The chief justice of Connacht was the senior of the judges who assisted the Lord President of Connaught in judicial matters. Despite the chief justice's title, full judicial powers were vested in the Lord President, whose office was established in 1569. Ralph Rokeby was appointed the first chief justice of Connacht, with Robert Dillon as his second justice. Rokeby found his principal duty as chief justice, the introduction of the common law into Connacht, to be a thankless task, writing gloomily to the Government in London that the people of the province "are not willing to embrace justice".
A royal commission from King James I in 1604 vested in the lord president very wide powers to hear civil cases, to impose martial law and to pursue the King's enemies with "fire and sword" (Ralph Rokeby from the beginning had urged the granting of such powers, arguing that it was the only way to bring order and good government to the province). The extent of these powers gave rise to clashes with the long-established courts and in 1622 official instructions were issued to the Chief Justices of Connacht and Munster not to "intermeddle" with cases which were properly within the jurisdiction of another court.
On the face of it, the office of chief justice was an onerous one, as shown by the fact that (for at least part of the Court's history) he had two or even three associate justices to assist him, whereas the chief justice of Munster as a rule had only one. On the other hand, Geoffrey Osbaldeston's appointment as chief justice in 1606 was generally seen as a demotion on the grounds of his professional incompetence, suggesting that the office was not then considered to be one of great importance. However, a chief justice who performed his duties well could expect to be promoted to a place on the High Court Bench in due course, and Donnellan, Cusack and Jones were rewarded in this way, as was one Attorney General, William Hilton. While it was generally understood that the chief justice of Munster should not hold any other office, the same rule apparently did not apply in Connacht: Thomas Dillon combined the office with a seat on the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland).
We have less information about the men who served as second and third justices. Sir Robert Dillon, later Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, served as second justice (the first holder of the office), and Adam Cusack was second justice in 1662. James Donnellan was third justice in 1627-34. The last second justice seems to have been Justice Johnson (1670-72).
The chief justice was advised by the attorney general for Connacht: the best-known holder of the office was Gerald Comerford (1591-1604), who held the office for life. William Hilton, Attorney General for Connacht 1626-37, is remembered as the brother-in-law of Archbishop James Ussher. John Shadwell, appointed in 1662, appears to have been the last Attorney-General.
The office of chief justice ceased to exist with the abolition of the provincial presidencies in 1672.
Office abolished 1672
Incomplete list
Office abolished 1672
The counties of Ireland are historic administrative divisions of the island. They began as Norman structures, and as the powers exercised by the Cambro-Norman barons and the Old English nobility waned over time, new offices of political control came to be established at a county level. The number of counties varied depending on the time period, however thirty-two is the traditionally accepted and used number.
The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to the end of 1800, it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament: the Chancellor was Speaker of the Irish House of Lords. The Lord Chancellor was also Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of Ireland. In all three respects, the office mirrored the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.
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James Barry, 1st Baron Barry of Santry PC (Ire) (1603–1673) was an Irish lawyer, judge and peer.
The post of Lord President of Munster was the most important office in the English government of the Irish province of Munster from its introduction in the Elizabethan era for a century, to 1672, a period including the Desmond Rebellions in Munster, the Nine Years' War, and the Irish Rebellion of 1641. The Lord President was subject to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, but had full authority within the province, extending to civil, criminal, and church legal matters, the imposition of martial law, official appointments, and command of military forces. Some appointments to military governor of Munster were not accompanied by the status of President. The width of his powers led to frequent clashes with the longer established courts, and in 1622 the President, Donogh O'Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond, was warned sharply not to "intermeddle" with cases which were properly the business of those courts. He was assisted by a Council whose members included the Chief Justice of Munster, another justice and the Attorney General for the Province. By 1620 his council was permanently based in Limerick.
The Lord President of Connaught was a military leader with wide-ranging powers, reaching into the civil sphere, in the English government of Connaught in Ireland, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The office was created in 1569, and in 1604 was reconstituted with full powers to hear all civil suits, to impose martial law and to proceed with "fire and sword" against the King's enemies. The width of his powers gave rise to clashes with the longer established courts: in 1622 he and the Lord President of Munster were ordered not to "intermeddle' in cases which were properly within the remit of those courts. He was assisted by a council whose members included the Chief Justice of Connacht, one or two associate justices and the Attorney General for the Province of Connacht. The office was abolished in 1672.
Sir James Donnellan was an Irish lawyer and politician, who became Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas in 1660. He was unusual among the Irish judges of the time in being of Gaelic descent, and more remarkable in that his service as a judge under Oliver Cromwell did not disqualify him from service after the Restoration of Charles II.
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Ralph Rokeby was an English barrister and judge who held high office in Ireland.
Geoffrey Osbaldeston (1558-c.1635) was an English-born politician and judge who had a long but rather undistinguished career in Ireland.
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Adam Cusack (c.1630–1681) was an Irish landowner, barrister and judge of the seventeenth century.
Gerald Comerford (c.1558–1604), was an Irish barrister, judge and statesman of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He sat in the House of Commons in the Irish Parliament of 1585–6, and briefly held office as Chief Justice of Munster and as a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). He profited from his close family association with the Earl of Ormond. Comerford rose rapidly in the public service to become a trusted servant of the English Crown, and would probably have become one of the dominant political figures in the southeast of Ireland had it not been for his early death.
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