Ruth Cannon
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A Horse and his Barrister, 1797
The special nature of the relationship between an 18th century Irish barrister and his horse is illustrated by the above satirical print of John Philpot Curran, later Master of the Rolls, who went the Munster Circuit twice a year for… Continue reading
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A Public Speaking Manual for the Young Irish Barrister, 1796
Perfection as an orator was the goal for any self-respecting barrister in the newly opened Four Courts of 1796. Tyros who wanted advice on how to achieve this could start by acquiring Knox’s ‘Hints on Public Speaking’ from Fitzpatrick’s bookshop… Continue reading
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Seagulls Go Crazy During the Battle of the Four Courts, 1922
The seagulls at the Four Courts, Dublin, have always been uncontrollable (see video above), but the fighting there during the Civil War of 1922 provoked them to heights reminiscent of Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’. The movie was based on a short… Continue reading
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Before the King’s Inns, 1539-1802
From the Irish Builder and Engineer, June 15, 1893, this fascinating account of a pleasant park on the banks of the Bradogue river, where Henrietta Street now stands, and of its one-time owner Mrs. Kinborough Piphoe, née Valentine, who reputedly… Continue reading
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Jurors Disappointed to Discover First Four Courts Telephone Solicitors-Only, 1886
An interesting story from the Irish Times of 4th June 1886 recording what seems to have been the first telephone in the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland, installed by the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland at some point in the mid-1880s,… Continue reading
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Counsel for the Defence Skilfully Evades Challenge to a Duel to Secure Ireland’s Most Infamous Bigamy Acquittal, 1846
From the Annual Register of World Events, this account of a remarkable bigamy trial (or trials) in the Dublin Commission Court in 1846, culminating in a challenge to a duel issued by the prosecution solicitor to leading defence counsel. In… Continue reading
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Locomotive Inspector’s Wife Steps in to Save the Day with Enticing Repast for Judges Marooned at Clonmel Station, 1898
From the Kerry News, 21 June 1898, this heartwarming story of a kindness shown by locomotive inspector’s wife Mrs Daniel Leahy, of Clonmel, to two elderly judges who found themselves detained at the town’s station (image above) due to unspecified… Continue reading
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Irish Bar Offers Free Legal Aid to Under-10 Charged With Stealing Loaf of Bread, 1806
From the Belfast Commercial Chronicle, 19 February 1806: “At an adjournment of the quarter sessions of Kilmainham, held on Friday, Mrs Bryan, from the Rock, prosecuted a boy under ten years of age, exhibiting all the miseries which an apparent… Continue reading
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Cases of the Four Courts No 5: Where There’s a Will There’s a Way – the Story of Courtesan and Serial Litigant Anna Maria Bennett Little
Meet Anna Maria Bennett Little, the 19th century butcher’s daughter/milliner turned courtesan whose Irish protectors kept dying – only to have her produce a will (in one case, two!) made by them in her favour! Litigation associated, directly or indirectly,… Continue reading
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Cases of the Four Courts No 4: The Seduction of a Dean’s Daughter – Adams v Dundas, 1831
A caddish but highly eligible army officer seduces the naive daughter of the Dean of Cashel during the family’s annual seaside holiday in County Louth, only to find himself a defendant in an action brought by the Dean under the… Continue reading
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Cases of the Four Courts No. 3: Not Chloroform, but Too Gross to Speak of -Travers v Wilde, 1864
Not chloroform but too gross to talk about…the 1864 case of Travers v Wilde unleashed an avalanche of evidence disclosing caddish behaviour -and worse – on the part of Oscar Wilde’s father Sir William towards a young patient Mary Josephine… Continue reading
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Cases of the Four Courts No. 2: The Insane Delusion of Christopher Neville Bagot
Paternity, potency and venereal disease in the Dublin Probate Court – this video deals with Bagot v Bagot, a case relating to the will of Gold Rush millionaire and serial womaniser Christopher Neville Bagot, who excluded from his will his… Continue reading
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Cases of the Four Courts No 1: The Serial Jilter of Crossmaglen
A video on the 1909 breach of promise action brought in Dublin’s Four Courts against Patrick Fagg, the serial jilter of Crossmaglen, the subject of the previous post. Hoping to make this the first of a new series on interesting… Continue reading
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The Romance of a Certain Old Scroll: The Missing Part of Baron O’Loghlen’s Statue, 1889-1922
The Evening Irish Times of 11 October 1904 featured an article complaining about the condition of the statue of Sir Michael O’Loghlen in the Round Hall of the Four Courts. The statue had originally depicted the famous barrister and judge… Continue reading
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Proposal to Re-Upholster Barristers’ Benches Sparks Heated Debate at Clare County Council Meeting, 1949
From the Herald (Dublin), 16 April 1949, the interesting reaction of some members of Clare County Council to a suggestion by the then County Registrar that lawyers’ benches in lovely Ennis Courthouse (image above, via Buildings of Ireland) be re-upholstered.… Continue reading
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A Welcome for Judge Davitt, 1946
From the Galway Advertiser, 4 April 1946, this uplifting account of a heartfelt welcome accorded to former barrister and Circuit Court Judge Cahir Davitt on his first appearance in Tullamore after his elevation to the High Court bench: “WELCOME FOR… Continue reading
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From Barrister to Movie Actor, 1949
The below article from the Irish Weekly Independent of 15 October 1949 recounts the unprecedented leap from the Law Library to the silver screen of Irish barrister and movie star Edward George Little, better known under his stage name Edward… Continue reading
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Irish Lawyer Abroad Loses Watch After Mistaking London Thief for old Trinity Friend, 1907
Irish lawyers of the late 19th century were indefatigable travellers, always back and forth to London on the mailboat and train in and out of term. London was, however, a strange city, where, unlike Dublin, everybody did not know everybody… Continue reading
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Punning Rivalry Between Judges, c.1810
Irish judges of old were known for, and possibly even selected on the basis of, their punning skills, finely honed with expert precision to reflect the most current talking points of the time. The rise of Catholicism in early 19th… Continue reading
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A Brother’s Revenge, 1878
Tragedy turns to violence in the Dublin Coroner’s court in this story from the Strathearn Herald of 11 May 1878. Anne Lynch, a servant who committed suicide by drowning herself in the Grand Canal at Rialto (otherwise Harcourt) Bridge, had… Continue reading
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Anyone for Tennis? Irish Solicitor Competes in Davis Cup, 1936
From the Sphere, 23 May 1936, this photograph of Irish solicitor TG (‘George’) McVeagh competing in the Davis Cup of the same year. The firm established by him in Kildare Street survived well into this century. By the early 20th… Continue reading
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Some Nineteenth-Century Inhabitants of 167-169 Church Street, Dublin
In this post we travel back in time to look at the 19th century history of 167-169 Church Street, Dublin, the intended site of the new Family Law Courts. Back in the glory days of Smithfield, this site formed part of… Continue reading
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Midnight Vocalism Near Monto Lands Barrister in Dublin Police Court, 1887
From the Freeman’s Journal, 9 December 1887: “THE PENALTY OF MIDNIGHT VOCALISM Yesterday, in the Northern Division of the Police Court, Mr O’Donel presiding, Charles Dunne, barrister, 14 Haddington road; Arthur Sommers, doctor, 6 Clyde road, Joseph Johnstone, 5 South… Continue reading
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An Extremely Long-Lived Court Crier, 1909
From the Westmeath Independent, 30 January 1909: “COURT CRIER FOR 75 YEARS A notable personality in the form of Mr Condy Boyle, Dungloe, Co Donegal has recently passed away. He was close on 100 years old, and had been court… Continue reading
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Notorious Moneylender Flees Four Courts to Escape Angry Crowd, 1879
Drama in the Four Courts as an unfortunate moneylender only narrowly escapes an angry crowd, beautifully recounted by the Northern Constitution of 17 May 1879. Thomas Joyce, through his vehicle, ‘The Accommodation Bank,’ had been lending money at 155% interest… Continue reading
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New Irish Barristers, November 1930
From the Irish Independent, 8 November 1930, a very nice-looking group of new Irish barristers, including one woman (A Caulfield) as well as two members of the Gardai: a Superintendent and Chief Superintendent. Exhibitioner George Daniel Murnaghan (far left) later… Continue reading
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A Tour of Ireland’s Four Courts Through Time, June 2025
I had the privilege this week of taking a lovely group of visitors through the Four Courts. As there were no handouts, I said I would put the content of the tour up online, together with some illustrations, so here… Continue reading
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‘Miss Flite’ in Real Life, 1910-1914
From the Irish Independent, 30 April 1910, this account of the character of Dickens’ ‘Miss Flite,’ the elderly, eccentric lady litigant from ‘Bleak House,’ as encountered by English and Irish lawyers and judges in real life: “MISS FLITE AND MISS… Continue reading
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Photographing the Circuits, 1904
Irish barristers don’t just practice in Dublin – they also practice around the country. Circuit practice has always been a feature of the Irish Bar. The actual Circuits and their names have changed over the years – once upon a… Continue reading
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Miler’s Sabbath Caresses of the Four Courts Railings, c. 1900
From Robert Gahan’s wonderful article ‘Old Street Characters of Dublin,’ published in Vol 2 No 3 of the Dublin Historical Record (March 1940), this gentle and poignant account of the obsessive-compulsive ballad-singer Miler, one of several non-legal eccentrics associated with… Continue reading
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Excitement at The Four Courts For the Bottle Riot Trial, 1823
From the Belfast News-Letter of 7 February 1823, an evocative description of scenes at the Four Courts on the first day of the trial of Henry Handwich, George Graham and others for conspiracy to assault the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland… Continue reading
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Future Lord Chancellor of Ireland Brings proceedings over Allegations Relating to his Prosecution of Robert Emmet, 1812
From the Belfast News-Letter, 28 January 1812, this account of proceedings for criminal libel initiated by barrister and later Lord Chancellor of Ireland William Conyngham Plunket against Gilbert and Hodges, booksellers, for sale of a publication which asserted that he… Continue reading
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When a Defence Goes Awry: The Cork Slander Case of 1908-9
From the Free Press (Wexford) 25 July 1908: “FAMOUS COUNSEL ‘DISHED’ : MR JH CAMPBELL, KC AND THE COLONEL In the course of the hearing of a sensational slander action in Cork on Wednesday, in which the Hon. Alexis Roche,… Continue reading
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No Cleaning of Streets for Carlow Assizes after ‘Uncalled for’ Judicial Remarks about the Condition of the Town, 1887
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Irish High Court judges went on assizes to each county several times a year to hear cases, often being met by brass bands, the town mayor etc. on their arrival. It was customary… Continue reading
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The Man Who Decided the Location of the Four Courts, 1773-1783
The above gentleman, Welbore Ellis MP, was the person ultimately responsible for deciding the location of today’s Four Courts, Dublin. In so doing, he was motivated primarily by the possibility of personal profit. By the 1770s, all were agreed that… Continue reading
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A Police Chase at the Back of the Four Courts, 1893
From the Dublin Evening Telegraph, 15 May 1893: “BOLTED FROM THE POLICE COURTS Run to Earth by Detective Stratford. This afternoon the ordinary prosaic procedure of the Police Courts had somewhat a novel variation. It is not every day that… Continue reading
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A Judge May Fish: The Riverside Exploits of T.C. Kingsmill Moore, 1900-1960
Irish Supreme Court judge Theodore Conyingham Kingsmill Moore and his family at the College Races, Trinity Week, from the Tatler, 5 June 1952. In addition to his legal achievements, Judge Kingsmill Moore was the author of the noted publication, ‘A… Continue reading
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Curate of St Michan’s Pelted with Vegetables for Alleged ‘Souping,’ 1860
From the Dublin Evening Mail, 22 August 1860, this interesting vignette from Church Street, Dublin, close to the Four Courts, when a crowd gathered to abuse the local Protestant curate, Mr Andrews, for alleged souperising of Catholics – a charge… Continue reading
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Before the Four Courts: The Intended Public Offices on Inns Quay, c.1780
The building we now know as the Four Courts as it was originally meant to be – a building housing offices for the courts rather than the courts themselves, as well as providing a repository for public records. An extended… Continue reading
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Chief Baron Palles Demands Respect from his Court, 1903
A court is not a theatre, and you will be removed – so declared legendary Irish judge Christopher Palles in 1903 when an unidentified woman in a blue dress clapped during a case in his court. See account below. Although… Continue reading
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The New Fish and Vegetable Market in Halston Street, 1892
The Dublin Evening Telegraph of 5th September 1892 carried an account of the new Fish and Vegetable Market close to the Four Courts in Halston Street, due to be formally opened the following day, accompanied by beautiful illustrations including the… Continue reading
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The Lord Chancellor’s State Coach, 1790-1938
How Ireland’s top judge used to travel – the State Coach of the unpopular 18th century Lord Chancellor of Ireland, John FitzGibbon, first Ear of Clare, as described in the Lurgan Mail, 5 March 1932. The coach is now in… Continue reading
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The Four Courts, as Depicted in Shell’s ‘Everywhere You Go’ Series, 1932
This 1932 poster for Shell Oil, part of its ‘Everywhere You Go’ series, features a beautiful depiction of the Liffey and Inns Quay and Ormond Quay, Dublin, with the dome of the newly reconstructed Four Courts in the background. The… Continue reading
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Enough Light to Pierce an Eye, 1888
A wonderful image of the Wellington Quay premises of Joseph Dollard, lithographer, letter press printer and account-book maker, from the late 19th century publication ”The Industries of Dublin’ which described it as “a noble building… constructed in 1888 for the… Continue reading
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Anecdotes of a Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, by his Literary Great-Granddaughters, 1932
Between the leaves of ‘An Incorruptible Irishman, Being an Account of Chief Justice Charles Kendal Bushe, and of his wife, Nancy Crompton, and their Times 1767-1843,’ written by his great-granddaughters Edith Somerville and Martin Ross, better known as authors of… Continue reading
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Best Friend Breakup, 1929
From the Irish Independent, 20 July 1929, this tale of a best friendship gone to the bad. Although there is no specific genre of law devoted to this issue, one suspects that broken friendships have provoked as much litigation as… Continue reading
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Then and Now: Hammond Lane, 1916-2025
Looking down Hammond Lane, Dublin 7, to the dome of the Four Courts, then and now. First image from 1916, via the Bureau of Military History. Second image from Google Streetview. Hammond Lane was originally the route taken by condemned… Continue reading
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‘Patrick Whack’ Visits the Four Courts, 1872
The above poem is from the publication ‘Zozimus,’ 16 March 1872. Persons referred to therein include Judge William Nicholas Keogh, barrister and politician Isaac Butt, barristers Francis McDonogh and Richard Armstrong and John Rea, solicitor. The reference to ‘the divvle’s… Continue reading
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Cashing in the Chips, 1923
From the Daily News (London), 10 July 1923, this story of a distinctly fishy series of events whereby an unnamed Irish solicitor’s advertisement for heirs to an estate came to the notice of the Scottish family concerned – a true… Continue reading
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Trinity College Italian Professor Sacked for Illiteracy Sues Colleagues for Defamation, 1856
From the Cork Constitution, 7 August 1856: “THE TRINITY COLLEGE ITALIAN PROFESSOR (From the Daily News) A singular case, not unlikely to be numbered among the cause célèbres, has just been tried at the summer assizes in the County of… Continue reading
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Judicial Dinner Parties in Merrion and Fitzwilliam Square, 1850s-1870s
During the years 1850 to 1870, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, was the locale of fabled dinner parties hosted by widowed James Henry Monahan, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and his four attractive daughters. The Monahans, ‘a sprightly and accomplished family,’ lived… Continue reading
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Would-Be Visitor to Eamon de Valera Sets Fire to Padded Cell in Bridewell Garda Station, 1929
From the Irish Independent, 9th March 1929, a remarkable story featuring a young man with an asserted connection to Irish politician Éamon de Valera, who set fire to the padded cell in the Bridewell Garda station behind the Four Courts… Continue reading
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The Chief Justice At Bodenstown, 1924
Chief Justice of the Irish Free State Hugh Kennedy and Attorney-General John O’Byrne (later Mr Justice O’Byrne) arriving with their spouses at the 1924 Bodenstown ceremony to commemorate Irish barrister Wolfe Tone who had pre-exempted by suicide execution for his… Continue reading
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A New Day as Irish Judge Marries his Mistress on Instructions from their Shotgun-Wielding Son , c.1810
A fascinating story from the Kerry Reporter of 2 February 1907, about an early 19th century Irish judge forced to marry his mistress. Then, as now, they do things differently in Kerry, and what made this shotgun wedding particularly unusual… Continue reading
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‘A Character if Ever There Was One’: Law Library Crier John Campion, 1892-1949
To understand the significance of the above piece from the Dublin Evening Telegraph of 9 February 1915 , you would need to know that the Law Library of the time had a notice board on which the whereabouts of each… Continue reading
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‘She Drank Something out of a Bottle’: Teenager Charged with Attempted Suicide after Family Row at 7 Inns Quay, 1927
Long replaced by Aras Ui Dhalaigh, it is easy to forget that there were once families living in the houses adjacent to the west wing of the Four Courts shown in the image above, a zoomable version of which, startling… Continue reading
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Sister Act as Governess Represents Herself in Proceedings for Breach of Promise and Child Support, 1882
A fascinating account from the Cheshire Observer, 28 January 1882, of a claim for breach of promise and child support by a many-sistered governess ‘ruined’ by a member of the Stephen’s Street Club. Eye-contact in Grafton Street followed by champagne… Continue reading
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Unfit for Publication: The Criminal Conversation Case of Wilson v Webb, 1870
From the London Evening Standard, 10 December 1870: “Dublin is becoming unenviably famous for divorce and criminal conversation cases of an extraordinary nature. The recent suit of Taylor v Taylor is thrown into the shade by Wilson v Webb, now… Continue reading
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‘Overmanned and Overpaid’: The Underworked Irish Bench, 1856-97
From the Donegal Independent, 18 June 1897: “THE IRISH BENCH The ‘Westminster Gazette’ says that ‘It is not to be wondered at perhaps that the Irish Bar should be anxious to preserve the ‘integrity’ of the Irish Bench, and it… Continue reading
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Baron Dowse and the Saga of the Stand-Up Desk, 1871
A stand-up row about a stand-up desk between the usually genial Irish Solicitor-General Richard Dowse, later Baron Dowse of the Irish Court of Exchequer (above right), and Mr Ayrton of the Westminster Board of Works, gives us an interesting insight… Continue reading
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Legal Duels in the Phoenix Park, 1760-1800
From the Newcastle Courant, 12 May 1882, an article, inspired by the Phoenix Park murders, reminiscing about the blood previously spilled in that location by Irish legal duellists, including future Lord Chief Justices of the Common Pleas and King’s Bench… Continue reading
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The Friars of St Saviour’s and the Old Bridge of Dublin, 1428
From the Evening Herald (Dublin), 5 August 1921: “Dublin city was the first place in Ireland selected for the founding of a Dominican Priory. This was the Convent of St Saviour, which stood on the site of the present Four… Continue reading
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Death in Court: the Suicide of William Jackson, 1795
From the Leeds Times, 31 August 1867, this account, originally published in All the Year Round, of the death of the Reverend William Jackson in the Court of King’s Bench in the old Four Courts in Christchurch, just as the… Continue reading
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Deciding on Drunkenness Pre-Breathalyser, 1914
“A person, though he knows a person is drunk, cannot sometimes explain exactly [why].” How to prove drunkenness in a pre-breathalyser era? The below case from Dungarvan Petty Sessions, reported in the Waterford Evening News of 7 January 1914, which… Continue reading
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The Four Courts We Lived In, 1847
This lovely image of the Four Courts from ‘The Land We Live in: a Pictorial and Literary Sketch-Book of the British Empire’ (1847-51) was accompanied by a beautifully written homage to the unparalleled vibrancy of the Round Hall as it… Continue reading
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Laying the Foundation Stone of the New Four Courts, 1786
The ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the new Four Courts took place in May 1786 and was presided over by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Charles Manners, Duke of Rutland. The below account of the ceremony from an… Continue reading
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The Family of Mr Justice Keogh in the Shade of the Sugar Loaf, 1857
The family of William Nicholas Keogh, Judge of the Common Pleas in Ireland (1856-78), beautifully depicted by John Joseph Slattery in 1857 against the backdrop of the Sugar Loaf, Wicklow, in 1857. Keogh, a former M.P. as well as Q.C.,… Continue reading
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Former Governess’s Gentlemen’s Oyster Supper Cancelled due to Arrest for Luggage Theft, 1878-9
From the Staffordshire Sentinel of 1 November 1878, this account of Edith Shaw, a former governess with a taste for the high life, charged at the Dublin Commission Court with stealing passengers’ luggage at railway stations: Edith managed a number… Continue reading
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‘Well Known as a Hangman’: A High-Kicking Mare, 1915
Litigation in respect of the buying and selling of horses was once a major part of the Irish legal system. Although Sport (Dublin) did not usually carry legal reports, it made an exception on 13 February 1915 in respect of… Continue reading
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The Four Courts from Usher’s Quay, 1830
The Four Courts from Usher’s Quay, c.1830. The building on the right on the Quay is the Wellesley Market, which had opened four years previously. It consisted of 80 warerooms, and in the centre an open space to be fitted… Continue reading
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Anonymous Letters to Judges: The Less Nice Sort, 1880
Although no one could have called 19th century Irish judges overworked, and their depth of legal knowledge varied radically, they all had one thing in common, and that was a high degree of physical courage. With the murder of Lord… Continue reading
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Anonymous Letters to Judges – The Nicer Sort, 1895
Judge Boyd, Bankruptcy Judge, occasionally received anonymous correspondence asking for special consideration for persons due to appear before him. While such correspondence tended to be politer than most anonymous letters received by 19th century Irish judges, he exceedingly disliked these… Continue reading
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The Devil’s Cure, 1801
From the Porcupine, 18 April 1801, a harrowing story of abuse bordering on homicide by Mary Doyle, a fiend in human form whose treatment of infants procured by her from the Foundling Hospital, Dublin for money-making purposes was dreadful enough… Continue reading
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Court of Exchequer Recommends Throwing the Irish Law Reports into the Liffey, 1889
From the Daily Express, 2 February 1889: “THE ACTION BY A SOLICITOR FOR SLANDER In the Exchequer Division yesterday, before the Lord Chief Baron and Mr Baron Dowse, the case of Hugh Thomas Sayers, solicitor, v Edward Ussher Quinn, JP,… Continue reading
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Pilloried for Sedition in Church Street, 1793
Did you know that there was a pillory opposite St Michan’s Church, Church Street, Dublin, in the late 18th century? But if you were put there for sedition, there was no rotten fruit-throwing, residents of the area being themselves of… Continue reading
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The River Liffey and the Law Courts, Dublin, 1879, by J Huberts
A stunning image by J. Huberts depicting businessmen, street hawkers, local women and mounted and kilted military going about their day against the backdrop of an unrecognisable Wood Quay. Buildings, vehicles and activities may have changed, but the courts, the… Continue reading
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Edmund Burke’s Birthplace at 12 Arran Quay, c.1902
This photograph of the birthplace of philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke at 12 Arran Quay, Dublin, published in the Sphere of 22 November 1902, shows the attractive shopfronts of buildings near the Four Courts a century or so ago. Burke’s… Continue reading
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Production of Law Books in Court Viewed by Judges as an Insult, pre-1840s
Did you know that as late as the 1830s it was considered a breach of etiquette by Irish lawyers to bring text books into court, as judges were presumed to know everything in the caselaw already? See below an account… Continue reading
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Irish Legal Day and Week Shortened to Conserve Coal, 1918
As detailed in the below story from the Freeman’s Journal of 10 October 1918, coal shortages at the end of the First World War led to a shortening of the legal day in the Four Courts. Courts now finished at… Continue reading
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Miss Dromgoole of Pill Lane, 1887-1906
Though excluded from the courts in the absence of a dustpan or broom, save on Call Days, when they were permitted to flit like pretty butterflies through the otherwise forbidden realms of the Law Library, the vicinity of the Four… Continue reading
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Not What They Thought She Was, 1928
From the Fermanagh Herald of 28 January 1928, this account of the appearance before the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in Green Street of the irredeemable Mary Knott, a ten-time convicted middle-aged fraudster of refined taste and extraordinary ingenuity. Armed with… Continue reading
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‘Zozimus’ on the Four Courts, 1872
As republished in the Galway Observer, 21 March 1953, a satirical article about the Four Courts from the 1870-72 publication ‘Zozimus’, published by barrister and journalist Alexander Martin Sullivan, a member of the Healy-Sullivan dynasty which included, among others, his… Continue reading
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Grandson of Lord Chief Justice Charged with Manslaughter of Child by Whip, 1851
From Douglas Jerrold’s Weekly Newspaper, 14 September 1850: “CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER AGAINST CAPTAIN BUSHE, OF THE 59TH REGIMENT An inquest was held at Mallow, on Friday, on the body of a respectable child, named John Dennehy, between six and seven… Continue reading
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Judge Kelly, 1783-1801
From the North Down Herald and County Down Independent, 2 August 1907, this extract from Jonah Barrington’s ‘Personal Sketches and Recollections of his Own Time’ describing Thomas Kelly, justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland 1783-1801: “One of the most… Continue reading
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The Lounge Bar at the Four Courts Hotel, 1940
The new Lounge Bar at the legendary Four Courts Hotel, Inns Quay, as it appeared in the Irish Independent of 19 October 1940. The accompanying write-up describes the hotel as ‘the favoured rendezvous of many whose name and fame have… Continue reading
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The Law Library as a Solicitors Hall, pre-1922
The site of today’s Law Library in its previous incarnation as a Solicitors Hall, as published in ‘A Souvenir Album of the Dublin Fighting, 1922.’ The Solicitors Hall was used between 1840 and 1922 for meetings, lectures. It also hosted… Continue reading
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A Broken Neck and a Broken Heart on Coal Quay, 1803
A youthful romance which ended in the worst of circumstances on a gallows opposite the Four Courts in 1803. The young and ‘extremely handsome’ Denis Lambert Redmond, a 23-year-old successful businessman living opposite the Four Courts at 14 Coal Quay… Continue reading
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The Remains of the Old Four Courts at Christchurch, 1836
An 1835 image from the Dublin Penny Journal depicting the ruins of the east side of the old Four Courts at Christchurch. The building – no more than a very large, oddly-shaped hall, with the four courts separated from one… Continue reading
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Faking a Pregnancy and Buying a Baby, 1885
“Her husband was addicted to drinking, and he expressed the belief that if he had a little child in the house it would help to wean him from his habit… witness began to dress up as to give herself the… Continue reading
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Images of Baron Joy’s Statue in the Round Hall, 1913-22
A rare photograph of the pre-1922 Round Hall, from AL Richardson ‘Monumental Classic Architecture in Great Britain and Ireland’, 1913. The light coming through the portico confirms the view is of the south side of the Round Hall. The statue… Continue reading
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As Clear as the Law Library Magnifying Glass, 1949
According to the Evening Herald of 3 March 1949, the Law Library magnifying glass was called upon to save the day in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in 1949, when jurors needed to see the detail in photographic exhibits. Unfortunately,… Continue reading
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The Four Courts, as depicted by Tallis & Rapkin, 1851
Tallis & Rapkin’s 1851 map of Dublin includes an elegant and serene view of the Four Courts, from which we can see that the houses on Inns Quay were originally Dutch Billies, as were the houses in Church Street of… Continue reading
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Longstanding Dispute between Courtkeeper and Petty Sessions Clerk Culminates in Action for Assault and Battery, 1909
From the Cork Examiner, 18th January 1909: “CLARE ASSAULT ACTION AMUSING CASE At the Kilrush Quarter Sessions on Saturday last before Judge McDonnell Bodkin, an interesting suit was heard in which Miss Agnes Slattery, court keeper, brought an action against… Continue reading
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Laughter and Applause on the First Day of the Central Criminal Court, 1924
The Central Criminal Court – originally established by the Courts of Justice Act 1924 to deal with serious criminal trials in Dublin and surrounding counties – first sat at Green Street Courthouse (above) on 12 June 1924, with Mr Justice… Continue reading
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An Unfortunate Case of Mistaken Identity: Killing the Wrong Chief Justice, 1803
The murder, during the 1803 Rebellion, of a Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, may have contributed to the bias shown against its leader, Irish barrister Robert Emmet, during his subsequent trial for treason. The Lord Chief Justice so killed was… Continue reading
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Warmth at the Hearths of the Four Courts, 1882
A chilly December in Dublin, as recounted in the Freeman’s Journal of 15 December 1882. Those who could not afford to heat themselves at home came to warm themselves at the fires of the Four Courts – blocking the hot… Continue reading
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St Michan’s As It Once Was, c. 1790
This 1790 image of the north side of St Michan’s Church, sketched by an unknown artist, allows us to recapture the loveliness of this building as it once was. Rocque’s map below tells us that, at this time, there was… Continue reading
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The Lost Years of Lord Justice Moriarty, 1883-1890
‘What I Have Seen and Heard,’ by J.G. Swift MacNeill (1849-1926), available to read free of charge at this link, is replete with fascinating information about the Irish Bar and Bench in the period 1870-1914. Particularly intriguing is MacNeill’s account… Continue reading
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The Battle of the Ballinasloe Cat, 1877
In the below story from the Belfast Telegraph, 7 August 1877, two neighbours in Ballinasloe, County Galway engage in a heated legal battle over a cat: Other examples of recourse to the law to recover stolen pets can occasionally be… Continue reading
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The Four Courts from the West Side, c.1900
The west side of the Four Courts adorned by black-clad pedestrians, horse-drawn vehicles and river traffic, c. 1900. A good view of the elegant Four Courts Hotel (9-10 Inns Quay) on the far left. 6-8 Inns Quay had not yet… Continue reading
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No Fresh Hell, 1805
Did you know that in the early days of the Four Courts there was a practice of circulating in the Round Hall anonymous poems written by or about members of the legal profession? The poems were pasted up or left… Continue reading
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The Rival Sweethearts of Paddy Moriarty, 1895
From the Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette, 27 September 1895, this account of a legal tussle at the Killorglin Petty Sessions between two women smitten with the same man, with a dialogue worthy of – and perhaps an inspiration… Continue reading
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Straight from the Four Courts to Marlborough Green of a Friday night, c. 1761
This poem by TP Stuart, published in the Lady of the House of 25 December 1920, recalls the frolics of 18th century Dubliners on Marlborough Green, a pleasure garden to the east of what is now O’Connell Street. Names dropped… Continue reading
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Maud Gonne and St Michan’s, 1897
In June 1897, as security precautions in Dublin escalated in anticipation of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, the caretaker of St Michan’s Church, beside the Four Courts, ungraciously refused entry to a tall, handsome woman carrying a bundle of wreaths. The woman… Continue reading
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Air-Raid Shelters Opposite the Four Courts, 1940
Photographs of air-raid shelters in the course of construction on Merchant’s Quay, opposite the Four Courts, from the Irish Independent of 27 August 1940. Under the regulations adopted by the Four Courts during the Emergency, tipstaffs had charge of the… Continue reading
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Lady Jurors Take Longer, 1921
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… Continue reading
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A ‘Raffles’ Apprehended on Merchants Quay, 1823
From the Morning Post, 2 October 1823: “One piece of calico was discovered in his hat, which being full merely stood balanced on his head; the other pieces were skilfully swathed around his body, hanging round behind his knees, they… Continue reading
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A Cat in the Court of King’s Bench, 1795
The 1795/6 period marked the transition from the old Four Courts at Christchurch to the new ones on Inns Quay. As the article doesn’t say which Four Courts was involved, it’s not clear whether the cat’s objection was to law… Continue reading
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The Four Courts, 1830s
An 1830s Four Courts. The surprisingly modern building on its right is probably the old Meeting House on Mass Lane, pulled down to make Chancery Street. A Petrie image of the same period (zoomable version here) shows intriguing signs or… Continue reading
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Dandies in the Four Courts, 1840
From the Limerick Chronicle, 11 March 1840: “The two greatest dandies in the Law Department, who attend daily at their office, Four Courts, are Mr B., bedizened with rings and pearls, and the late M.P. for Meath, whose good-humoured face… Continue reading
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The First Shot Fired On the Four Courts, 1822
The first recorded shot to strike the Four Courts does not date from the occupations of 1916 or 1922, but a full century earlier. It was an accidental volley in August 1822, fired from what is now Collins Barracks. One… Continue reading
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Easels and Smocks on Inns Quay, 1960s
Artists with easels outside the mid 20th century Four Courts, via Europeana. A staged photo for the Bord Failte advertising campaign in which they appear, or a regular occurrence in the early 1960s? Have a look at the additional images… Continue reading
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Baron Pennefather, Ireland’s Blind Judge, 1839-1859
From the Globe, 4 October 1909: “The death of Mr EFP Emmett, of the Burnley Incorporated Law Society, one of the two blind solicitors in England, may recall the fact, says the ‘Law Times’ that in Ireland a judge of… Continue reading
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Elder Abuse in the Dublin Police Court, 1885
A case of elder abuse in the Dublin Police Court reported in the Dundee Courier of 27 January 1885. Police court reports are a great insight into Ireland of the time, and the Dublin Police Court, a Dickensian building behind… Continue reading
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The Irish Bar Pleads in Verse for Humane Sanitation, 1877
The above poem, by ‘Kit’, bemoaning the smell in the Four Courts, appeared in the Irish Builder of 1 Feb 1877. The problem of Four Courts’ stench, recurring throughout the mid-19th century, derived from two sources: (i) the Liffey nearby,… Continue reading
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The Irish House on Wood Quay, c.1700-1960s
The above image from ‘The Industries of Dublin’ (1887) depicts that famous pub, the Irish House, situated opposite the Four Courts on the corner of Wood Quay and Winetavern Street. According to the writer of the accompanying text, the pub… Continue reading
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English Precedents, 1921
As the above story from the Irish Independent of 4 June 1921 shows, even prior to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, some members of the Irish bench were making a point about a possible move away from English law.… Continue reading
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Action Against County Court Judge for Breach of Promise Settles for £1500, 1884
Breach of promise actions were proceedings, usually but not invariably brought by a woman, seeking damages for a broken promise to marry. Judges being aware of the law and most usually beyond the proposing age at the date of their… Continue reading
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Clothes-Stealing in Church Street, 1838
From the Dublin Morning Register, 4 September 1838: “CITY SESSIONS Catherine Johnstone and Mary Whittaker were arraigned for stealing several items of wearing apparel, the property of Esther Lennon. Esther Lennon being sworn, deposed that she was in the Fruit-market,… Continue reading
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Disagreement at Inquest as Sandymount Schoolboy Dies following Caning, 1885
From the Freeman’s Journal, 26 October 1885 “DEATH OF A SCHOOLBOY WHILE BEING CANED PROCEEDINGS IN THE POLICE COURT On Saturday morning in Northern Division of Police Court before Mr Charles J O’Donel, John McNamee, schoolmaster of the Star of… Continue reading
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Magistrate Orders Clerk out of Court for ‘Impertinence,’ 1909
From the Dublin Daily Express, 22 September 1909: “MR WALL AND HIS CLERK EXTRAORDINARY SCENE IN POLICE COURT An extraordinary scene occurred yesterday in the Northern Police Court, where Mr Wall, K.C., was the presiding magistrate. The atmosphere of this… Continue reading
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American and Canadian Lawyers Visit the Irish Free State, 1924
In 1924, 200 eminent American and Canadian lawyers on a busman’s holiday to Europe opted to include in their itinerary an Irish Free State still reeling from the turmoil of the Civil War. Although the Four Courts, destroyed in 1922,… Continue reading
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Polish Refugees in the Dublin Police Court, 1869
From the Tipperary Free Press, 29 January 1869: “ROMANCE OF A DUBLIN POLICE COURT Persons whose pursuits might have led them, for the past few weeks, to the neighbourhood of the North-wall have had their attention drawn to two men… Continue reading
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The Trials of Miss Tucker, or, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Yore, 1839
From Saunders’s News-Letter, 7 February 1839 (abridged) “COURT OF QUEEN’S BENCH – YESTERDAY ABDUCTION – EXTRAORDINARY CASE The Queen, at the prosecution of Mabel Tucker, v Peter Yore, Thomas Flood, Michael Bradley, Mary Meehan and Anne Cooney This case, which… Continue reading
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Railway Prosecution Enlivened by Lord Chief Justice’s Personal Reminiscences of Youthful Train Jumping, 1918
From the Evening Herald, 21 January 1918: “’When We Were Boys’ School Day Yarns by Irish Judges in Railway Action. Interesting little stories of ‘our boyhood days’ order were related today in the King’s Bench Division, Dublin during the hearing… Continue reading
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Bill Durham and the Theft of the Smithfield May Bush, c.1750
From the Westmeath Independent, 8 May 1852: “MAY DAY IN THE OLDEN TIME The preparations for the May Day sports and ceremonial in Dublin commenced about the middle of April, and even earlier, and a rivalry, which often led to… Continue reading
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Moral Unsoundness as a Defence to Bank Robbery, 1926
From the Southern Star, 6 February 1926, this interesting account of the trial of Herbert McBride Campbell and Wilfred Watkins for armed robbery of £70 from the Greystones sub-branch of the Northern Bank, the robbers having arrived and left on… Continue reading
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Outrage in the Bloody Fields, 1861
The 1861 trial of Dublin cabman John Curran for indecent assault on a young passenger, Louisa Jolly, transfixed mid-Victorian Ireland. The trial involved interesting issues relating to identification evidence, and reports and commentary associated with it give a fascinating insight… Continue reading
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A Boy and a Revolver, 1923
As the Irish Civil War raged, juvenile members of the population were not above taking advantage of its attendant confusion for their own benefit. From the Freeman’s Journal, 6 March 1923, this story reminiscent of the eponymous hero of Richmal Crompton’s… Continue reading
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A Plea for Soft Furnishings in the Irish Court of Exchequer, 1860
From Saunders’s News-Letter, a plea for soft furnishings to ease noise and soothe the aching hindquarters of jurors and Junior Counsel in the Irish Court of Exchequer, 22 February 1860: “EXCHEQUER NISI PRIUS – Yesterday STATE OF THE COURT The… Continue reading
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The Tragic Lovers of the Ha’penny Bridge, 1867
From the Penny Despatch and Irish Weekly Newspaper, 24 April 1867, this account of the tragic death of a couple as worthy of remembrance for the story of their love and end as any lawyer who ever walked the halls… Continue reading
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The Old Irish Inns of Court, 1290-1803
From the Northern Whig, 21 February 1927: “Although from very early times convenience led Irish barristers to form a voluntary association resembling the English Inns to which they belonged there was no Inn of Court in Ireland when Edward I… Continue reading
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The Other Battle of the Four Courts, 1923
From the Dublin Evening Telegraph, 13 March 1923: “PITCHED BATTLE Boys as ‘Republicans’ and ‘Free Staters’ DUBLIN STREET FIGHT To-day, in the Dublin Police Court, before Mr E.A. Collins, KC, Anthony Casserly, Vincent Casserly, Joseph Maguire, James O’Connor, Nicholas Ward… Continue reading
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Money to Burn as Spurned Servant Starts Supposedly Supernatural Fire, 1914
From the Strabane Weekly News, 31 January 1914: “COUNTY DONEGAL MYSTERY Disappearance of £300 DOMESTIC SERVANT CHARGED WITH THEFT Remarkable Evidence of Superstition At Lifford Crown Sessions – before His Honour Judge Cooke – a domestic servant named Winifred McCarron… Continue reading
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Church Street Supercentenarian Passes at 119 Years, 1753
From Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, 12 February 1753, this account of an extremely long-lived resident of Dublin 7: “IRELANDDUBLIN, Jan 30. On Sunday fe’nnight died at the Widow’s House of St. Michan’s Parish, Mrs Devoureux, aged 119; she was born in… Continue reading
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The Most Distinguished Dog in the Country, 1903
From the Weekly Irish Times, 19 December 1903, this story of a canine Boer War hero of the highest level regrettably forced to seek ‘wuff justice’ in the Dublin Police Court: “A FAMOUS DOG IN THE POLICE COURT On Tuesday,… Continue reading
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A Sprinkling of Belladonna, 1906
From the Northern Whig, 21 March, 1906: “ACTION AGAINST A BANGOR DOCTOR TUGHAN V DARNELL THE DEFENDANT’S CASE In the Crown Court of the County Courthouse, Crumlin Road, yesterday, before the Lord Chief Baron and a County Antrim special jury,… Continue reading
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Buried at St Michan’s, Church Street, Dublin: Goddard Sterne, 1838
From the Staffordshire Advertiser, 28 July 1838, and the Morning Post, 21 July 1838: “The Dublin people and papers are in great excitement about the death of a young man named Goddard Sterne, whose father (called General Sterne) has been… Continue reading
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Juvenile Burglars Stranded at Sea, 1904
From the Wicklow People, 27 August 1904, this Dublin Police Court story of a trio of schoolboy miscreants whose sins ended them up in some very cold water indeed: “A romantic story was told about three lads who appeared in… Continue reading
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Irish Judges of 1865
From the Cork Constitution, 16 January 1865: “THE IRISH JUDGES DUBLIN, JAN 12. – Hilary Term opened at the Four Courts yesterday with the customary formalities, which are too well known to require description. All the judges, even the youngest… Continue reading
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Elderly Governor of St Michan’s Transported for Vestry Charity Theft, 1819
From the Dublin Weekly Register, 11 December 1819, this very old story of a crime committed at St Michan’s, Church Street, by one of its oldest and most respected parishioners: “COMMISSION – TRIAL OF WM SMYTH. Saturday last, the Commission of… Continue reading
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She Smoked All The Time She Was With Him, 1907
From the Dundee Evening Telegraph, 6 June 1907: “LADY’S SMOKING PROPENSITIES Mary Telford, a married woman, living with her husband at Armagh, who caused some amusement in Court by admitting that for some years she smoked a pipe because of… Continue reading
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Late-Sitting Irish Judges, 1788-1834
The Cork Examiner of 1 December 1909 records the following story of the Limerick Winter Assizes of 1788, featuring a leading 18th century Irish judge, Sir Robert Day: “Quite a large number of young men were indicted for high treason and, as… Continue reading
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The Sedan Chair Murder, Greek Street, Dublin, 1717
From the Leinster Leader, 3 October 1936: “ROMANCE OF THE LUTTRELLS OF LUTTRELLSTOWN (by Doreen Mills) The historic and beautiful castle of Luttrellstown in County Dublin for well over 500 years was in the ancient family of Luttrell, from which… Continue reading
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A Shake of a Dog’s Tail, 1842
From the Freeman’s Journal, 9 November 1842: “WONDERFUL EFFECT OF A BLOW FROM A DOG’S TAIL Several vintners were summoned before the magistrates to answer the complaints of police-constables, who charged them with having violated the Spirit Act. Bartholomew Romainville,… Continue reading
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Lord Justice FitzGibbon’s Howth Residence, 1879-1909
From the Dublin Evening Telegraph, 23 October 1909: “JUDGE FITZGIBBON’S HOWTH RESIDENCE In connection with the death of Lord Justice FitzGibbon there have been frequent references to his house at Howth, which is associated with so many prominent men. Many eminent Irish… Continue reading
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The Queen of the Fairies, 1844
From the Cork Examiner, 22 April 1844: “We copy from the Kilkenny Journal the following extraordinary case tried on Friday last, at the Kilkenny Quarter Sessions:- Mary Neill was placed at the bar, charged with having obtained a gown and… Continue reading
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Damages of £1000 awarded against Former Lord Mayor of Dublin for Seducing his Own Daughter, 1846
From the Cork Examiner, 2 March 1846 “MOST EXTRAORDINARY CASE – VERDICT OF £1000 DAMAGES AGAINST THE LATE LORD MAYOR OF DUBLIN FOR THE SEDUCTION OF HIS OWN DAUGHTER COUNTY WICKLOW ASSIZES – FRIDAY The Hon Mr Justice Ball took… Continue reading
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Raining in Court, 1947-1969
From the Irish Press, 14 March 1947: “It was ‘Raining’ In the Courts. When the business of the two Circuit Courts was in progress for some time at Chancery Place, yesterday, water began to fall from the glass roof of… Continue reading
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Church Street and Bow Street, 1884
The ‘Slums of Dublin’ series in the Freeman’s Journal, 26 and 27 September 1884, carried the following account of the once great thoroughfares of Church Street and Bow Street. Written in the usual moralistic tone adopted by the Freeman for… Continue reading
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No Great Gas: Lighting the Four Courts, 1856-1905
From the Dublin Daily Express, 12 February 1879: “THE STATE OF THE COURTHOUSE A juror in the last case complained that there was a strong smell of gas in the jury box. The Lord Chief Baron – Is there anyone… Continue reading
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The Body under the Bed, 1864
A fascinating Belfast defamation action arising out of a most unusual misunderstanding, as reported in the Cork Constitution, Friday 29 July 1864: “At the Belfast Quarter Sessions, before Mr. Otway QC, the case of Louisa Fraser v Patrick McCabe came… Continue reading
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The Language of Love, 1901-1904
From the Yorkshire Evening Post, 17 July 1901: “DIVERTING BREACH OF PROMISE CASE In the Four Courts, Dublin, yesterday, a breach of promise action brought by Beatrice Kate Roberts against Dr Charles Burnett Scott came before Master Bruce and a… Continue reading
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An American Journalist in the Dublin Police Court, 1907
From the Belfast Weekly News, 29 August 1907: “SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST AN AMERICAN Extraordinary Story Told in Dublin Police Court An extraordinary story was unfolded on 22nd inst. in the Police Court before Mr Swifte, upon a charge of obtaining money… Continue reading
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Irish Judicial Costume, 1500s-1925
From the Irish Independent, 17 August 1925, this entertaining and informative account of historic Irish judicial costume, inspired by the then ongoing discussion as to the robes to be worn by the judiciary of the Irish Free State: “The question… Continue reading
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Tenant of Haunted House Liable for Rent, Drogheda, 1890
From the Daily Express, 23 January 1890: “A HAUNTED HOUSE IN DROGHEDA (FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT) Drogheda, Wednesday At the Quarter Sessions to-day, before his Honor Judge Kisbey, a very amusing case was heard. It was a process brought at the… Continue reading
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The Case of the Dead Man’s Finger, 1863
From the Belfast Morning News, 24 September 1863: “A TALISMANIC RELIC’ An extraordinary case was heard at last Loughgall Petty Sessions, county Armagh. A woman named Sarah Hagan charged her husband, James Hagan, with having assaulted her and threatened her… Continue reading
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Debt, Law, Scandal and Horses: The Strange Saga of an Irish Female Moneylender and her Descendants, 1830s-1929
From the Galway Express, 7 December 1912: “At a special court held at Lucan on Monday, Mr Vernon Russell, described as a member of the Irish Bar, living in Leeson Street, Dublin, was charged with attempting suicide by jumping into… Continue reading
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The Penance of Christopher Pell, St Michan’s, 1725
From the Drogheda Argus and Leinster Journal, 10 November 1877: “The Prime Minister Mr Gladstone spent Tuesday in visiting various places of interest in Dublin. Having inspected the graving dock at Dublin Port, the party returned towards the city, Mr… Continue reading
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On the Hazard at the Four Courts, 1856-1956
From the Belfast Telegraph of Saturday 12 May 1956: “In Dublin, the word hazard is (or was) the proper technical term for a street car stand duly authorised by the police… One young Englishman was naturally ignorant of this local… Continue reading
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Ballina Man Shoots at Cat, Hits Youth a Mile Away, 1951
From the Ballina Herald, 20 January 1951: “TAKING A CRACK AT THE CAT RIFLE BULLET LODGES IN MAN’S SHOULDER EXTRAORDINARY CASE AT BALLINA (Exclusive Report) Next time you see a stray cat on the garden wall, don’t do as Muredach… Continue reading
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A Wreck in the Hall of the Four Courts, 1884
From the Ulster Echo, 7 February 1884: “REMAINS OF A WRECK IN THE HALL OF THE FOUR COURTS DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY. – To-day, outside the Court of Exchequer, a large portion of the ship Clara, which was wrecked off McCammond’s Rock,… Continue reading
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Noisy Courts, Wood Paving and the Limits of Judicial Power, 1905-1915
From the Freeman’s Journal, 18 October 1905: “In the King’s Bench Division Bankruptcy side yesterday, Mr Justice Boyd during his sitting complained of the difficulty of hearing in his court. He said it was practically impossible to hear the gentlemen… Continue reading
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Man Personates Detective on Inns Quay, Allegedly to Protect Himself from Women, 1893
From the Dublin Daily Express, 6 January 1893: “PERSONATING A DETECTIVE Yesterday, in the Northern Police Court, before Mr Keyes, a man named Joseph Rogers was charged in custody of Police Constable 164D with having been drunk and disorderly on… Continue reading
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Buried in St Michan’s: Lord Clements, 1839
From the Dublin Evening Post, 29 January 1839: “FUNERAL OF THE LATE LORD CLEMENTS The remains of this lamented young nobleman, whose death we announced on Saturday, were interred yesterday in the family vault of St Michan’s church. The funeral… Continue reading
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Dogs Behaving Badly, 1952-1956
From the Evening Echo, 9 March 1956: “DOG WITH AVERSION TO GARDAI OWNER BEFORE CORK DISTRICT COURT A dog with an aversion to members of the Gardai, but with the wisdom to leave the jurisdiction of the Court before his… Continue reading
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The Neighbourhood of the Four Courts by Night and Day, 1876
From the Weekly Irish Times, 4 November 1876 (abridged), this account, heavily indebted to Dickens, of the near environs of the Four Courts in the second half of the 19th century. “DUBLIN HAUNTS BULL LANE BY NIGHT This now classical locality… Continue reading
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Chief Baron Palles at Home, 1898
From the Warder and Dublin Weekly Mail, 26 November 1898, this remarkable account of a ‘Hello’ type visit to the summer home of the last Lord Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer: “In the current issue of the ‘World’, Lord… Continue reading
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Suffragette Stones Home of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, 1913
From the Derry Journal, 13 May 1913: “BROKE JUDGE’S WINDOW I’m sorry I hadn’t time to do more. Don’t you know I’m a suffragette?” was the answer given by a woman named Mary Fisher when arrested on a charge of… Continue reading
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A Morning at the Dublin Police Courts, 1871
The new Dublin Police Courts behind the Four Courts opened for business in October 1868. A report in the Freeman’s Journal of 28 August 1868 stated that they had been erected by Mr Michael Meade, from designs furnished by the… Continue reading
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Raising the Wind by Raising Ghosts, 1841
From the Dublin Evening Mail, 6 September 1841: “BELFAST PETTY SESSIONS – WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1 RAISING THE WIND BY RAISING GHOSTS Our readers, we are sure, will not have forgotten an extraordinary case, tried at our Quarter Sessions Court, in… Continue reading
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Celebrity Lion Hunter Arrested for Indecent Exposure on Sandymount Strand, 1858
From the Freeman’s Journal, 27 February 1858: “Mr Gordon Cumming, the celebrated lion hunter, was brought before the magistrate at College-street police office on Tuesday last, charged by a young and interesting looking female, named Margaret Jevans, and a number… Continue reading
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The Abduction of ‘Pretty Annie Cloury’, 1891
From the Freeman’s Journal, 14 February 1891: “Yesterday at half-past three, in the Courthouse, Green-Street, Henry C Harvey, described as a druggist, residing in Great Brunswick Street, was placed at the bar before Mr. Justice O’Brien, and indicted for having… Continue reading
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The Judge Who Was Mistaken for a King, 1908
From the Cork Examiner, 6 April 1908, this loving tribute to one of the Irish Bar’s most famous humorists, Limerick County Court Judge Richard Adams: “Those who knew the late Judge Adams well will find it hardest to believe that… Continue reading
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English Divorce Granted After Errant Wife Run to Earth in Four Courts Hotel, 1904
The Four Courts Hotel opened beside the Four Courts on Inns Quay in 1902, in place of its predecessor the Angel, which, as previously documented, had suffered a number of mysterious deaths during its period of operation. If the cuisine at… Continue reading
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Slander Action over Michael Collins’ Death Ends in Ha’penny Damages, 1958
On 22 August 1922, Michael Collins, Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State, was shot dead in an ambush at Béal na Bláth, County Cork. The person who fired the shot that killed him has never been… Continue reading
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Bicycle Theft from Four Courts Yard Ends in Probation Act for Fifteen Intrepid Pre-Teens, 1957
From the Irish Press, 9 October 1957: “TOOK BIKES FROM FOUR COURTS YARD Eight boys and seven girls from eight to eleven years old were charged in the Children’s Court yesterday with taking ten bicycles belonging to officials employed in… Continue reading
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Jephson v Brenon, 1909, Pt 4: The Outcome
From the Chiswick Times, 9 July 1909: “END OF THE IRISH SUIT THE ACTION AGAINST A CHISWICK GENTLEMAN JUDGE’S STRONG REMARKS The remarkable law suit against a Chiswick gentleman, which had been before the Courts in Dublin for many days,… Continue reading
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Jephson v Brenon, 1909, Pt 3: The Evidence of Edward St. John Brenon
From various Irish and English newspaper reports of 26-30 June 1909, including but not confined to the Daily Mirror, the Dublin Daily Express and the Northern Whig, Part 3 of the saga of Jephson v Brenon, edited and abridged (links… Continue reading
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The Strange, Sad Case of Jephson v Brenon, 1909 – Pt 2, The Cache of Letters
Described as ‘the strangest, saddest case’ ever to have been heard in the Four Courts, Dublin, the 1909 proceedings of Jephson v Brenon sought to set aside a deed executed many decades earlier by eccentric Irish expat John Boyce in… Continue reading
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Discovered in a Garret in Naples: The Case of Jephson v Brenon, 1909, Pt 1
From the Daily Mirror, 18 June 1909: “RESCUED FROM NAPLES GARRET FORTY YEARS EXILE The hearing of the strange case of Jephson v Brenon, described by counsel as one of the saddest tragedies ever told in a court of justice,… Continue reading
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Country Litigants, and Other Frequenters of the Four Courts, 1822
From the Yorkshire Gazette, 21 December 1822: “HALL OF THE FOUR COURTS Some very able papers are now in the course of publication in the New Monthly Magazine entitled ‘Sketches of the Irish Bar;’ giving an account of the various… Continue reading
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The Battle of Pill Lane, 1829
From the Clonmel Herald, 24 October 1829: “On Wednesday morning, at an early hour, a vast concourse of persons had assembled in Pill Lane, to witness the battle royal which was expected to take place between the Lord Mayor and… Continue reading
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Sudden Deaths at the Angel Hotel, Inns Quay, 1852-1882
From the Dublin Weekly Nation, 17 July 1869: “SUDDEN DEATH On Monday Mr. John McNally, solicitor, had an awfully sudden death in the coffee room of the Angel Hotel, Inns Quay, Dublin. He went in to have some refreshment, and… Continue reading
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Defenders of the Home Front: The Four Courts Veteran Volunteer Corps in 1916
From the Northern Whig, 25 May 1916: ‘DEFENDERS OF THE FOUR COURTS A great many members of the legal profession and officials of the Four Courts have been for more than a year in military training for home defence, and… Continue reading
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A Daring Escape from Green Street Courthouse, 1904
From the Dublin Daily Express, 6 February 1904: “ESCAPE OF A PRISONER STRANGE INCIDENT AT THE COMMISSION COURT A good deal of sensation was caused in the Courthouse, Green Street, yesterday afternoon, when it became known that a prisoner named… Continue reading
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The Divorce of a Deputy Crier, 1885-91
From the Freeman’s Journal, 10 November 1885: “PROBATE AND MATRIMONIAL DIVISION Before the Right Hon Judge Warren, and a Common Jury CARNEGIE V CARNEGIE – This was a suit by the wife for a divorce a mensa et thoro, on… Continue reading
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The Trial of Luke Dillon for the Rape and Seduction of Anne Frizell, 1831
From the Chester Courant, 26 April 1831 “TRIAL OF LUKE DILLON, FOR RAPE AND SEDUCTION (Abridged from the Dublin Papers) At five minutes to ten o’clock, the prisoner, Dillon, was removed from Newgate into the dock, when, without stopping for… Continue reading
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Attainted Aristocrat Dies in Private Lodgings on Inns Quay, 1726
From the Newcastle Courant, 21 February 1747: “Last Sunday was interred in a Vault in St George’s Church, the Remains of William Flemming, Esq, commonly called Lord Slane, who had an annual Pension of £300 from his Majesty. The… Continue reading
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Tailor Arrested for Dancing the Polka in Sackville Street, 1844
From the Cork Examiner, 21 June 1844: “DUBLIN POLICE – HENRY STREET MOST EXTRAORDINARY CASE – A TAILOR DANCING THE POLKA IN SACKVILLE-STREET A young man named Gaffney, whose attire was well calculated to display the symmetry of his anatomical… Continue reading
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An Unusual Ballina Libel Action, 1955
From the Ballina Herald, 30 April 1955: “Unusual Ballina Libel Case Exception Taken to Note Written by Dumb Shoemaker. The absence of an interpreter of the sign language used by deaf and dumb people caused an adjournment at Ballina Circuit… Continue reading
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A Trip Around the Four Courts, Dublin
Join me on a virtual trip around the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland’s centre of justice for over 200 years, where most of the events archived on this website took place. Continue reading
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A Six-Year-Old Prosecutes, 1837
From the Freeman’s Journal, 10 May 1837: “DUBLIN POLICE COURT, COLLEGE-STREET A coal porter of the name of Fogarty was brought before the magistrates, charged by a little boy of about six years of age, with having robbed him of… Continue reading
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To Fake a Death, 1861
From the Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser, 25 May 1861: “THE DEAD ALIVE – EXTRAORDINARY CASE Some years ago, in Dublin, a husband and wife, it appears, took it into their heads to possess themselves of £500 which had been… Continue reading
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Discoveries at the Four Courts Bookstalls, 1796-1886
From the Freeman’s Journal, 19 February 1921: TREASURE HUNTERS HAUNTS Reminiscences of Dublin’s Old Book Stores (By M. M. O’H.) “The old bookshops of Dublin! What a vista of pleasant thoughts they create. What delightful experiences of eager prowlings round… Continue reading
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A Objectionable Dress, 1909
From the Donegal Independent, 14 May 1909 and the Irish News and Belfast Morning News, 8 May 1909: “AN ACTRESS’S SKIRTS The jury in the Nisi Prius Court, Dublin failed to agree to a verdict in an action brought by… Continue reading
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There and Gone: Pill Lane, The Vanished Street Behind the Four Courts (Part 1)
A street once there, now gone, can provoke more curiosity than one still paved and passable, and it is impossible for those who know about the vanished route of Pill Lane not to wonder, when traversing the portions of the… Continue reading
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A Curious Career, 1901
From the Enniscorthy Guardian, 7 December 1901, this Edwardian version of ‘Catch Me if You Can’ with a young Derryman playing the role of Frank Abagnale: “EXTRAORDINARY FALSE PRETENCES DERRYMAN’S OPERATIONS A REMARKABLE CAREER PLEA OF GUILTY AND IMPRISONMENT A… Continue reading
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A Poet and Inventor’s Last Will, 1906
From the Nottingham Journal, 17 December 1906: “IRISH POET’S EXTRAORDINARY LAST INJUNCTIONS The extraordinary will of a Dublin poet, which was made as far back as 1882, was before Mr Justice Barton on Friday, when an action was brought to… Continue reading
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The Lion, the Unicorn, the Harp and the Little Knobule, 1931-2023
Every bit of the Four Courts has a story and the sculptures over the entrances into the grassed courtyards on either side of the portico are no exception. Originally depicted with some artistic licence in early illustrations of the Four… Continue reading
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The Tragic Tale of Charlotte Lodge
In 1878, Charlotte Lodge, a woman working in what was then Dublin’s most notorious red light district, Bull Lane, just behind the Four Courts, died in the Richmond Hospital following a vicious attack and gang-rape by local pimps. Charlotte’s attackers… Continue reading
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The Story of Mary Ha’penny
One evening in August 1900, a Dublin woman leaves her home near the Grand Canal to travel to the Convent of the Little Sisters of the Poor nearby. She brings with her four things: a bill-hook, two knives and a… Continue reading
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An Order of Habeas Corpus
In 1824, a lovelorn young man employs a rising young barrister to make a very strange application in Dublin’s Four Courts… A 3-4 minute video recounting a true story. Check out a newspaper report of it here: https://ruthcannon.com/2020/03/25/whe… Continue reading
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A Bull Lane Girl’s Day Out, 1876
From the Freeman’s Journal, 14 July 1876: “Three young men, one named William Donahoe, who stood in the Dock, and two others, Thomas Kinsella, and William Hurley, were indicted for an assault on three constables. Constable William Hatton, 59A, stated… Continue reading
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The ‘Hard-Swearers’ of Henrietta Street, 1844
From Saunders’s News-Letter, 1 November 1844: “HARD SWEARING A young lad, named Michael Geraghty, was charged by Sergeant Fry, 1D, with stealing a gown, the property of Mrs Hawkins, of Henrietta Street. The Complainant stated that he saw the prisoner… Continue reading
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Gurgles from the Grave as Judicial Rivalry Continues into the Afterlife, 1882-1979
From the Evening Press, 19 January 1979: “If you happen to be in Mount Jerome Cemetery and have the right kind of imaginative hearing, you can listen to those odd chortling and shushing sounds coming from a certain over-ground vault… Continue reading
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The Arran Quay Ghost, 1837
From the Tuam Herald, 9 December 1837, and the Dublin Morning Register, 8 December 1837: “DUBLIN POLICE HENRY STREET.- EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF A GHOST An elderly little man, apparently in his perfect senses, came before the bench and stated that… Continue reading
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Wife Sued for Libel by Estranged Husband After Circulating Hand-Bills Seeking Name of her Predecessor, 1862
Portrait silhouettes by Monsieur Edgar Adolphe, via Alamy. From the Dublin Daily Express, 6 October 1862: “A STRANGE CASE.- Madame Margaret Phibbs, otherwise Adolphe, appeared to answer the complaint of Monsieur Edgar Adolphe, a photographic artist, 75 Grafton-street, to show… Continue reading
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Witchcraft in Waterford, 1886
From the Weekly Irish Times, 6 March 1886: “At the Waterford Police Court on Monday, before J Slattery, Esq., a woman named Mary Murphy was charged by Constable Williams with having by false pretence obtained from a number of persons… Continue reading
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The Great Dublin Lodging House Theft, 1847
From the Freeman’s Journal, 29 May 1847: “MOST EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF ROBBING HOUSES IN DUBLIN The following very curious case came to light yesterday and perhaps in the annals of clever rogues, the hero of the present story has been… Continue reading
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From the Four Courts to Buenos Aires, 1790-1830
From Saunder’s News-Letter, 22 December 1810: “A few days back, a young woman, rather well dressed, with a green coat hanging loosely on the shoulders, walked into a respectable shop in the neighbourhood of Werburgh street, and contrived to carry… Continue reading
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The Judge’s Son Who Shelled the Four Courts, 1922
28-30 June 2022 marked the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Four Courts, the central event of the Irish Civil War, which resulted in severe damage to the original Four Courts building. The image above (via Dublin City Digital… Continue reading
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A Wizard in Court, 1856-1870
From the Freeman’s Journal, 15 September 1856: “The Wizard Anderson’s Banners A motley group of men and women were brought before the magistrate in custody charged with carrying banners calculated to attract a crowd in the streets, and thereby obstruct… Continue reading
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Revolving Doors Require No Hands, 1954
It’s often said that the Four Courts is not a place for children, but sometimes their presence there is necessary, as in the case of 11-year-old Joseph Moloney who turned up in the Four Courts in May 1924 to give… Continue reading
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The Time They Tried to Move the Four Courts to London, 1850
From the Freeman’s Journal, 17 July 1850 “HINTS FOR THE IRISH BENCH AND BAR The Irish bench and bar are now upon their trial in a way more dangerous to them and to the national interests than at any previous… Continue reading
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Portico Problems, 1786-1925
From the Evening Herald, 5 March 1925: “A Chara – may one hope, from two lines in your most interesting article on the Four Courts, that Gandon’s original plan for the portico may at long last be executed and the… Continue reading
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Sandymount Lady Sues English Lieutenant for Breach of Promise, 1920
From the Dublin Evening Telegraph, 31 March 1920: “A WAR-TIME COURTSHIP” Today in the King’s Bench Division, before Mr Justice Dodd, in the action of Sarah Reynolds, of 41 Londonbridge Road, Sandymount, Dublin, v Wm B Huskisson, Mr CS Campbell… Continue reading
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A Robbery at the White Cross Inn, 1814
From Saunders’s News-Letter, 11 October 1814: “A few days since a Welshman of the name of Owen Thomas, came to lodge at the White Cross Inn, Pill Lane, where a Mr Donald McKay, from Aughnacloy, likewise took up his abode.… Continue reading
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Snowballing in Peace and War, 1867-1945
From the Kilrush Herald and Kilkee Gazette, 11 January 1918: “Round The Town By the Man in the Street There was a fine snowstorm on Monday and Tuesday which covered the ground several inches. In town it was made the… Continue reading
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Howth Tea-Smuggler Escapes as Revenue Routed by Pill Lane ‘Mob,’ 1764
From the Oxford Journal, 28 July 1764: “IRELAND Dublin, July 17. Last Friday Night some Revenue Officers made a Seizure at Howth of 160 Casks of Tea; but they were soon after attacked by a Number of Smugglers, when a… Continue reading
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Woman-on-Woman* Fight Behind the Four Courts Reduces Combatants’ Clothes to Ribbons, 1879
From the Leeds Times, 4 January 1879: “A disgraceful scene was witnessed the other day in Greek-street, Dublin, near the police courts, where two women engaged in a fierce contest, surrounded by a ring of male and female backers. They… Continue reading
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Hats On, Hats Off: Non-Horsehair Headgear in Court, 1785-1971
From the Ballymena Observer, 1951: “Wearing of Caps in Courthouse Judge Refers to Old Tradition An incident in Ballymena Courthouse on Monday, during the Quarter Sessions, prompted Judge Begley KC to refer to a tradition peculiar to that Court. A… Continue reading
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Midlands Circuit Judge Throws Himself Between Combatants to End Free Fight in Boyle Court, 1907
From the Evening Herald, 15 October 1907: “While his Honor County Court Judge Wakely was revising the voters’ list in Boyle Courthouse yesterday a wild scene of tumult took place. George W Tully was after being examined in support of… Continue reading
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British Soldiers Routed by Dublin Amazons, 1871
From the Freeman’s Journal, via the Western Mail, 11 September 1871: “During Tuesday last the locality of Pill Lane was considerably excited by a collision which occurred between a party of military and a number of the females gathered in… Continue reading
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More on the Milltown Outrage, 1861
I previously posted a short video about the Milltown Outrage, which occurred in Dublin in September 1861. It involved an attack on a 19-year-old governess by the cab driver engaged to bring her home from Sackville (now O’Connell) Street to… Continue reading
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Fawn-Smuggling on Inns Quay, 1838
From the Freeman’s Journal, 30 June 1838: “A man named John Cowan was brought before the magistrates on a charge of having stolen a fawn in the Phoenix Park, on the preceding day. Police Constable 97D stated that he met… Continue reading
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Newspaper-Reading in Court, 1867-1998
From the Irish Times, 22 November 1867: “Sir – I was sitting in the court of Queen’s Bench yesterday, and while counsel was reading a long affidavit I applied myself to the columns of the Standard newspaper. Suddenly the Lord… Continue reading
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Lord Chancellor’s Emissary Saves Lady from Singed Cat, Incurs Husband’s Wrath, 1838
From the Waterford Mail, 5 March 1838: “There is a story running the rounds of the hundred and one coteries that assemble in the Four Courts, that is creating much amusement. You shall have it, and you may take it,… Continue reading
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Flags and the Four Courts, 1885-1922
From the Dublin Daily Express, 17 April 1885: “Sirs – The soiled flags which were displayed on the Four Courts during the Prince’s visit, and were a disgrace to the noble building, ought, I should think, receive a thoroughly good… Continue reading
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The Milltown Outrage, 1861
A three minute video, the first of a two-parter about a long forgotten but once widely publicised crime of 1861 involving a Dublin cab driver, a 19-year old governess and an allegation of assault with intent to violate in the… Continue reading
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Not Putting a Ring on it, 1937
From the Irish Examiner, 26 November 1937: “JUDGE AND A RING AMUSING CASE AT WEXFORD CIRCUIT COURT QUESTIONS TO WITNESS At Wexford Circuit Court, before Judge Comyn KC, William McC, Wexford, appealed against the decision of the District Court Justice… Continue reading
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A She-Judge, 1830
From the Dublin Morning Register, 5 May 1830: “COURT OF KING’S BENCH – (A SHE-JUDGE) At half-past nine o’clock yesterday morning, one of the Court-Keepers’ maids, a plump, arch-looking girl, entered the Court, and ascended the Bench to arrange their… Continue reading
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The Misfortunes of Judge Linehan’s Criers, 1913-29
From the Mid-Ulster Mail, 7 June 1913: “Mr Robert Ree, County Court Judge Linehan’s crier, met with an unfortunate accident in Dungannon on the afternoon of the 4th. It seems that the business of the quarter sessions was adjourned early… Continue reading
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Relocating the Encumbered Estates Court, 1850-60
From the Freeman’s Journal, 5 February 1850: “ENCUMBERED ESTATES COURT By one of those blunders peculiar to English government in Ireland the machinery of a vast revolution was set up for the sale of property, and no provision whatever made… Continue reading
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Served up on a Staffordshire Platter: The Four Courts, c.1820
A blue transfer-printed Staffordshire china platter, with a central scene depicting the Four Courts, c.1820. Perhaps originally part of some barrister’s dining set? Now in New England. Some details below (zoom in closer here). (1) A very early view of… Continue reading
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As It Was: Images of the Inns Quay/Arran Quay Junction, 1753-present
This fantastic map from the Dublin City Council Digital Archive (minutely zoomable version available to download here) shows the junction of Inns Quay and Arran Quay in 1790, not long before the opening of the Four Courts on the old… Continue reading
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A Bear in the Dock, 1875
From the Freeman’s Journal, 2 April 1875: “A Bear in the Dock Two Frenchmen were charged with causing an obstruction to the public thoroughfare at Pill-Lane, that morning, by exhibiting a dancing bear. The prisoners were placed in the dock,… Continue reading
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Future Judge Brings Legal Proceedings to Recover Dognapped Pet, 1830
From the Pilot, Wednesday 19 October 1831: “FIDELITY OF A DOG – On Thursday, a servant man of Mr Ball, the barrister, applied before the magistrates of the Head Office, and stated that he had seen a very large sized… Continue reading
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The Mysterious Folding Doors of the Supreme Court, 1937-73
From the Evening Echo, 8 January 1973, this wonderful article about the Irish Supreme Court and its former Chief Justices: “For a whole decade – 1923-1932 – the Four Courts building was not in use and the Courts sat in… Continue reading
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Aristocratic Insolence in the Dublin Police Court, 1830
From the Freeman’s Journal, 26 May 1830: “DUBLIN POLICE ARISTOCRATICAL INSOLENCE ‘A chiel’s amang ye takin notes And faith he’ll prent it.’ Robert Burns HENRY-STREET POLICE OFFICE, MONDAY. Lord Langford attended before Mr Cole, the sitting magistrate at this office,… Continue reading
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As It Was: Images of 145-151 Church Street, 1860 to date
This beautifully coloured image below, from Dublin City Digital Archive, shows the rear portion of the Law Library Distillery Building, 145-151 Church Street, when it really was a distillery, owned by John Jameson & Co. You can zoom in on… Continue reading
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Inns Quay Before Áras Uí Dhálaigh: Images of the Four Courts Hotel
Some photos showing a 1960s/70s Inns Quay, from the Dublin City Digital Archive. This one from Dublin City Digital Archive shows the Four Courts Hotel in place of today’s Áras Uí Dhálaigh. William Mooney’s close-up of the hotel in the… Continue reading
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The Marital Misadventures of a Master of the Rotunda, 1890
“On Saturday in the Exchequer Division, the application for an attachment sought by a Mr Lynch (plaintiff in an action for criminal conversation, in which Dr Macan, of Merrion Square, and late of the Rotunda Hospital, is defendant) against the… Continue reading
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The Square Hall Scandal, 1947
From the Evening Herald, 9 August 1947: “STRANGE AFFAIR AT FOUR COURTS In the interior of the famous building on Inns Quay there is a corridor leading to the law library. The Library is strictly reserved for the gentlemen of… Continue reading
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Mother of Bride Dies of Apoplexy as Officer Groom Exposed as Fraudster, 1857
From the Carlow Post, 1857: “An extraordinary case just occurred in Kingstown [now Dun Laoghaire] Police Court. It appears that a gentleman who recently held a commission in the 95th Foot was about to be married to a lady in… Continue reading
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Lord Chancellor’s Mace-Bearer Fined for Assaulting Dublin United Tramways Conductor, 1902
From the Irish News and Belfast Morning News, 1 July 1902: “SCENE IN A TRAMCAR Today in the Southern Police Court, before Mr Wall KC, a respectable-looking elderly man named Matthew Orr, a crier in the Four Courts, was brought… Continue reading
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Laughter at Under-the-Table Police Chase in Rolls Court, 1857
From the Wexford People, 17 June 1857: “The Master of the Rolls having taken his seat on the bench on Tuesday last, proceeded with the hearing of motions of course. Before they had concluded, Mr Richard Major Hassard, the well-known… Continue reading
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Inquest in 158 Church Street After Unexpected Courtship Tragedy, 1858
From the Weekly Freeman’s Journal, 25 December 1858: “MELANCHOLY DEATH BY DROWNING On Sunday night last one of the most distressing melancholy accidents that could well occur took place by which a respectable young man of the name of Michael… Continue reading
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Mayo Courtship Ends in Substantial Award of Damages, 1925
From the Evening Herald (Dublin), 13 May 1925 “STRANGE WESTERN WOOING FARMER WHO COURTED BY PROXY MULCTED FOR BREACH COMPACT WITH PARENTS LESSONS ON MELODEON AND A PAIR OF GLOVES MARRIED ANOTHER DEFENDANT UNASHAMED OF HIS CONDUCT A farmer of… Continue reading
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‘Our Judges:’ Critiquing 24 Sitting Irish Judges, 1889-90
Though the grounds and means of complaint may have changed over time, there is nothing new about criticism of Irish judges. As far back as 1826, one Daniel O’Connell petitioned for the removal of Lord Norbury, Chief Justice of the… Continue reading
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A Day in the Four Courts, 1890
From Irish Society (Dublin), 8 November 1890: “‘A DAY IN THE FOUR COURTS BY A M’LUD For those who cannot spare time for a corporeal visit to the Temple of Justice, let them come with me now in spirit, and… Continue reading
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Lord Leitrim’s Hearse Attacked by Mob in Church Street, 1878
From the Irishman, 13 April 1878: “EXTRAORDINARY SCENE The remains of the late Earl of Leitrim arrived at St Michan’s Cemetery, Church Street, Dublin, about half-past two o’clock. When the remains came into Church-Street the hearse was surrounded by two… Continue reading
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Judge Gets the Boot on his First Day in Court, 1890
From the New Ross Standard, 18 January 1890: “Judge Hickson’s first experience of judicial life has been rather perilous, but he exhibited great nerve and self-possession. The practice of throwing slippers after a married couple on their wedding day ‘for… Continue reading
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Taken by the Fairies, 1840-1924
From the Freeman’s Journal, 2 February 1924: “At a Special Court in Tullamore, before Mr Flanagan PC, Esther Smith, no fixed address, was remanded in custody on a charge of obtaining £3 and goods by false pretences and threats from… Continue reading
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Singing for its Supper: The Choir of Christ Church Pays Homage to the Court of Exchequer, 1851
From the Belfast News-Letter, 1 December 1851: “In the Court of Exchequer, on Saturday week, the clergymen and choristers from Christ Church Cathedral appeared and performed their accustomed homage, by singing an anthem and saying prayers. At the entrance of… Continue reading
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The Four Courts as a Sightseeing Destination, 1816-1919
The interior of the Four Courts might not be the first thing to come to mind when thinking of a tourist destination, but once upon a time it was unmissable for sightseers visiting Dublin. J & W Gregory’s ‘Picture of… Continue reading
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Derry Recorder Tests Lady’s Raincoat for Water Ingress, 1929
From the Derry Journal, 12 April 1929: “TEST IN COURT A LADY’S WATERPROOF INTERESTING DERRY CASE GARMENT RETURNED AFTER EIGHT MONTHS A barrister, two solicitors, the Court Registrar and the Court Caretaker spent fifteen minutes in Derry Courthouse yesterday testing… Continue reading
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Bride Arrested for Shoplifting on Eve of Wedding, 1826
From the Dublin Evening Post, 26 August 1826: “A young lady, moving in a respectable situation in life, was on Thursday committed to Newgate, Dublin, on a charge of shop-lifting. The circumstances of this case are rather curious, and possess… Continue reading
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The Dome(s) of the Four Courts, 1785-2020
The original Record Office designed for the Four Courts site by Thomas Cooley did not include a dome, but Cooley’s early death in 1784 coincided with an official decision to expand his design to include the Irish Four Courts, previously… Continue reading
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QC v JC: Junior Bar Privilege, 1836-1912
From the Cork Examiner, 17 March 1864: “CORK SPRING ASSIZES (before Mr Justice Keogh) – BAR PRIVILEGE Mary Sullivan was indicted for stealing a letter from the Post-office. Mr Coffey defended the prisoner. Messrs Clarke QC and Brereton QC, instructed… Continue reading
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Barrister’s Son Returns from the Dead, 1896
From the Cork Constitution, 5 March 1896: “DUBLIN WEDNESDAY To-day the Master of the Rolls had before him a case which brought to light a modern Enoch Arden. In 1866 William Henry Boyle, son of a well-known barrister, emigrated to… Continue reading
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In the Footsteps of Kings: Chancery Place, 1224-1916
Chancery Place, on the eastern side of the Four Courts, was originally a much narrower street known as Mass Lane. The buildings on its western side sat close against the eastern wing of the Four Courts until they were demolished… Continue reading
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The Irish Bar and Bench at Home, 1784-1890
Wilmot Harrison’s 1890 book, ‘Memorable Dublin Houses: A Handy and Descriptive Guide,’ includes much interesting information about town residences of the Irish bar and bench in the early and middle parts of the 19th century. First up is 14 Harcourt… Continue reading
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A Pleading Two-Step, Part 2: The Proper Business of the Junior Bar, 1856-64
From the Dublin Evening Packet and Correspondent, Saturday 8 March 1856: “IMPORTANT – BAR PRACTICE Judge Ball having during the day proceeded to settle issues in records to be tried in Cork at the ensuing assizes, and Mr Brereton, QC,… Continue reading
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A Rare Bird at the Four Courts, 1888
From the Irish Times, 24 May 1888: “CHASE AFTER A WILD BIRD IN THE LIFFEY Yesterday, for nearly three hours, the inhabitants, and those who could spare the time, were entertained by a most interesting and exciting chase after a… Continue reading
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A Pleading Two-Step, Part 1: The Dangers of Dispensing With Counsel, 1866
From the Evening Freeman, 28 July 1866 and the Cork Constitution, 30 July 1866: “Mr Hardy applied to have the defence filed in the case of Tedcastle v Stockholme set aside on the ground that it was informal and embarrassing.… Continue reading
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The Brats of Mountrath Street, 1867-1890
From the Freeman’s Journal, 27 May 1867: “CHANCERY PLACE AND MOUNTRATH STREET Dear Sir- I beg, through the medium of your influential journal, to call the attention of the authorities to an assemblage of ill-behaved boys and girls that meet… Continue reading
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The Man of Many Wives, 1884-1895
From the Illustrated London News, 14 June 1884: “At the Dublin Commission Court, before Mr Justice Lawson, on Saturday, Brian Denis Molloy, son of a magistrate for the County of Mayo, and who, on the death of his father, will… Continue reading
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The ‘Cleansing’ of Bull Lane, 1878
From the Freeman’s Journal, 1 March 1879: “During the past few months, quietly and unknown to the general public, a work has been in progress in Dublin calculated to materially benefit the city. By a judicious use of the authority… Continue reading
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Future Supreme Court Judge Unsuccessfully Sued for Negligent Driving, 1924
From the Dublin Evening Telegraph, 4th and 5th March, 1924: Miss May McConnon, a typist, residing at the Gaelic Hotel, Blackrock, Dundalk, claimed £3000 damages against Mr Cecil Lavery, barrister-at-law, for personal injuries caused, as alleged, by the negligence of… Continue reading
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Ormond Quay Prison Break, 1784
From the Hibernian Journal; or, Chronicle of Liberty, 16 July 1784: “Yesterday in the afternoon, a number of the prisoners, confined in the New Gaol, found means to break into the sewer that communicates from the prison to the Bradogue… Continue reading
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A Princess Arrested in the Four Courts, 1864
From the Waterford Mail, 17 February 1864: “SITTINGS AT NISI PRIUS Wyse v Lewis This was an action brought by Madame Letitia Bonaparte Wyse, widow of the late Thomas Wyse, formerly British ambassador at Greece, against Mr William Lewis, of… Continue reading
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The Man Who Married His Mother-in-Law, 1904
From the Belfast Weekly News, 12 May 1904: “The trial of James Thompson for having married his mother-in-law took place on 10th inst, in the Recorder’s Court, Dublin. Mr Bushe KC, who prosecuted, stated the case for the Crown. He… Continue reading
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The Goat of Morgan Place, 1881
From the Freeman’s Journal, 22 April 1882: “ROBBERY FROM THE FOUR COURTS A fish dealer named Ennis was charged by Police Constable 69D with having stolen a goat, the property of Mr Alexander Blyth, Four Courts. A workman named Michael… Continue reading
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Legal Monkeys Hire Organ-Grinders to Disrupt Judge’s Party, 1846-66
From the Derry Journal, 28 June 1909: “The recent successful campaign against the street organ-grinders in securing that persons who disliked it should not be annoyed by street music recalls a practical joke played on a learned Judge through the… Continue reading
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No Catholic Testament in the Four Courts, 1919
From the Weekly Freeman’s Journal, 6 December 1919: “In the King’s Bench Division – Probate, before Mr Justice Kenny, in the matter of the goods of Denis Dwyer, Deceased, the Rev James O’Sullivan, PP, attended, under an order of the… Continue reading
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The Fighting Herb Doctors of Church Street and Parnell Street, 1852
From the Freeman’s Journal, 4 May 1852: “John McDonnell, of Church-Street, ‘herb doctor’ and ‘professor,’ appeared to sustain a complaint against Michael Gafney, ‘herb doctor and universal practitioner,’ for an alleged violent assault. The complainant professing in this instance to… Continue reading
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Sligo Jury Turns Water into Whisky, 1860
From the Belfast News-Letter, 17 March 1860: “A DISTRESSED JURY While the jury empanelled to try the case of Michael Lynot, charged with committing an aggravated assault on Pat Sexton, were locked up considering their verdict, Judge Hayes came into… Continue reading
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State Trial Implodes as Attorney General Challenges Opposing Counsel to Duel, 1844
From the Sun (London), 1 February 1844: “The Irish State trials were resumed on Tuesday, when Mr Fitzgibbon QC, appearing for Mr Gray, said that the doctrine of conspiracy, as laid down by the Attorney-General, was that it was a… Continue reading
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To Catch a Thief, 1892
From the Belfast News-Letter, 3 November 1892: “JUDGE CAPTURES THIEF Judge Boyd distinguished himself by catching a young thief in flagrante delicto. Passing through Kildare Street, his attention was attracted to some newsboys besetting a lady. One boy was on… Continue reading
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Mad Cow Escapade in Chancery Street, 1856
From the Freeman’s Journal, 19 July 1856: “Mad Cow – Serious Accident A young lad named Dominick Roynane was brought up in custody of Police Constable John Cartin 101D, charged with incautiously driving through the streets, without proper control, a… Continue reading
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The Cruel Master, 1778
A sad story tonight, from Saunders’ News-Letter, 30 January 1778, involving a murder and secret burial in the graveyard of St Michan’s Church next to the Law Library buildings at 158/9 Church Street. “Last week one of those chimney sweepers… Continue reading
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Swallowing the Evidence, 1839
From the Dublin Evening Packet and Correspondent, September 1839: “EXTRAORDINARY CASE- SWALLOWING A WATCH A young gentleman, called Rathbane, charged Anne Lynch with having stolen his watch. Complainant said he was passing through Marlborough Street when he was followed by… Continue reading
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Something Wicker This Way Comes: Laughter in Court at Child Noise Nuisance Case, 1853
From the Evening Freeman, 18 April 1853: “CONSOLIDATED NISI PRIUS COURT – SATURDAY Mangan v Tuthill This was an appeal from a decree of St Sepulchre’s Court for £9. Counsel for Mr Tuthill stated that his client lived in No… Continue reading
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Judicial Coach Hijacked by Helpful Ennis Local, 1902
From the Westminster Gazette, 10 April 1902: “The Ennis representative of the Freeman’s Journal tells a delightful story of young Ireland. At Ennis the Assizes were held by Lord Chief Justice O’Brien and Mr Justice Johnson. At the Courthouse door… Continue reading
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Beneath the East Wing: The Inns Quay Infirmary, 1728-89
The above image shows the site of the Four Courts as surveyed by John Roque in 1756, when it was still owned by the Benchers of the King’s Inns. You can see what is left of the old Priory/King’s Inns… Continue reading
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Let off for Lunch: Pioneering Women Jurors, 1921
In 1921, Irish women became eligible for jury service on civil and criminal trials. This article by Anna Joyce from the Freeman’s Journal of 9 February 1921 brings us back in time to the very first High Court trial involving… Continue reading
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Judge Calls Women’s Fashion the Ruin of the Country, 1895
From the Sheffield Daily Telegraph , 5 January 1894: “The Kilrush correspondent of the ‘Freeman’s Journal’ says: ‘At the Quarter Sessions here yesterday a milliner brought an action against a pension for goods supplied to his daughter, who is now… Continue reading
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The (Would-be) Serial Killer of Church Street, 1861
From the Belfast Morning News, 2 January 1861: “Joseph Dwyer is now in custody on a charge of having made one of the most daring and diabolical attempts to deprive a fellow-creature of life, for the mere purpose of pecuniary… Continue reading
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Tragic Tipstaff Death in Phoenix Park, 1905
From the Irish News and Belfast Morning News, 9 June 1905, this sad account of the death of Mr Robert Pierson, tipstaff/crier to the Recorder of Dublin: “Yesterday at the Dublin City Commission, before the Lord Chief Justice and a… Continue reading
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The Registrar who Knew Joyce, 1937
From the Irish Press, 19 October 1937 (photo above): “The ceremony of opening the new revolving doors at the Chancery Place entrance to the High Court was performed by Mr CP Curran, Senior Registrar, in the absence of the Master… Continue reading
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A Noise Sensitive Judge at the Cork Assizes, 1864
From the Belfast Weekly News, 6 August 1864: JUDGE BALL KEEPING ORDER The learned judge, who is now in Cork, continues to maintain discipline with the region of a judicial martinet… At the sitting of the Court on Thursday, his… Continue reading
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Law Library Staff Member Leaves Bride at Altar, 1842
From the Dublin Monitor, 8 August 1842, an interesting account of an action for breach of promise brought by Maria Ormsby, of North Strand, against William Supple, a member of staff in the Law Library: “Mr P Casserly, for the… Continue reading
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Judicial Assassination Attempt at Corner of Leinster Street and Kildare Street Foiled by Observant Pensioner, 1882
From the Kirkaldy Times, 15 November 1882: “A daring attempt was made to assassinate Mr Justice Lawson on Saturday night, in Dublin. He had an engagement to dine at the King’s Inn and left his house in Fitzwilliam Street for… Continue reading
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Bomb Outrages in the Four Courts, 1893
From the Globe, 7 May 1893: “At about 20 minutes to 11 o’clock at night a serious explosion occurred at the Four Courts, Dublin. The substance, whatever it may have been, and it is generally believed to have been glycerine… Continue reading
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A Stolen Judicial Lunch Goes Viral, 1912
From the Derry Journal, 21 February 1912: “JUDGE KENNY’S LUNCH Luncheon was spread in his private chamber in the Four Courts, Dublin, for Judge Kenny, when, about 1.30 p.m., a tramp entered and lost no time in helping himself to… Continue reading
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Hot, and More Often Not: Calibrating the Four Courts, 1796-1922
From the Freeman’s Journal, 15 December 1881: “The Hall of the Four Courts was an exceedingly cold as well as a comparatively deserted place. In all the Divisional Courts, magnificent fires were kept up – each of them big enough… Continue reading
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Judges Accompanied to Assizes by Armed Convoys, 1920-21
From the Belfast News-Letter, 2 July 1920: “WELL GUARDED JUDGES AT SUMMER ASSIZES Practically all the judges going out on circuit in the Irish Summer Assizes yesterday travelled by motor car, in view of the possibility that they would be… Continue reading
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Slanging it Out: The Vernacular in the Courtroom, 1872-1942
From the Belfast News-Letter, 5 March 1930: “The use of the letters ‘BL’ after the name of a barrister-at-law was condemned by the Lord Chief Justice (the right Hon William Moore) in the King’s Bench division of the Northern Law… Continue reading
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The Sentinel with the Sonorous Voice: Bramley of the Law Library, 1869-1904
From the Belfast Newsletter, 15 January 1904: “A celebrity of the Four Courts has joined the majority, and the frequenters of the Law Library will miss the stalwart form and the stentorian voice of Bramley. Every solicitor in Ireland knew… Continue reading
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Bullet-Piercings, Bombs, Whiskey and Cigars: The Four Courts after the Rising, May-June 1916
The occupation of the Four Courts by rebel forces in 1916 led to much anxious speculation as to the extent of the resulting destruction. An initial gloomy report from the Northern Whig of the 1st May 1916 recounted that “Most… Continue reading
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The Todd Brothers, 1917-18
From the Dublin Daily Express, 14 April 1916 “LIVELY EXCHANGES BETWEEN RECORDER AND HIS BROTHER Londonderry, Thursday Following lively exchanges between his Honour Judge Todd, Recorder, Derry, and his brother, Dr Todd, Crown Solicitor, there was an extraordinary scene at… Continue reading
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Dry Rot, Destitute Juniors and the Law of Cause and Effect: Improving the Second Law Library, 1897-1909
The formal opening of the second Law Library in the Eastern Wing of the Four Courts on 15 April 1897 prompted a gush of admiration in the press, with the next day’s Irish Times describing the new premises as “a… Continue reading
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A Mysterious Assault on a Four Courts Registrar, 1916
From the Belfast Newsletter, June 16, 1916: “FOUR COURTS OFFICIAL INJURED STRANGE AFFAIR AT BLACKROCK A sensational and mysterious assault is reported from Blackrock, County Dublin, the victim being Mr Francis Kennedy, Associate of the King’s Bench, and nephew of… Continue reading
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Manager of Four Courts Coffee Room Prosecuted for Adulterating Spirits, 1921
From the Dublin Evening Telegraph, 7 April 1921: “Today in the Northern Police Court, before Mr Lupton KC, Mr John Barror, Coffee Room Bar, Four Courts, was summoned, at the suit of Mr Tannam, Inspector of Food, for having, on… Continue reading
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Law Library ‘Boy’ Sues for Damaged Bicycle, 1910
From the Irish Independent, 28 July 1910: “In the action brought by Patrick Geraghty to recover £10 damages from John S Russell for injuries to his bicycle caused, as alleged, by the defendant’s motor car, the Recorder, at the City… Continue reading
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Schoolgirls Ordered Out of Court, 1915
From the Belfast Newsletter, January 18, 1915: “An extraordinary incident occurred at the Four Courts yesterday. Shortly before eleven o’clock one of the courts, in which a divorce action had been listed for hearing before Mr Justice Molony, was invaded… Continue reading
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Like Strokes of a Stick on a Carpet, 1891
From the Sligo Independent, 7 November 1891: “An exciting incident occurred at the Four Courts yesterday afternoon, just before three o’clock… In the passage to the coffee room Mr MacDermott, son of Mr Alfred MacDermott, Solicitor, met Mr Timothy Healy,… Continue reading
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Old Barristers Swoop In to Claim Seats in New Law Library, 1897
From the Freeman’s Journal, 23 February 1897, this story dealing with initial seating allocation in the ‘new’ Law Library, located in the Eastern Wing and replacing an older Law Library behind the Round Hall: “ALLOCATION OF SEATS Yesterday was a… Continue reading
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Compliments from a Four Courts’ Prisoner, 1916
From the Irish Independent, 15 May 1916: “A FOUR COURTS PRISONER Captain RK Brereton, JP, Ladywell, Athlone, relating his experiences in Dublin during the rising, states that he motored through the Phoenix Park on Easter Monday evening, and was taken… Continue reading
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Son of Court 2 Housekeeper Kills Son of Court 3 Housekeeper in 22 Rounds at Bully’s Acre, 1816
From the Belfast Commercial Chronicle Dublin 2 May, 1816: “On Tuesday evening, two young men of the names of John Goold and Michael White, had a regular pitched battle in the field near the Military Road, which terminated, after two-and-twenty… Continue reading
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Plumber’s Assistant Dies in Bankruptcy Court Explosion, 1888
From the Dublin Daily Express, 24 January 1888: “TERRIFIC GAS EXPLOSION AT THE FOUR COURTS – ONE LIFE LOST About half-past three o’clock yesterday afternoon, a terrific gas explosion occurred in the Bankruptcy Buildings of the Four Courts, and resulted… Continue reading
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A Four Courts Hold-Up, 1920
From the Irish Examiner, 2 December 1920: “FOUR COURTS SCARE – BARRISTERS HELD UP Our Dublin Correspondent wired last night. Shortly before 4 o’clock this afternoon a sensation was caused at the Four Courts by the arrival of a party… Continue reading
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Along for the Ride, Pre-Railway
From the Connaught Telegraph, 14 March 1914, this interesting account of the periodic sittings of the Courts of Assizes, which, until their abolition in 1924, had jurisdiction outside Dublin over the most serious criminal offences: “The arrival of the train by… Continue reading
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The Elephant in the Yard, 1906
From the Irish Examiner, 6 March 1906: “The Rolls Court, under ordinary circumstances a prosaic place where nothing but heavy legal arguments about Chancery suits are heard, was today a scene of some interest. The court was thronged by members… Continue reading
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The Disappearance of an Official Assignee, 1885
From the Freeman’s Journal, 2 June 1885: “The prolonged absence from duty of a prominent official connected with an important department in the Four Courts has given rise to rumors more or less compromising… the official in question more than… Continue reading
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The New Law Library, 1895
From the Dublin Evening Telegraph, 10 August 1895: “[T]he new Bar library at the Four Courts is rapidly approaching completion. Only those who have had occasion to visit it can have any idea of the wretched character of the apartment… Continue reading
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A Redundant Crier, 1900
From the Irish Times, 19 December 1900 “Yesterday in the Queen’s Bench Division… the case of Cooper v the Queen came on for argument… the question raised was whether the supplicant, who was crier or tipstaff of the Court of… Continue reading
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Three Legal Men and a Baby, 1832
From the Dublin Morning Register, 27 March 1832; “On Friday last, an infant child was picked up by a girl of the town in one of the piazzas, at the Four Courts, where women of her character are nightly accustomed… Continue reading






































































