The Regius Professorship of Laws is a professorship at
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 ...
(TCD), the only constituent college of
Dublin University
The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...
. It is one of the oldest chairs there, having been founded in 1668.
History of the University of Dublin
' by Benjamin Sarsfield Taylor, Professor Mark Bell has held the post since July 2015.
[Trinity Appoints New Regius Professor of Laws]
Press-Release of Trinity College, Dublin, 17 July 2015.
History of the Chair
In the founding charter of TDC,
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
granted the university the right to award degrees ''in omnibus artibus et facultatibus'', including law.
Legal Studies in Trinity College, Dublin, Since The Foundation
' by V. T. H. Delany, Hermathena, No. 89 (May 1957), pp. 3-16 (14 pages), Published by TCD There were no other ways to train legally in Ireland until the mid-19th century.
Even in early regulations, there was a professor of civil law who was responsible for the exams and the training standards. Before 1668, the teaching of jurisprudence was under the control of the university administration.
[Trinity Appoints New Regius Professor of Laws]
TCD News and Events, 17 July 2015 One of the
Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
s taught law for one semester. There was no permanent professorship.
The first mention of a publicly appointed professor is on 20 November 1667, when Henry Styles was appointed the first publ. Prof. Legum.
By a letter of
Charles II. On 4 November 1668, a professorship was newly established as the Regius Professor of Civil and Canon Law and supported with funds from the Act of Settlement with 40 pounds sterling per year.
Down through the centuries, the chair of Civil and Canon Law was usually occupied by a fellow from the college, a practice that was expressly prohibited, for example, in the Chair of Feudal and English Law (which was founded in 1761). When this latter chair came to require written examination regulations in the mid-19th century, the civil law chair was reformed at the same time, the salary was increased and the practice of appointing a fellow was abandoned. From then on, the professor had to be a doctor of law, a barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
with at least six years of professional experience. In 1871 it was even stipulated that a fellow appointed professor had to give up his fellowship.
Nevertheless, the chair was just a sinecure
A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval chu ...
for many of the holders. Notable exceptions were people such as Francis Stoughton Sullivan
Francis Stoughton Sullivan (1715–1766) was an Irish lawyer, and Professor of Oratory and law professor at the University of Dublin.
Sullivan, a member of the Kerry O'Sullivan More family, was born in Galway and educated at Trinity College, Du ...
, who later became the first Regius Professor of Feudal and English Law, or Arthur Brown, who also campaigned politically for the goals of the university.
It was not until the mid-19th century that the division of responsibilities between the Regius Professor of Laws (Roman law, general law and international law) and that of Feudal and English Law (property law) made the chair a permanent first-class position in university teaching. In 1944, Frances Elizabeth Moran took over the chair, becoming the first woman in Ireland (or indeed Britain) to be a professor in law To date, no other woman had been appointed to a Regius Professorship of Laws at TCD.
List of Regius Professors of Laws
Regius Professors of Laws since its founding in 1688 include:[Dublin University Calendar, 1893, p. 431]
* Henry Styles, 1668
* George Brown, 1686
* John Barton, 1693
* Benjamin Pratt
Benjamin Pratt (c. 1669–1721) was List of Provosts of Trinity College Dublin, Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 1710 to 1717. He was later Dean of Down. , 1704
* John Elwood, 1710
* Robert Shawe
Robert Shawe (circa 1699 to 1752) was an Irish academic who spent his final years as a clergyman. He was Donegall Lecturer of maths at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) from 1734 to 1735.
Life and career
Shawe was born in near Athenry, in county Galw ...
, 1740
* John Forster, 1743
* Brabazon Disney, 1747
* John Whittingham, 1749
* Francis Stoughton Sullivan
Francis Stoughton Sullivan (1715–1766) was an Irish lawyer, and Professor of Oratory and law professor at the University of Dublin.
Sullivan, a member of the Kerry O'Sullivan More family, was born in Galway and educated at Trinity College, Du ...
, 1750
* Patrick Duigenan
Patrick Duigenan, PC (I) KC, FTCD (1735–11 April 1816), Irish lawyer and politician, was the son of a Leitrim Catholic farmer surnamed Ó Duibhgeannáin.
Through the tuition of the local Protestant clergyman, who was interested in the ...
, 1766
* Michael Kearney, 1776
* James Drought, 1778
* , 1779
* John Forsayeth, 1782
* Gerald FitzGerald, 1783
* Arthur Browne, 1785
* Francis Hodgkinson
Francis Hodgkinson (died 1840) was Regius Professor of civil law (1834) and Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History (1799) at Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational pri ...
, 1806
* Robert Phibbs, 1808
* Richard Graves
Richard Graves (4 May 1715 – 23 November 1804) was an English cleric, poet, and novelist. He is remembered especially for his picaresque novel ''The Spiritual Quixote'' (1773).
Early life
Graves was born at Mickleton Manor, Mickleton, Glouce ...
, 1809
* Francis Hodgkinson, 1810
* Christopher Edmund Allen, 1817
* Richard MacDonnell, 1840
* Henry Wray, 1841
* John Lewis Moore, 1844
* John Anster
John Anster (1793– 9 June 1867 age 73-74) was an Irish professor and poet. He was Regius Professor of civil law at Trinity College Dublin.
Life
He was born in Charleville, Co. Cork, and educated at Trinity College Dublin from 1814."Alumni Du ...
, 1850
* Thomas E. Webb, 1867
* Henry Brougham Leech, 1888
*Charles Francis Bastable
Charles Francis Bastable, FBA (1855–1945) was an Irish economist. He was Whately Professor of Political Economy (1882–1932) and Regius Professor of Laws (1908–1932) at Trinity College, Dublin.R. D. Collison Black"Bastable, Charles Franc ...
, 1908, retired 1932[''The Dublin University Calendar'' (1939), p. 758.]
*''Vacant'', 1932–34
*Samuel Lombard Brown
Samuel Lombard Brown (10 January 1856 – 14 December 1939) was an Irish politician and barrister.
He studied at University College Cork (UCC), graduating MA, and at King's Inns. He also attended lectures in feudal and English law at Trinity ...
, 1934
*''Vacant'', 1939–44
* Frances Elizabeth Moran
Frances Elizabeth Moran, (6 December 1893 – 7 October 1977) was an Irish barrister and legal scholar. She was Reid Professor of Criminal Law from 1925 to 1930, and Regius Professor of Laws from 1944 to 1963 at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD). ...
, 1944
*Vincent Thomas Hyginus Delany
Vincent ( la, Vincentius) is a male given name derived from the Roman name Vincentius, which is derived from the Latin word (''to conquer'').
People with the given name Artists
*Vincent Apap (1909–2003), Maltese sculptor
*Vincent van Gogh ...
, 1963
* John Desmond Morton, 1965
* Charles Beuno McKenna, 1966
* Robert Heuston
Robert Francis Vere Heuston, QC (Hon.), FBA (17 November 1923 – 21 December 1995), sometimes given as R. F. V. Heuston, was an Irish legal scholar and legal historian. He is best known for his ''Lives of the Lord Chancellors''.
Heuston was bo ...
, 1970
* Paul O'Higgins
Paul O'Higgins (5 October 1927 – 13 March 2008) was a noted Irish scholar of human rights and labour law. ''The Times'' credits O'Higgins as "one of the founding fathers of the academic study of labour law and social security law" in Britain. Ac ...
, 1984
* William Binchy
William Binchy is an Irish lawyer. He was the Regius Professor of Laws at Trinity College Dublin from 1992 to 2012.
Education
Binchy was educated at University College Dublin. He is a Barrister-at-Law and practised at the Irish Bar from 1968 t ...
, 1992
* Mark Bell, 2015[
]
List of Regius Professors of Feudal and English Law (1761–1934)
In 1761, a second Regius Professorship was introduced by George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
, the Regius Chair of Feudal and English Law.
'The Places Most Fit for This Purpose': Francis Stoughton Sullivan and Legal Study at the University of Dublin (1761-6)
' by Seán Patrick Donlan, Vol. 20 (2005), pp. 120-139; Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society This chair would be continuously occupied until it was discontinued in 1934 and replaced by The Professorship of Laws.[Trinity College Record Volume (1951), Hodges, Figgis & Co, London, p. 82-83]
* Francis Stoughton Sullivan
Francis Stoughton Sullivan (1715–1766) was an Irish lawyer, and Professor of Oratory and law professor at the University of Dublin.
Sullivan, a member of the Kerry O'Sullivan More family, was born in Galway and educated at Trinity College, Du ...
, 1761
* Patrick Palmer, 1766
* Patrick Duigenan
Patrick Duigenan, PC (I) KC, FTCD (1735–11 April 1816), Irish lawyer and politician, was the son of a Leitrim Catholic farmer surnamed Ó Duibhgeannáin.
Through the tuition of the local Protestant clergyman, who was interested in the ...
, 1776
* Philip Cecil Crampton
Philip Cecil Crampton PC (May 1783 in Dublin – 29 December 1862) was a judge, politician and Solicitor-General for Ireland. He was also a noted supporter of the cause of total abstinence from alcohol.
He was born in Dublin, the fourth son of ...
, 1816
* Samuel Mountifort Longfield
Samuel Mountifort Longfield (1802 – 21 November 1884) was an Irish lawyer, judge, mathematician, and academic. He was the first Professor of Political Economy at Trinity College, Dublin.
Life
He was son of Mountifort Longfield, vicar of Dese ...
, 1834
* Edmund Thomas Bewley
Sir Edmund Thomas Bewley (1837–1908), Irish lawyer and genealogist, born in Dublin on 11 January 1837, was son of Edward Bewley (1806–1876), licentiate of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons and Physicians, Ireland, by his wife Mary, daughter of ...
, 1884
* George Vaughan Hart, 1891[Dublin University Calendar, 1911-12, Vol. II, p. 7]
* James Sinclair Baxter, 1909–33
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Regius Professor of Laws Dublin
1668 establishments in Ireland
Professorships at Trinity College Dublin
Professorships in law
Laws Dublin