies in Irish Legal History, Four Courts Press 1999, pp 318–326.
- ↑ Schedule II, Part II, Irish Free State Consequential Provisions Act 1922, a United Kingdom statute.
- ↑ Article 75, Constitution of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) Act 1922.
- ↑ Section 5, Courts of Justice Act 1924.
- ↑ For holders of the office of Lord Chief Justice, the period 1383–86 seems to have been one of great confusion, and it is not clear whether all those nominated actually took up the position – see Ball The Judges in Ireland .
- ↑ Haydn's Book of Dignities says that "John de Shriggeley, from the Exchequer" served at this point, but Elrington Ball's 'Judges in Ireland', P157 does not mention him
- ↑ Date from Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 John Murray London 1926, P191 – although Haydn's Book of Dignities says that he took office in 1532
- ↑ Date from Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 John Murray London 1926, P156 – although Haydn's Book of Dignities says that he took office in 1546
- ↑ date from Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 (London 1926), p.328 – although Haydn's Book of Dignities says that he took office in 1619
- ↑ Robert Dunlop, 'Ireland under the Commonwealth' Vol 2, P 470n
Additional reading
- Daire Hogan, R.R. Cherry, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, 1914–16
External links
- Lord Chief Justice O'Bryan anecdotes
- Tim Healy, QC, MP Anecdotes about Lord Justice O'Bryan
- Order of the Governor-General of the Irish Free State concerning the substitution of 'Saorstát Éireann' for 'Southern Ireland'
- Text about Sir Richard Cox, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
- 'Ireland's Millennia: RTÉ biography of James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy, LCJ 1916–1918
- Part of the process of changing laws to replace 'Lord Chief Justice of Ireland' with 'Chief Justice of Ireland'