Sharing the History of the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland

April 2020

  • Gatecrashing a Bar Meeting, 1830

    As you can see from the illustrations above, Courts 1-4 as originally furnished included a handsome box (complete with coat-hooks and inkwells) specifically for the Press. Pre-Law Library, the Courts were often used for Bar meetings and the Freeman’s Journal… Continue reading

  • Barrister’s Spouse Violated by Briefing Solicitor, 1842

    From the Galway Vindicator and Connaught Advertiser, 20 April 1842: “Mr Robert Caldwell, a respectable attorney, was… charged with having… attempted by force to violate Anne Corbet, the wife of Mr Edward Lestrange Corbet, barrister. Mrs Corbet… deposed that she… Continue reading

  • The Hammond Lane Explosion, 1878

    From the Freeman’s Journal, 29 April 1878: “On Saturday afternoon Dublin was startled and horrified by one of the most appalling accidents which has ever taken place in this metropolis – an accident by which no less than fourteen fellow… Continue reading

  • The Perils of Personal Service, 1834

    From the Wexford Conservative, 7 May 1834: “[A]n unfortunate man appeared in the hall of the Four Courts on Thursday with his face and head swollen inflamed and lacerated in a most shocking manner. His nose was literally flattened, and… Continue reading

  • Do Not Covet a Barrister’s Wife, 1862

    From the Usk Observer, 19 July 1862: “The Dublin papers announce the death of a person named Sterne, who had been imprisoned for debt in the Four Courts Marshalsea for 36 years. Mr Sterne was a gentleman of large fortune…… Continue reading