High Court of Justice in Ireland

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The High Court of Justice in Ireland was the court created by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 [1] to replace the existing court structure in Ireland. Its creation mirrored the reform of the courts of England and Wales five years earlier under the Judicature Acts. The Act created a Supreme Court of Judicature, consisting of a High Court of Justice and a Court of Appeal.

Contents

Establishment

The High Court was created by the Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland) Act 1877, through the amalgamation of a number of courts. Most importantly, the three superior common-law courts (the Court of King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of Exchequer) and the Court of Chancery were merged into the new court. Also merged into it were the courts of Landed Estates, Probate, Matrimonial Causes, Admiralty, and Bankruptcy. [2] However, the right of appeal from Ireland to the House of Lords in England was preserved.

An important consequence of the amalgamation of the superior common-law courts with the court of equity (Chancery) was that, for the first time, the previously separate systems of common law and equity were merged.

The structure of the abolished courts was reflected in the divisions created for the new High Court. These proved to be unnecessarily complex, and the opportunity presented by the death, retirement, and transfer of a number of the judges was taken in order to simplify the organisation of the divisions, so that by 1897 there were only two: Chancery, and the Queen's Bench. [2]

Of the existing office holders, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland presided in the new Court of Appeal. The Master of the Rolls in Ireland and the Vice-Chancellor moved to the Chancery Division; the latter office was abolished in 1904. The Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas retained his rank until 1887 when the incumbent became Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Christopher Palles, the last Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer remained in office until 1916, acting as a judge both of the King's Bench Division and of the Court of Appeal. [2]

Partition

The Government of Ireland Act 1920 abolished the Supreme Court of Judicature created by the 1877 Act. [3] It split the High Court into separate courts for Northern and Southern Ireland; judges of the former court became judges in Southern Ireland unless they chose otherwise. The Court of Appeal was also split into separate courts with a new overarching High Court of Appeal for Ireland; the latter court sat on a few occasions but was abolished in 1922 in consequence of the establishment of the Irish Free State. [4]

Judges

The following judges held the title of Judge of the High Court of Justice in Ireland from the Court's creation in 1878 to the abolition of the pre-Independence Courts in 1924. [5]

Year appointedNameDivisionYear left officeReason for leaving office
1878 [lower-alpha 1] William Keogh [6] Common Pleas Division1878Death
1878 [lower-alpha 2] James O'Brien Queen's Bench Division1882Death
1878 [lower-alpha 3] Francis Alexander FitzGerald Exchequer Division1882Resigned
1878 [lower-alpha 4] John FitzGerald Queen's Bench Division1882Appointed as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
1878 [lower-alpha 5] Robert Warren Probate and Matrimonial Division1897Death
1878 [lower-alpha 6] James Anthony Lawson Common Pleas Division1882Transferred to the Queen's Bench Division
1878 [lower-alpha 7] Stephen Woulfe Flanagan Chancery Division1885Retired
1878 [lower-alpha 8] Charles Robert Barry Queen's Bench Division1897Death
1878 [lower-alpha 9] Richard Dowse Exchequer Division1890Death
1878 [lower-alpha 10] Henry Ormsby Chancery Division1885Retired
1878 Michael Harrison Common Pleas Division1888Transferred to the Queen's Bench Division
1881 John O'Hagan Judicial Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission1890Death
1881 Edward Falconer Litton Judicial Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission1890Death
1882 James Anthony Lawson Queen's Bench Division1887Death
1882 William O'Brien Common Pleas Division1883Transferred to the Queen's Bench Division
1882 William Drennan Andrews Exchequer Division1897Transferred to the Queen's Bench Division
1883 William Moore Johnson Queen's Bench Division1909Retired
1883 William O'Brien Queen's Bench Division1899Death
1883 James Murphy Common Pleas Division1888Transferred to the Queen's Bench Division
1885 John Monroe Chancery Division1896Resignation
1887 Hugh Holmes Common Pleas Division1888Transferred to the Queen's Bench Division
1888 James Murphy Queen's Bench Division1892Transferred to the Exchequer Division
1888 Hugh Holmes Queen's Bench Division1897promoted to be a Lord Justice of Appeal
1888 John George Gibson Queen's Bench Division1921Retired
1890 Edmund Thomas Bewley [7] Judicial Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission1898Retired
1892 Dodgson Hamilton Madden Queen's Bench Division1919Retired
1896 John Ross Chancery Division1921Appointed as Lord Chancellor for Ireland
1897 Walter Boyd Queen's Bench Division1921Died
1897 William Kenny Queen's Bench Division1921Died
1898 Richard Edmund Meredith Judicial Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission1906Appointed as Master of the Rolls
1900 Dunbar Plunket Barton Queen's Bench Division1904Transferred to the Chancery Division
1901 George Wright King's Bench Division1913Died
1904 Dunbar Plunket Barton Chancery Division1918Retired
1906 James Owens Wylie [8] Judicial Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission1920 [9] Retired
1907 William Huston Dodd King's Bench Division1924Court abolished
1913 Thomas Molony King's Bench Division1915promoted to be a Lord Justice of Appeal
1913 Jonathan Pim King's Bench Division1924Court abolished
1916 John Gordon King's Bench Division1922Death
1917 William Moore King's Bench Division1921promoted to be a Lord Justice of Appeal in Northern Ireland
1918 James O'Connor Chancery Division1918promoted to be a Lord Justice of Appeal
1918 John Blake Powell Chancery Division1923Death
1919 Arthur Samuels King's Bench Division1924Court abolished
1920 William Evelyn Wylie [9] Judicial Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission1924Court abolished - re-appointed as judicial commissioner 1924 and retired in 1936

Subsequent developments

Following the establishment of the Irish Free State in December 1922, the High Court of Justice in Southern Ireland (now the High Court of the Irish Free State) remained in existence for two years, in accordance with the "carry-over" provisions in Article 75 of the Constitution of the Irish Free State. It was abolished by the Courts of Justice Act 1924, which replaced it with a new High Court. With only two exceptions, the judges of the old High Court were retired on a generous pension. [10]

In Northern Ireland a new Supreme Court of Judicature was created in 1978, although the basic court structure remained largely unchanged. [11]

Notes

  1. ↑ Previously served as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, since 1856
  2. ↑ Previously served as Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench, since 1858
  3. ↑ Previously served as Baron of the Court of Exchequer, since 1859
  4. ↑ Previously served as Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench, since 1861
  5. ↑ Previously served as Judge of the Court of Probate, since 1868
  6. ↑ Previously served as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, since 1868
  7. ↑ Previously served as Judge of the Landed Estates Court, since 1869
  8. ↑ Previously served as Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench, since 1872
  9. ↑ Previously served as Baron of the Court of Exchequer, since 1872
  10. ↑ Previously served as Judge of the Landed Estates Court, since 1875

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References

  1. ↑ 40 & 41 Vict. c.57
  2. 1 2 3 Delaney, V.T.H. Christopher Palles Alan Figgis and Co. 1960, p. 94-5
  3. ↑ Government of Ireland Act 1920 s.38
  4. ↑ Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act 1922
  5. ↑ Delaney, V. T. H. "Christopher Palles" Dublin, Allen Figgis and Co. (1960) Appendix 1
  6. ↑ The Law Reports (Ireland), Volume 2, 1877-78 Page vii
  7. ↑ O'Donoghue, David James (1912). "Bewley, Edmund Thomas"  . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 1. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 157–158.
  8. ↑ Thom's Irish Who's Who/Wylie, The Right Hon. James Owens
  9. 1 2 Dictionary of Irish Biography - Wylie, William Evelyn
  10. ↑ Hogan, G.W. Chief Justice Kennedy and Sir James O'Connor's Application Irish Jurist, Vol. 23, p. 144
  11. ↑ Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978, sch. 7
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