From the Dublin Evening Mail, 3 April 1866:
“MR MACDONOGH, Q.C., AND MR HERON, Q.C.
At the Cork Assizes, in the action of Shea v Honan, while the plaintiff was under cross-examination by Mr Macdonogh, the following discussion took place:
MR HERON – As long as Mr Macdonogh doubts the credibility of my witness I shall animadvert on it.
MR MACDONOGH – I can’t suffer this.
THE CHIEF BARON – I think it is not –
MR HERON – Am I not entitled to speak when the witness’s credibility is doubted?
MR MACDONOGH – Will you listen to the court, sir?
MR BUTT – That is not right, now.
MR HERON – I ask my learned friend to withdraw that observation both in manner and in matter.
MR MACDONOGH – I ask you to listen to the court.
HIS LORDSHIP – I do not think the first observation calls for any remark.
MR HERON – No, but the latter decidedly does.
MR BUTT – It is better if we all keep quiet.
HIS LORDSHIP – I must say that Mr Macdonogh has been commenting too much on the evidence of the witness.
MR HERON – Now, that we may go in good humour, I will ask my learned friend to withdraw the observation.
HIS LORDSHIP – Oh, he does; I will do it for him.
MR HERON – If he does not, you will? Very well, my lord.
At a subsequent period of the day the amenities were resumed thus:
MR MACDONOGH– Have you got any subscription towards the action?
Witness (loudly) – Not half a farthing, nor do I calculate upon it either
MR MACDONOGH– That’s right
WITNESS – It is right
MR HERON – My lord, Mr Macdonogh has no right to make such an insulting observation to the witness.
MR MACDONOGH said his observation was not insulting.
Witness – Oh let the gentleman go on, Mr Heron. I don’t mind.
MR MACDONOGH – You see he knows the difference of it better than you.
MR HERON – Really, I must ask you not to address me. You refused to withdraw an insulting remark you made towards me a while ago.
MR MACDONOGH – Anything I say I accept the responsibility of, either here or elsewhere.
HIS LORDSHIP said it was more the manner than the matter of Mr Macdonogh’s remark to Mr Heron that was objectionable.
MR HERON – It was most discourteous, my lord
HIS LORDSHIP – And I understand Mr Macdonogh to at once withdraw, or indicate the withdrawal of the discourtesy.
MR BUTT – Mr Macdonogh will pardon me, but I certainly did feel there was great discourtesy in his manner when he addressed my friend Mr Heron as ‘Sir;’ and I am bound to say to Mr Macdonogh that if I were in Mr Heron’s place I would have felt excessively annoyed, more by the use of the word ‘Sir’ than by the angry tone in which it was used, and I did expect Mr Macdonogh would say he did it in a hurry and regretted it.
HIS LORDSHIP– I can say no more about it.
MR BUTT – Oh! None of us can say more about it now.”
Serjeant Heron, appropriately for one named after a waterbird, was, among other things, a great fisherman, who died while engaged in playing a salmon on the Corrib in 1881. According to a report in the Western Daily Press of 18 April 1881,
“in the excitement of the sport, he was seized with apoplexy, and although aid was promptly procured, sank in two hours after the attack. He would have fallen into the river, which is very rapid at the place, had not an attendant caught him. Another attendant took Serjeant Heron’s rod and killed the salmon.”
The same article reported that the Serjeant was
“well known and highly esteemed in Galway, having held for some years a professor’s chair in the Galway College. He was educated in Trinity College, Dublin, and… he was entitled to a classical scholarship by examination, but, being a Roman Catholic, was debarred by the statutes and constitutions of the University from holding it. He raised the question, however, before the Visitors, and the result of the struggle with which he made was the scholarships for Roman Catholics were soon afterwards established. When the Queen’s Colleges were instituted he became one of the first professors, but, having joined the Irish bar in 1848 and obtained extensive practice, he resigned his chair. He represented the county Tipperary for some years in Parliament, but was put out by the Nationalists, to whom he was obnoxious on account of his moderate Liberal opinions. He filled the office of law adviser at Dublin Castle under Mr Gladstone’s Government during the Fenian troubles, and recently his connection with the Government was partially renewed by his appointment as third Serjeant on the death of Serjeant Armstrong, Q.C… Mr Heron was of a genial, kindly disposition, and had a large circle of private friends.”
The other participants in the above courtroom drama were the colourful Francis Macdonogh (or Mcdonogh) QC, about whom more is written here, Irish Nationalist leader Isaac Butt QC, and Lord Chief Baron Christopher Palles.
Good to know that Mr Butt’s nationalist sympathies did not preclude him from intervening on the part of Mr Heron – or perhaps, court combatant that he was, he simply couldn’t refrain from intervening in an entertaining intercounsel melee!
The case in issue, Shea v Honan, known as ‘the Butter Case’, related to the question of whether the defendant had usurped the control and management of the Cork Butter Market. It lasted fourteen days at trial, and resulted in a verdict for the defendant, represented by Mr Macdonogh, but subsequently an order for a new trial was obtained. The dispute seems to never have been conclusively resolved – one account notes that the jury on the second trial failed to agree.
Although the case may never have had a definite ending, the above courtroom dialogue serves to illustrate the unwritten rule that calling opposing counsel ‘Sir’ or, indeed ‘Madam,’ in court may, depending on the manner of the delivery, be interpreted not as a courtesy but an insult…
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