The head of the 19th century Irish legal system was the Lord Chancellor of Ireland (the premier judge in the Court of Chancery), with the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (the premier judge in the Court of King’s Bench) coming next in precedence. There followed the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland and the Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. All were assisted by puisne judges also assigned to the relevant court.

There was also a Rolls Court run by the Lord Chancellor’s Deputy, the Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Later, there was an Admiralty Court, a Bankruptcy Court, an Encumbered/Landed Estates Court and a Probate Court. All of these had designated judges presiding over them.

The above system was changed by the Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland) Act 1877, which converted the original four courts of Chancery, King’s Bench, Exchequer and Common Pleas into divisions of a single High Court of Justice. By 1897 the four divisions of the High Court of Justice had been reduced to two: Chancery and King’s Bench. The 1877 Act also created a Court of Appeal in Ireland

The creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 was followed by the Courts of Justice (Ireland) Act 1924. This Act replaced the Court of Appeal in Ireland with a Supreme Court and a Court of Criminal Appeal. The High Court of Justice was replaced by a new High Court of the same name, but without divisions, and a Central Criminal Court took the place of the previous Assize jurisdiction of the High Court, which had involved High Court judges travelling outside Dublin to preside over trials for serious criminal offences.