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The
Court of King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth realm, Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic co ...
(or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...
in Ireland. It was a mirror of the
Court of King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth realm, Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic co ...
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 ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the ...
.


History of the position

The office was created during the
Lordship of Ireland The Lordship of Ireland ( ga, Tiarnas na hÉireann), sometimes referred to retroactively as 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 ...
(1171–1536) and continued in existence under the
Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label=Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed fro ...
(1536–1800) and the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great ...
. Prior to the
Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 The Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that brought about a major reorganisation of the superior courts in Ireland. It created a Supreme Court of Judicature, comprising the High C ...
, 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 ( ga, Na Ceithre Cúirteanna) 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 ...
in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
. Thomas Lefroy, 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 her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots oft ...
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 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 ...
had defended Irish nationalist leader
Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 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 mobilizat ...
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, ''
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 acknow ...
'', 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 upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its m ...
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 Protesta ...
'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. Subsequently, the highest-ranking judicial posting in Ireland, that of
Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as 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 the highest political office of ...
, 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 State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the ...
but not for very long. The
Constitution of the Irish Free State The Constitution of the Irish Free State ( ga, Bunreacht Shaorstát Eireann) was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution,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 ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
, 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 is the appointed official holding office as President of the Courts of Northern Ireland and is head of the Judiciary of Northern Ireland. The present Lord Chief Justice of Northern Irel ...
.


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


References


Further reading

* Daire Hogan, ''R.R. Cherry, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, 1914–16''


External links


Lord Chief Justice O'Brien anecdotes




* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20031218001914/http://indigo.ie/~kfinlay/chancellors/Chancellors33.htm Text about Sir Richard Cox, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
'Ireland's Millennia: RTÉ biography of James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy, LCJ 1916–1918


{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord Chief Justice Of Ireland Law of Northern Ireland Legal history of Ireland Political office-holders in pre-partition Ireland