From the Cambridge Independent Press, 28 February 1885: “A remarkable case was heard on Saturday in Dublin. Mr Waldron, a solicitor’s clerk, sued his next door neighbour, who is a mate in the merchant service, named Kiernan, to recover £500 damages for injuries done to his house. Kiernan denied the charge, and asserted that Waldron’s…
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Two Nights with Rose Lovely, 1823
From the Morning Chronicle, 10 October 1823, yet another lesson in the dangers lurking for the unwary on the journey home from the Four Courts: “THE LOVELY ROSE – A dashing Cyprian, whose charms were quite in accordance with her name, Rose Lovely, was indicted for having robbed William Kelly, a very respectable man of…
Read MoreThe Affair of the White Waistcoat, 1899
From the Belfast Telegraph, 17 June 1899: “Yesterday, in the Four Courts, Dublin, in the course of a trial, Lord Chief Justice O’Brien observed that one of the Queen’s Counsel appeared in a white waistcoat, which was not professional costume. The MacDermot QC, leading counsel for the Corporation (who, by the way, holds the old…
Read MoreThe Devil’s Own, or, the Bar and the Boers, 1900
From the Freeman’s Journal, 22 February 1900: “We have never been quite able to understand why the Four Courts has not raised a ‘Devil’s Own’ Corps for service in the present war. It was not that there were not plenty of juniors and others, with sufficient leisure for soldiering, nor yet was it that business…
Read MoreLawyer Relieved of Silk Handkerchief by Female Cutpurses, 1818
From the Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser, 7 March 1818 “A few days since, a Professional Gentleman, on his return from the Four Courts, was accosted in D’Olier Street, Dublin, by two females, who said “Sir, some dirty people have put filth upon your coat,” and offered very obligingly to remove it with their handkerchiefs,…
Read MoreAttorney-General Arranges Bare-Knuckle Boxing Bout, 1824
From the Evening Mail, 30 June 1824: “The lovers of the Fancy were gratified on Monday last, with a display seldom witnessed in this uncivilised Country. Two matches had been made. The parties were – two draymen of Christies’ Bray Brewery, versus one Rev. Fellow of College, and a son of our clever Attorney-general. Loughlinstown…
Read MoreBy Dublin Central Station We Nearly Sat, 1863
From the Freeman’s journal, 3 July 1863: “SIR – Kindly allow me to express my opinion on the construction of the Dublin Metropolitan Railway, and to offer what I think would be the most picturesque and least obstructive way the railway could run… Let a viaduct be constructed with cylindrical iron shafts, to run along…
Read MoreWhacksation of Costs, 1848
From the Cork Examiner, 14 June 1848: “A fracas took place yesterday morning in the Four Courts between two professional gentlemen. The circumstance caused a good deal of conversation during the day. The facts appeared as follows:- A solicitor of eminence lately had a medical gentleman as a client. The latter some time since left…
Read MoreThe Problem of Paging Barristers, 1846
From Saunders’s Newsletter, 20 November 1846: “SIR- In consequence of the numerous complaints by respectable solicitors against the present system of calling barristers’ names at the door of the library, and the uncertainty in which inquirers leave the ante-room, after suffering ten minutes’ crushing among clerks, idlers, &c., when the return of non est is…
Read MoreCockfighting in Arran Square, 1844
From the Freeman’s Journal, 15 April 1844: “In consequence of a communication by the secretary for the prevention of cruelty, instructions were given to the police to look sharply after a cockfighting match about to come off in Hammond-Lane. The police proceeded to the place at the specified time, and the result was an introduction…
Read MoreJuror Arrested, Blames Seagull-Shooting Lodger, 1866
From the Manchester Chronicle, 17 December 1866: “An extensive seizure of arms and ammunition was made in a house in Trinity Street, Dublin belonging to a tailor called Downey… at the top story of the house, the police found ten well-finished revolvers, two fowling pieces and a large quantity of ammunition. One of the revolvers…
Read MoreLord Chief Justice Declared Too Good to Live, 1822
From Saunders’s Newsletter, 26 April 1822: “A singular character appeared about noon yesterday, in the yard of the Four-Courts, seated upon a jaunting-car, and holding in each hand a curious small gun loaded with ball; he was habited in a green coat, with G.R. on the buttons… he declared he could fire off his pieces…
Read MoreA Shortened Period of Apprenticeship, 1836
In the Dublin Evening Packet and Correspondent, 3 November 1836, we find an account of a young man’s application to be admitted as a solicitor despite having served less than the standard five years’ apprenticeship: “COURT OF EXCHEQUER [today’s Court 3]: Mr Jackson KC applied on behalf of Henry Merrick, praying that he be admitted…
Read MoreRound Hall Ablutions Averted, 1808
From Saunders’s Newsletter, 22 October 1808: “The alterations now making in the New Courts upon the Inns Quay, consist of raising the floor of the great hall up to the level of the platform at the great entrance, which has been somewhat lowered in order to meet the newly raised floor and by this alteration…
Read MoreSolicitors Meet to Discuss the General Impossibility of Barristers, 1843
From the Freeman’s Journal, 29 November 1843, this account of an early Solicitors’ Society meeting: “The secretary read the… steps that had been taken [to prevent] the inconvenience of the solicitors being required by the bar to convey books from the Law Library… [T]he committee had written to Mr Dixon, father of the Bar, to…
Read MoreCourt Documents Stolen for Possible Sale as Toilet Paper, 1860
From the Evening Freeman, 27 February 1860: “Bessie Birmingham… employed for sweeping a portion of the offices at the Four Courts, Matthew Campbell and Philip Keely were brought up in custody… charged with having stolen and sold a number of valuable parchment and paper documents from one of the offices of the Court of Exchequer……
Read MoreMr Finn’s Four Courts Coffee-Room, 1839
From the Freeman, 22 January 1839: “John Finn, Henrietta-street, applied for a license for the coffee-room of the Four Courts. Mr Walsh opposed the application, on the part of the Vintners’ Society, and dwelt on the impropriety of such an establishment in the courts. Mr Curran replied in favour of the application, and said that…
Read MoreThe Bigamist Barrister, 1846
From the Liverpool Mail, 18 April 1846: “At Dublin, on Saturday, the trial of Mr Henry Augustus Browne, barrister, for bigamy took place in the Commission Court… Mr Browne is a remarkably well-looking man of about 24 or 25 years of age… a prime favourite with his brethern at the Bar. The prosecutor was Mr…
Read MoreBookstalls, Showmen and Dancing Dogs, 1821-1840
From the Warder and Dublin Weekly Mail, 26 September 1840: “THE FOUR COURTS:- Although law is very busy in the interior, and the lawyers are not idle in their vocation, the exterior of the building resembles an unfortunate criminal, debarred the privilege of counsel and left to his fate. It is not sufficient that the…
Read MoreArmed Footpad Overpowered in Church Street, c. 1800
From the Freeman’s Journal, 30 January 1882: “A curious reminiscence of… old Dublin life turned up at one of the central [police] stations on Friday… [A]n old gentleman entered the station… and produced a small silver-mounted flint pistol, evidently of the last century… He said that he was most anxious to obtain a licence for…
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