The Court of King's Bench (of Queen's Bench when the sovereign was female, and formerly of Chief Place or Chief Pleas) was one of the senior

courts of common law A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

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 jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of common ...

in England. The King's Bench was one of the "Four Courts" which sat in the building in Dublin which is still known as "

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 ...

", and is still in use. fourcourtsquays

Origins

According to Elrington Ball,Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'' John Murray London 1926 the Court called ''the King's Bench'' can be identified as early as 1290. It was fully operational by 1324, headed by the

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge i ...

, who was assisted by at least one, and often more associate justices, although for brief periods the Chief Justice was forced to sit alone, due to the lack of a suitably qualified colleague. A

Statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

of 1410 provided that a trial in King's Bench set down for a specific county must proceed there, and must not be moved to another venue without good reason.11 Henry IV c.20By 1612 the workload, even with a full bench of four judges, was so heavy and the backlog of cases so large, that Sir William Sparke was appointed an extra justice of the Court (he later became fourth Justice).

Role

The King's Bench was the principal court of criminal jurisdiction and civil jurisdiction, and its Chief Justice was the most senior judge in Ireland after the

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 ...

. Its workload was more onerous than that of the Court of Exchequer and the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

, and there was a tradition that its judges must be of a higher calibre than those of the other common law courts. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Crown expressed a strong preference for appointing English-born judges to the King's Bench, and especially to the office of Lord Chief Justice. From the beginning of the eighteenth century however no objection was made to the appointment of Irish-born judges.

Abolition

The Court of Queen's Bench was abolished in 1878 by 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 Co ...

. The Court's jurisdiction passed to a new High Court of Justice. The High Court was itself abolished by Section 40 of the

Government of Ireland Act 1920 The Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5 c. 67) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act's long title was "An Act to provide for the better government of Ireland"; it is also known as the Fourth Home Rule Bill ...

. That section created a

High Court in Northern Ireland The courts of Northern Ireland are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Northern Ireland: they are constituted and governed by the law of Northern Ireland. Prior to the partition of Ireland, Northern I ...

, which still contains a Queen's Bench Division, with similar jurisdiction to its counterpart in England and Wales. In the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

the jurisdiction passed to the new

High Court of Ireland The High Court ( ga, An Ard-Chúirt) of Ireland is a court which deals at first instance with the most serious and important civil and criminal cases. When sitting as a criminal court it is called the Central Criminal Court and sits with judg ...

References

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