The above article, which appeared in the General Advertiser for Dublin of 16 April 1921, not long after women first began to sit on Irish juries, begs the question: if Mr Justice Moore’s observations were in fact correct, why were women jurors taking longer to come back with verdicts?

His compatriots in the United States, with more experience of women jurors, might have been able to assist. See below a report from the Larne Reporter of 5 February 1887 regarding a letter published in the Chicago Law Times of the same year, describing male jurors as ‘much more inclined to give in’ due to the absence of smoking facilities in the jury room; non-smoking female jurors, on the other hand, in addition to being ‘more intelligent, clear-headed and reliable’ were less likely to find long deliberations ‘irksome!’