Michael Morris, Baron Morris and 1st Baron Killanin, (14 November 1826 – 8 September 1901), known as Sir Michael Morris, Bt, from 1885 to 1889, was an Irish lawyer and judge. He was

Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for 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 ...

from 1887 to 1889 and sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

as a

Lord of Appeal in Ordinary Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

from 1889 to 1900.

Background and education

Born in

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

, eldest son of Martin Morris and Julia Blake, Morris was educated at Galway College and

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, graduating BA in 1847. His father was a justice of the peace, and in 1841 became the first Roman Catholic to be

High Sheriff of Galway Town The High Sheriff of Galway Town was the Sovereign's judicial representative in the county of the Town of Galway. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the role of High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisio ...

, an office his son also held. The Morrises were a long-established merchant family, who were one of the fourteen Tribes of Galway who dominated the town's commercial life. His mother, a doctor's daughter, died of cholera in 1837.

Legal and judicial career

After being called to the Irish Bar association, bar in 1849, Morris was appointed

for 1849–50. Eight years later he was made Recorder (judge), Recorder of Galway, and in 1863 became one of the country's Queen's Counsels. He was the recognized leader of the Connacht Bar, impressing clients and juries alike with his wit and commonsense. Elected to Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament in 1865 as Liberal Party (UK), Liberal member for Galway Borough (UK Parliament constituency), Galway, Morris became a Conservative Party (UK), Conservative the following year when he took office in Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Lord Derby's administration as Solicitor-General for Ireland. Though a Roman Catholic he was a staunch supporter of the Act of Union 1800, but it is said that he was not enthusiastic about the Reform Act 1867. In late 1866 he was appointed Attorney-General for Ireland, and the following year became third Justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland), Court of Common Pleas, eventually being made its Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, Chief Justice in 1876. As a judge, he showed the same wit and commonsense which had been his hallmarks at the Bar, and was notably impatient of legal technicalities. In 1885, Morris was created a Baronet, of Spiddal in the County of Galway, and two years later he was appointed

. In 1889, on being made a

, he was given a life peerage as Baron Morris, of Spiddal in the Counties of Ireland, County of County Galway, Galway, and sworn a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Privy Council. He was well regarded by his fellow Law Lords, despite his frequent dissenting judgments. Eleven years later, on his retirement from office, Lord Morris was made an hereditary peer as Baron Killanin, of

in the County of Galway.

Judgements

*''British South Africa Co v Companhia de Moçambique'' [1893] AC 602 – the House of Lords overturned a Court of Appeal decision and by so doing established the ''Mozambique rule'', a common law rule in private international law that renders actions relating to title in foreign land, the right to possession of foreign land, and trespass to foreign land non-justiciable in common law jurisdictions. *Harvey v Facey, 1893

Family

Lord Morris died at Spiddal in September 1901, aged 74, and was buried in the family vault in Bohermore Cemetery at Galway. He married, in 1860, Anna Hughes, daughter of Henry George Hughes, Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland), Court of Exchequer and his wife Sarah Isabella l'Estrange. She was the child of a mixed marriage, and had been brought up in the Church of Ireland. They had four sons and six daughters. The eldest son Martin Morris, 2nd Baron Killanin, Martin Morris was an MP and succeeded in the barony of Killanin and baronetcy. Another son was Lt. Col. George Henry Morris, who was the first commanding officer to lead an Irish Guards battalion into battle and was killed in action during the Great Retreat, Retreat from Mons in September 1914. George's son Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, Michael went on to serve as the sixth President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1972 to 1980. He succeeded his uncle Martin as Baron Killanin in 1927.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Michael Morris, Baron 1826 births 1901 deaths People from Galway (city) Lawyers from County Galway, Morris, 1st Baron Killanin, Michael Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish barristers Solicitors-general for Ireland Attorneys-general for Ireland Irish Conservative Party MPs, Morris, Michael Irish Liberal Party MPs, Morris, Michael UK MPs 1865–1868, Morris, Michael UK MPs who were granted peerages Barons Killanin, 1 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Galway constituencies (1801–1922), Morris, Michael Law lords Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Members of the Privy Council of Ireland High sheriffs of Galway Town Lords chief justice of Ireland Chief justices of the Irish Common Pleas Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria Life peers created by Queen Victoria Morris family (Ireland), Michael