Stories of the Four Courts

The Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland, through old newspaper stories and images.

about this site

site author

The Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland, has been the centre of the Irish legal system for over 225 years. The building takes its name from the old superior courts of Chancery, King’s Bench, Equity and Common Law, which it was originally built to house. Although these four courts were subsequently merged into a single court, the High Court, the name still lives on today.

This site uses old newspaper articles and historical images to bring the reader back in time to the Four Courts of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when it was, for a time, the centre of Dublin life. In it, you can find information about the following:

The Four Courts building, from its initial construction in the 18th century up to its destruction in 1922, and its subsequent reconstruction and re-opening in the 1930s.

The uniquely vibrant locality of Dublin surrounding the Four Courts known as St Michan’s Parish, and the often fraught relationship between the Courts and its inhabitants.

Famous (and infamous) events associated with the Four Courts, including but not confined to notorious trials, horse-whippings, challenges to duels and the Battle of the Four Courts during the Irish Civil War.

The three Law Libraries of the Four Courts and their lively occupants, court advocates known as barristers. whose colourful and eventful lives make fascinating reading.