The Four Courts The headquarters of the Irish judicial system since 1804. The Court of King's Bench was one of the original four courts that sat there.
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 in the court, and the second most senior Irish judge under English rule and later when Ireland became part of the United Kingdom. Additionally, for a brief period between 1922 and 1924, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland was the most senior judge in the Irish Free State.
The abolition of the position of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland was originally envisaged in a draft of the Government of Ireland Bill 1920. The Bill originally proposed that the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland would become the Lord Chief Justice of Southern Ireland. However, the then incumbent, The Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas Molony, 1st Bt., vigorously lobbied for the right to continue to hold the title even after the Bill was passed. Ultimately, his arguments were at least in part accepted: The Act, in its transitional provisions, provided that while he would in effect be the first Lord Chief Justice of Southern Ireland, his title remained that of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, although this was a transitional provision and was not a right to be enjoyed by his successors.[1]
Subsequently, the highest-ranking judicial posting in Ireland, that of Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was abolished in December 1922.[2] This left the office of the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland as the most senior judge in the Irish Free State but not for very long. The Constitution of the Irish Free State adopted in December 1922 clearly envisaged the early establishment of new courts for the nascent state and the abolition of the position of the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.[3] However, this only took place when the Courts of Justice Act 1924 was finally adopted. Under that Act, the position of the Chief Justice of the Irish Free State superseded the position of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland as the highest judicial office in the Irish Free State.[4]
^For holders of the office of Lord Chief Justice, the period 1383–86 seems to have been one of great confusion, and it is not clear whether all those nominated actually took up the position – see Ball The Judges in Ireland .
^Date from Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 John Murray London 1926, P191 – although Haydn's Book of Dignities says that he took office in 1532
^Date from Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 John Murray London 1926, P156 – although Haydn's Book of Dignities says that he took office in 1546
^date from Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 (London 1926), p.328 – although Haydn's Book of Dignities says that he took office in 1619
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacWalker, David M., The Oxford Companion to Law, Appendix I, list of Chief Justices of the Upper Bench or King's (or Queen's) Bench in Ireland, 1660–1924, pp. 1351–1352.
Further reading
Daire Hogan, R.R. Cherry, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, 1914–16
