thumb
The
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland was the second most senior
IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
judge under
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
rule and later when Ireland became part of the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. Additionally, for a brief period between 1922 and 1924, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland was
the most senior judge in the
Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
.
The
Annals of the Four MastersThe Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland or the Annals of the Four Masters are a chronicle of medieval Irish history. The entries span from the deluge, dated as 2,242 years after creation to AD 1616.-Text:...
dates the appointment of a John,
Bishop of NorwichThe Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers most of the County of Norfolk and part of Suffolk...
, as
Lord Justice over Ireland to 1208. The office under its full title was created during the
Lordship of IrelandThe Lordship of Ireland was a lordship existing in Ireland during the Middle Ages, it was created in the wake of the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169—71 and existed until 1541 when it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Ireland. It was governed from the Pale by the Parliament of Ireland and was a...
(1171-1536) and continued in existence under the
Kingdom of IrelandThe Kingdom of Ireland was the name given to the Irish state from 1541, by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 of the Parliament of Ireland. It was based on the contested legitimacy of the right of conquest. The new Monarch replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which had been created in 1171. King Henry...
(1536-1800) and the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and IrelandThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927...
.
thumb
The
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland was the second most senior
IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
judge under
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
rule and later when Ireland became part of the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. Additionally, for a brief period between 1922 and 1924, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland was
the most senior judge in the
Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
.
History of the Position
The
Annals of the Four MastersThe Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland or the Annals of the Four Masters are a chronicle of medieval Irish history. The entries span from the deluge, dated as 2,242 years after creation to AD 1616.-Text:...
dates the appointment of a John,
Bishop of NorwichThe Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers most of the County of Norfolk and part of Suffolk...
, as
Lord Justice over Ireland to 1208. The office under its full title was created during the
Lordship of IrelandThe Lordship of Ireland was a lordship existing in Ireland during the Middle Ages, it was created in the wake of the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169—71 and existed until 1541 when it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Ireland. It was governed from the Pale by the Parliament of Ireland and was a...
(1171-1536) and continued in existence under the
Kingdom of IrelandThe Kingdom of Ireland was the name given to the Irish state from 1541, by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 of the Parliament of Ireland. It was based on the contested legitimacy of the right of conquest. The new Monarch replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which had been created in 1171. King Henry...
(1536-1800) and the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and IrelandThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927...
. Prior to the Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland) Act 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 CourtsThe Four Courts in Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's main courts building. The Four Courts are the location of the Supreme Court, High Court, Central Criminal Court and Dublin Circuit Court.-Gandon's Building:...
in Dublin.
Thomas Lefroy, later Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (LCJ 1852-1866), was used by
Jane AustenJane Austen was an English novelist, whose realism, biting social commentary and use of free indirect speech, have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and most beloved writers in English literature....
as the model for her
Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen. First published on 28 January 1813, it was her second published novel. Its manuscript was initially written between 1796 and 1797 in Steventon, Hampshire, where Austen lived in the rectory...
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 CounselQueen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of "Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law". Membership exists in various Commonwealth countries around the world and it is a status, conferred by the Crown,...
had defended Irish nationalist leader
Daniel O'ConnellDaniel O'Connell , known as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the nineteenth century...
in court, Gearoid Iarla Fitzgerald, (the Third Earl of Desmond),
Hugh de LacyHugh de Lacy was the founder of a Norman noble family of de Lacy originating from Lassy . The descendants of Hugh de Lacy left Normandy and came to Saxon England with William the Conqueror in 1066, to become major landowners in the North of England....
,
Risteárd de TiúitRisteárd de Tiúit was a member of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke's Irish invasion force, and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland...
, John Dougherty and Thomas Marley, James Ley and Peter O'Bryan.
James Henry Mussen Campbell, 1st Baron GlenavyJames Henry Mussen Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy PC was an Irish lawyer, politician in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and later in the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State...
(LCJ 1916-1918, later Chairman of
Seanad ÉireannSeanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas of Ireland and its members are Seanadóirí . The House is also commonly known unofficially as the Seanad or Senate, and its members as senators....
and grandfather of the satirist
Patrick CampbellPatrick Gordon Campbell, 3rd Baron Glenavy , better known simply as Patrick Campbell, was a Irish journalist, humorist and television personality....
). One Lord Chief Justice, Lord Kilwarden, was killed by a crowd during
Robert EmmetRobert Emmet was an Irish nationalist rebel leader. He led an abortive rebellion against British rule in 1803 and was captured, tried and executed.-Emmet's early life:...
'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
Thomas MolonyThe Right Hon. Sir Thomas Molony was the last Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He was also the only Judge to hold the position of Lord Chief Justice of Southern Ireland although he did not hold that position under that title....
, 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.
Subsequently, the highest ranking judicial posting in Ireland, that of
Lord Chancellor of IrelandThe office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801 it was also sthe highest political office of the Irish Parliament....
was abolished in December 1922. This left the office of the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland as the most senior judge in the
Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
but not for very long. The
Constitution of the Irish Free StateThe Constitution of the Irish Free State was the founding legal document of the 1922–1937 Irish Free State. It was enacted with the adoption of the Constitution of the Irish Free State Act 1922, of which it formed a part...
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. 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.
External links