Timothy Michael Sullivan (6 January 1874 – 12 May 1949) was an Irish judge who served as

Chief Justice of Ireland The Chief Justice of Ireland ( ga, Príomh-Bhreitheamh na hÉireann) is the president of the Supreme Court of Ireland. The chief justice is the highest judicial office and most senior judge in Ireland. The role includes constitutional and admini ...

from 1936 to 1946, a Judge of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

from 1924 to 1946, President of the High Court and a Judge of the High Court from 1924 to 1936. He was born 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 ...

in 1874, the third son of

Timothy Daniel Sullivan Timothy Daniel Sullivan (29 May 1827 – 31 March 1914) was an Irish nationalist, journalist, politician and poet who wrote the Irish national hymn " God Save Ireland", in 1867. He served as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1886 to 1888 and a Member of ...

, a prominent Home Rule Party MP and

Lord Mayor of Dublin The Lord Mayor of Dublin ( ga, Ardmhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the honorary title of the chairperson ( ga, Cathaoirleach, links=no ) of Dublin City Council which is the local government body for the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The ...

and his wife Catherine Healy. Through his sister Anne who married Dr. Thomas Higgins, he was the uncle of

Kevin O'Higgins Kevin Christopher O'Higgins ( ga, Caoimhghín Críostóir Ó hUigín; 7 June 1892 – 10 July 1927) was an Irish politician who served as Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister for Justice from 1922 to 1927, Minister for External ...

and great-uncle of another Chief Justice,

Tom O'Higgins Thomas Francis O'Higgins (23 July 1916 – 25 February 2003) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, barrister and judge who served as Chief Justice of Ireland from 1974 to 1985, a Judge of the European Court of Justice from 1985 to 1991, a Judge of ...

. His mother was a sister of

Timothy Michael Healy Timothy Michael Healy, KC (17 May 1855 – 26 March 1931) was an Irish nationalist politician, journalist, author, barrister and a controversial Irish Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and ...

, the first

Governor-General of the Irish Free State The Governor-General of the Irish Free State ( ga, Seanascal Shaorstát Éireann) was the official representative of the sovereign of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1936. By convention, the office was largely ceremonial. Nonetheless, it wa ...

, and Sullivan in turn married their daughter Maeve. He was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1895. In 1913, Sullivan married his niece Maev Healy, daughter of his sister Erina Catherine Sullivan and her husband Timothy Michael Healy. Maev was an artist who painted the well-known portrait of her husband in his judicial robes. They had no children. His strongly nationalist background made him acceptable to the new Government of the Irish Free State as a member of the new judiciary and accordingly, in 1924, he was appointed President of the High Court; in 1936, on the death of

Hugh Kennedy Hugh Edward Kennedy (11 July 1879 – 1 December 1936) was an Irish Cumann na nGaedheal politician, barrister and judge who served as Chief Justice of Ireland from 1924 to 1936, a judge of the Supreme Court from 1924 to 1936 and Attorney Gener ...

, he was appointed Chief Justice of Ireland and served until he reached retirement age in 1946. His most notable judgment was the upholding by the Supreme Court in 1940 of the Constitutionality of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Bill which allowed for indefinite detention of suspected IRA members. An apparently casual remark of Sullivan that he was giving judgment "for the majority" caused controversy and led to the

Second Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland The Second Amendment of the Constitution Act 1941 (previously bill no. 40 of 1941) is an amendment of the Constitution of Ireland that was in the form of omnibus legislation affecting a variety of articles on a range of subject matters. It was ...

1941 providing for a single judgment only in such cases. There was further controversy in the 1960s when an academic claimed that Sullivan had "packed" the Court in favour of the Government by persuading

James Creed Meredith James Creed Meredith, KC (28 November 1875 – 14 August 1942) was an Irish judge who served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 1937 to 1942 and a Judge of the High Court from 1924 to 1937. He was best known as a nationalist of the early ...

to step down in favour of Conor Maguire. The claim seems to be unfounded: Sullivan was a firm believer in judicial independence, and in any case, by 1940 any political sympathies he had were with the Opposition, not the Government. His cousin

Maurice Healy Maurice Healy (3 January 1859 – 9 November 1923) was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP). As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, he was returned to in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Gre ...

in his celebrated memoir "The Old Munster Circuit" portrays Timothy as a kindly, serious young man; Mr. Justice MacKenzie in his memoir "Lawful Occasions" Mercier Press Dublin 1991 recalled the much older Sullivan, then Chief Justice, as "an old-fashioned Irish gentleman, quiet living".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Timothy Chief justices of Ireland Irish barristers 1874 births 1949 deaths People from County Dublin Presidents of the High Court (Ireland) High Court judges (Ireland) 20th-century Irish judges Alumni of King's Inns