Thomas Teevan (12 May 1903 – 8 June 1976) was an Irish barrister and judge who served as a Judge of the High Court from 1954 to 1971 and

Attorney General of Ireland The Attorney General of Ireland ( ga, An tArd-Aighne) is a constitutional officer who is the legal adviser to the Government and is therefore the chief law officer of the State. The attorney general is not a member of the Government but does pa ...

from 1953 to 1954. He was born in Cavan in 1903, the second son of Dr. Francis Teevan and his wife Anne. The family moved to

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

, County Louth, where he went to the Christian Brothers School and then to

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

. He initially qualified as a solicitor in 1925; was called to the Bar in 1936, and

Senior Counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

in 1946. He stood unsuccessfully for election at the 1948 general election. He was appointed

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...

in 1953, until he was appointed a judge of the High Court in 1954, where he served until 1971. He died in 1976. Thomas married Gertrude McCall (1904–2001) with whom he had two sons, Diarmuid and Richard, and was the uncle of the journalist

Kevin Myers Kevin Myers (born 30 March 1947) is an English-born Irish journalist and writer. He has contributed to the ''Irish Independent'', the Irish edition of ''The Sunday Times'', and ''The Irish Times''s column "An Irishman's Diary". Myers is kn ...

who recalled his uncle as "a gentleman, scholarly and kind". His first case as a judge was probably the most memorable: the unsuccessful libel action by

Patrick Kavanagh Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel ''Tarry Flynn'', and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life th ...

against the Leader magazine. Such was the interest that members of the public queued for hours in the hope of getting into the courtroom. As both a barrister and judge, he was an expert on

rights of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

, a field of law which he admitted did nothing to improve one's view of human nature. Giving judgement in ''Connell v. Porter'' (21 December 1967) he described the behaviour of both parties as "disgusting" and made the memorable remark: "It is a strange paradox of our times that concurrently with so much alertness to personal rights, very many people flagrantly and callously do serious hurt to the feelings, rights and properties of others and expect immunity for their trespasses".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teevan, Thomas 1903 births 1976 deaths High Court judges (Ireland) Lawyers from County Cavan Attorneys General of Ireland Irish barristers Alumni of University College Dublin 20th-century Irish lawyers