Ruth Cannon BL, Barrister, Four Courts History
Sharing old stories from Ireland's historic centre of justice.
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 home was haunted and that the acts complained of were done by spirits or some person in plaintiff’s place…
Every night from August
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 forty years of age.
[Mr Kelly] was walking along the quay, when near the Four Courts he was accosted by the prisoner. Though he had been the most virtuous man in
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 title of Prince of Coolarin), immediately closed the front of his silk gown.
Mr Ronan QC., observed that last week in London a judge stated he would
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 was coming in too rapidly. Perhaps the explanation will be found in the fact that, during the Napoleonic Wars, when the danger of invasion had passed, the
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, to which the Gentleman thankfully acceded: the operation of cleaning having been performed, they took their leave with a courtesy; the Gentleman,
