The

Court of King's Bench The Court of King's Bench, formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was a court of common law in the English legal system. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century from the '' curia regis'', the King's Bench initi ...

(or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

in Ireland. It was a mirror of the

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 The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

History of the position

The office was created during the

Lordship of Ireland The Lordship of Ireland (), sometimes referred to retrospectively as Anglo-Norman Ireland, was the part of Ireland ruled by the King of England (styled as "Lord of Ireland") and controlled by loyal Anglo-Norman Lords between 1177 and 1542. T ...

(1171–1536) and continued in existence under the

Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland (; , ) was a dependent territory of Kingdom of England, England and then of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1542 to the end of 1800. It was ruled by the monarchs of England and then List of British monarchs ...

(1536–1800) and the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state, established by the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form until ...

. Prior to the

Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 The Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 ( 40 & 41 Vict. c. 57), often cited as the Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland) Act 1877, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that brought about a major reorganisation of the s ...

, 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 The Four Courts () is Ireland's most prominent courts building, located on Inns Quay in Dublin. The Four Courts is the principal seat of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit Court. Until 2010 the build ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Thomas Lefroy Thomas Langlois Lefroy (8 January 1776 – 4 May 1869) was an Irish-Huguenot politician and judge. He served as an MP for the constituency of Dublin University in 1830–1841, Privy Councillor of Ireland in 1835–1869 and Lord Chief Justi ...

, later Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (LCJ 1852–1866), was used by

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

as the model for her ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is the second published novel (but third to be written) by English author Jane Austen, written when she was age 20-21, and later published in 1813. A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabe ...

'' 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 A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

had defended Irish nationalist leader

Daniel O'Connell Daniel(I) O’Connell (; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilisation of Catholic Irelan ...

in court,

Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond Gerald FitzMaurice FitzGerald (1335–1398), Webb, Alfred. A Compendium of Irish Biography'. Dublin: 1878. also known by the Irish Gaelic ''Gearóid Iarla'' (Earl Gerald), was the 3rd Earl of Desmond, in southwestern Ireland, under the first cre ...

Hugh de Lacy Hugh de Lacy or Hugh Lacy may refer to: *Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Lassy (c. 1020–1085), first recorded member of the Norman noble family de Lacy *Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath (died 1186), 4th Baron Lacy *Hugh de Lacy, Abbot of Shrewsbury (died c. 121 ...

, ''

Risteárd de Tiúit Risteárd de Tiúit ( anglicised as Richard Tuite) (ob. 1210) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and a member of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke's Irish invasion force, and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. His part in the original invasion is ackno ...

'', John Doherty, Thomas Marlay, James Ley, Peter O'Brien, and James Henry Mussen Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy (LCJ 1916–1918, later Chairman of

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...

and grandfather of the satirist Patrick Campbell). One Lord Chief Justice, Lord Kilwarden, was killed by a crowd during

Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Prote ...

'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 Sir Thomas Francis Molony, 1st Baronet, PC(Ire), KC (1865–1949) 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 und ...

''. 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

, 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 Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, commonly known as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was the highest ranking judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 until the end of 1800, it was also the hi ...

, was abolished in December 1922. This left the office of the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland as the most senior judge in the

but not for very long. The

Constitution of the Irish Free State The Constitution of the Irish Free State () was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution,

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. In what became

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, the position was superseded by the position of

Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland is a judge who presides over the courts of Northern Ireland and is the head of the Northern Ireland, Northern Irish judiciary. The present Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland is Siobhan Keegan, Dame ...

List of holders

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 Francis Elrington Ball, known as F. Elrington Ball (1863–1928), was an Irish author and legal historian, best known for his work ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'' (1926). Life A younger son of John Thomas Ball (1815 to 1898), the Lord Ch ...

''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'' 2 Vols (John Murray London 1926)

References

External links