Jonathan Christian,
SL,
QC,
PC (I) (17 February 1808 in
Carrick-on-Suir
Carrick-on-Suir () is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It lies on both banks of the River Suir. The part on the north bank of the Suir lies in the civil parish of "Carrick", in the historical barony of Iffa and Offa East. The part on the so ...
,
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...
– 29 October 1887 in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
), was an Irish judge. He served as
Solicitor-General for Ireland
The Solicitor-General for Ireland was the holder of an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office. The holder was a deputy to the Attorney-General for Ireland, and advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. On ra ...
from 1856 to 1858. He was a judge of the
Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) from 1858 to 1867 when he was appointed
Lord Justice of Appeal in Chancery. On the creation of the new
Irish Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal in Ireland was created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 as the final appellate court within Ireland, then under British rule. A las ...
in 1878 he served briefly on that Court, but retired after a few months.
[Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol. 2 p.360]
Christian was considered one of the best Irish lawyers of his time, but as a judge, he regularly courted controversy. His bitter and sarcastic temper and open contempt for most of his colleagues led to frequent clashes both in Court and in the Press. Though he was rebuked for misconduct several times by the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
, no serious thought seems to have been given to removing him from office.
Family
He was born in
Carrick-on-Suir
Carrick-on-Suir () is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It lies on both banks of the River Suir. The part on the north bank of the Suir lies in the civil parish of "Carrick", in the historical barony of Iffa and Offa East. The part on the so ...
, third son of George Christian, a
solicitor
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
, and his wife Margaret Cormack. He was educated at the
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
, entered
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...
in 1831 and was called to the
Irish Bar
The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...
in 1834.
[ He married Mary Thomas in 1859 and had four sons and four daughters. He lived at Ravenswell, ]Bray, County Wicklow
Bray ( ) is a coastal town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is situated about south of Dublin city centre on the east coast. It has a population of 32,600 making it the ninth largest urban area within Ireland (at the 2016 census). Bray is ...
.
Early career
His early years at the Bar were not successful, and he admitted to being near to despair at times about his prospects. His practice lay in the Court of Chancery (Ireland)
The Court of Chancery was a court which exercised equitable jurisdiction in Ireland until its abolition as part of the reform of the court system in 1877. It was the court in which the Lord Chancellor of Ireland presided. Its final sitting plac ...
: Chancery procedures then were extremely complex and he found them at first almost unintelligible. Gradually he mastered the intricacies of Chancery practice became a leader of the Bar, and took silk
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or a ...
in 1841. It was said that his expertise in Chancery procedures left even the Lord Chancellor himself quite unable to argue with him.
He was appointed Law Adviser to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
The Law Adviser to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was a Law Officer of the English Crown in nineteenth-century Ireland. The office lapsed in the 1880s, due apparently to concerns that it was becoming too political, but was briefly revived in the e ...
, an influential post which involved assisting the Attorney General and Solicitor General in advising the Crown in 1850, but resigned after only a few months, on the ground that it interfered with his private practice. He was appointed Third Sergeant later the same year but resigned in 1855, allegedly because he was disappointed at not receiving further promotion. Promotion did in time come his way: he was appointed Solicitor General the following year and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1858. He was unusual in having no strong political loyalty: it was said that his political allegiance was known only to himself.[Delaney V.T.H "Christopher Palles" Allen Figgis and Co. 1960 pp.91-2]
Controversy
As a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Christian got on well with his colleagues, and any dissenting judgements he wrote were short and courteous. It was after his appointment as a Lord Justice of Appeal in Chancery in 1867 that his behaviour began to attract unfavourable comment, as he went out of his way to court controversy on a wide variety of topics.
Law Reports
Christian developed a deep contempt for the Irish Reports, castigating them in open Court as "nonsense", "worthless rubbish" and "disjointed twaddle".[ All attempts by colleagues to get him to moderate his language failed. Christian threatened to refuse to let his judgements be reported, and in his last years, his relations with the law reporters were so bad that they simply published their uncorrected notes of his decisions rather than sending them to the judge for revision.
]
Vice-Chancellor
In 1867 a new office of Vice-Chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...
for Ireland was created; it was filled throughout its existence by one man, Hedges Eyre Chatterton
Hedges Eyre Chatterton (5 July 1819 – 30 August 1910) was an Irish Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom Parliament and subsequently Vice-Chancellor of Ireland.
Biography
He was born in Cork, the eldest son of Abra ...
, who retired in 1904. Despite his length of service, he was not considered a judge of the first rank, and Christian evidently combined feelings of professional contempt with a personal dislike for him. Christian usually voted on appeals to overturn his judgments, and frequently added personal attacks on Chatterton, despite protests from his colleagues. The feud between the two judges reached the Press in 1870 when the Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
, without naming them, quoted one judge's opinion that another was "lazy, stupid, conceited and dogmatic". Although Christian denied it, it was universally believed that he was the author of the remarks, which were aimed at Chatterton. Chatterton was fortunate in enjoying the support of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan
Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan, KP, PC (Ire), QC (29 May 18121 February 1885), was an Irish lawyer and judge. He served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1868 to 1874 and again from 1880 to 1881.
Background and education
O'Hagan was bor ...
, who was also on bad terms with Christian.
Lord O'Hagan
Christian had worked well with Abraham Brewster
Abraham Brewster PC (Ire) (April 1796 – 26 July 1874) was an Irish judge and Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
Background and education
Brewster was born at Ballinulta, the son of William Bagenal Brewster, of Ballinulta, County Wicklow, by his wife ...
, O'Hagan's predecessor, whom he respected. For O'Hagan on the other hand he felt the same dislike and contempt which he felt for Chatterton. Although they had served together in the Court of Common Pleas without any obvious conflict, Christian considered O'Hagan's appointment as Lord Chancellor to be a purely political act, and that he was unfit to be either head of the judiciary or an appeal judge in Chancery; he also complained of what he saw as O'Hagan's laziness, which put an extra burden on him. During O'Hagan's first term as Chancellor Christian subjected him to constant criticism; unwisely he did not confine these attacks to the Courtroom but published numerous pamphlets, which was widely seen as improper conduct in a judge. When O'Hagan became Chancellor for the second time, a friend congratulated him on escaping from "the misnamed Christian " who had retired two years earlier.
It was probably his feud with O'Hagan which led to his extraordinary decision to publicly attack the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
for reversing, by a majority including O'Hagan, his judgment in ''O'Rorke v Bolingbroke.'' In a letter to ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' in 1877, whose content has been described as "astounding", Christian questioned the Law Lords
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...
knowledge of equity: while he singled out Lord Blackburn for criticism, it is likely that he also intended to harm O'Hagan's reputation.
Irish Land Acts
A major source of contention between Christian and O'Hagan was the First Irish Land Act 1870
The Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict c 46) was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1870.
Background
Between the Acts of Union 1800 and 1870, Parliament had passed many Acts dealing with Irish land, but ...
, which O'Hagan steered through Parliament. The Act provided for compensation for tenants
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a ...
in the event of eviction
Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee (often, the prior owners who defaulted on a mortgag ...
. Christian, though he was not a landowner and was not as a rule much interested in politics, objected strongly to the policy of the Act, which he believed to be most unjust to landlords
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...
. His attacks from the Bench on the Act led to serious rebukes both from the House of Commons and from the Press, which commented on the impropriety of a judge attacking an Act of Parliament, which it was his duty to enforce.
Later years
O'Hagan's retirement did nothing to lessen Christian's ill-temper; other judges came in for attack, including Chief Justice James Whiteside
James Whiteside (12 August 1804 – 25 November 1876) was an Irish politician and judge.
Background and education
Whiteside was born at Delgany, County Wicklow, the son of William Whiteside, a clergyman of the Church of Ireland. His father wa ...
, whom he accused of speaking constantly on matters of which he was ignorant. In his later years, he seems to have been a lonely and isolated figure: his vigorous opposition to the Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland) Act 1877 was entirely unsuccessful. A feeling of isolation may partly explain his decision to retire, though certainly his increasing deafness also played a part.
Assessment
Delaney praises Christian as a great master of equity, a man of great learning and a judge with a great desire to see justice done,[ but he does not deny that Christian loved controversy. Even his supporters spoke of "arrows too sharply pointed "; critics spoke of his "spirit of personal sarcasm, cold, keen and cynical". No doubt Christian was genuinely concerned to uphold high standards of judicial conduct, but as Hogan points out, his own conduct struck most observers as far more improper than anything he complained of in others.][Hogan, p.62]
Arms
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Jonathan
1808 births
1887 deaths
Solicitors-General for Ireland
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Lords Justice of Appeal for Ireland
Serjeants-at-law (Ireland)
19th-century Irish judges
Irish Queen's Counsel
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin