Court of Appeal in Ireland

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Court of Appeal in Ireland
Established1877
Dissolved1924
Location Four Courts, Dublin
Authorized bySupreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877
Appeals to House of Lords
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland

The Court of Appeal in Ireland was created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 as the final appellate court within Ireland, then under British rule. A last appeal from this court could be taken to the House of Lords in London.

Contents

Personnel

The Lord Chancellor of Ireland was President of the Court of Appeal. As in England, the full-time judges had the title Lord Justice of Appeal. Other senior judges such as the Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, sat as additional judges of appeal when required.

The following judges held the title of Lord Justice of the Court of Appeal in Ireland from the Court's creation in 1878 to the abolition of the pre-Independence Courts in 1924. [1]

Year appointedNameYear left officeReason for leaving office
1878 [lower-alpha 1] Jonathan Christian 1878Retirement
1878 Rickard Deasy 1883Death
1878 Gerald FitzGibbon 1909Death
1883 Charles Robert Barry 1897Death
1885 John Naish 1886Re-appointment as Lord Chancellor of Ireland [2]
1886 John Naish 1890Death [2]
1895 Samuel Walker 1905Re-appointment as Lord Chancellor of Ireland [3]
1897 Hugh Holmes 1913Retirement
1909 Richard Cherry 1914Appointment as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
1913 John Moriarty 1915Death
1915 Stephen Ronan 1924Retirement
1915 Thomas Molony 1918Appointment as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
1918 James O'Connor 1924Retirement

Partition

The Court of Appeal in Ireland was replaced by separate Courts of Appeal in Northern and Southern Ireland, along with a High Court of Appeal for Ireland, hearing appeals from both, under the United Kingdom's Government of Ireland Act 1920. The High Court of Appeal for Ireland was short-lived, and only heard a handful of cases before being abolished under the Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act 1922.

Abolition

In the Irish Free State, the Courts of Justice Act 1924 replaced the Court of Appeal in Southern Ireland with a Supreme Court of Justice under the Constitution of the Irish Free State, and a Court of Criminal Appeal to hear criminal appeals that would have been heard by the Court of Appeal's Criminal Division.

Final appellate jurisdiction was transferred from the House of Lords to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council - which was then abolished in 1933 by the Constitution (Amendment No. 22) Act 1933.

A Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland was re-created under the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978.

Reputation

During the first three decades of its existence, the reputation of the Court of Appeal was very high, probably higher than that of any other tribunal in Irish legal history. Maurice Healy, writing in 1939, thought that the Court as it was constituted in the early 1900s "could compare with any college of justice in history". [4] V.T.H. Delaney, writing in 1960, believed that all Irish barristers would choose the old Court of Appeal as representing the Irish judiciary at their best. [5] This reputation depended largely on the quality of the individual judges: Christopher Palles is still often called "the greatest of Irish judges", and Gerald FitzGibbon, Hugh Holmes and Lord Ashbourne were his intellectual equals. [6] Unfortunately, when these men were gone, there was a problem in finding replacements of equal calibre, and from about 1916, after the death of Fitzgibbon (in 1909), and the retirement of Holmes (in 1913) and Palles (in 1916), the reputation of the Court declined. In its last years, according to Healy, the judges were notable only for their constant quarrelling among themselves, [7] and in 1924 the new Irish Free State forcibly retired them all.

Notes

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References

  1. Delaney, V. T. H. "Christopher Palles" Dublin, Allen Figgis and Co. (1960) Appendix 1
  2. 1 2 Dictionary of Irish Biography - John Naish
  3. Dictionary of Irish Biography - Samuel Walker
  4. Healy, Maurice The Old Munster Circuit Mercier Press Cork p.27
  5. Deaney, V.T.H. Christopher Palles Alan Figgis and Co. 1960 p.158
  6. Delaney p. 158
  7. Healy, pp.188-190