# Lord Chief Justice of Ireland

The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge in the court, and the second most senior Irish judge under English rule and later when Ireland became part of the United Kingdom. Additionally, for a brief period between 1922 and 1924, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland was the most senior judge in the Irish Free State.

## History of the position

The office was created during the Lordship of Ireland (1171–1536) and continued in existence under the Kingdom of Ireland (1536–1800) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Prior to the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877, the Lord Chief Justice presided over the Court of King's/Queen's Bench, and as such ranked foremost amongst the judges sitting at common law. After 1877, the Lord Chief Justice assumed the presidency of the Queen's Bench Division of the new High Court of Justice, which sat permanently in the Four Courts in Dublin.
Thomas Lefroy, later Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (LCJ 1852–1866), was used by Jane Austen as the model for her Pride and Prejudice character Mr. Darcy. Lefroy and Austen had had a romance in their youths. Other prominent Lord Chief Justices of Ireland include Lord Whiteside (LCJ 1866–1876), who as a Queen's Counsel had defended Irish nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell in court, Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond, Hugh de Lacy, Risteárd de Tiúit, John Doherty, Thomas Marlay, James Ley, Peter O'Brien, and James Henry Mussen Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy (LCJ 1916–1918, later Chairman of Seanad Éireann and grandfather of the satirist Patrick Campbell). One Lord Chief Justice, Lord Kilwarden, was killed by a crowd during Robert Emmet's 1803 rebellion.

## Abolition of the position

The abolition of the position of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland was originally envisaged in a draft of the Government of Ireland Bill 1920. The Bill originally proposed that the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland would become the Lord Chief Justice of Southern Ireland. However, the then incumbent, The Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas Molony, 1st Bt., vigorously lobbied for the right to continue to hold the title even after the Bill was passed. Ultimately, his arguments were at least in part accepted: The Act, in its transitional provisions, provided that while he would in effect be the first Lord Chief Justice of Southern Ireland, his title remained that of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, although this was a transitional provision and was not a right to be enjoyed by his successors.
Subsequently, the highest-ranking judicial posting in Ireland, that of Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was abolished in December 1922. This left the office of the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland as the most senior judge in the Irish Free State but not for very long. The Constitution of the Irish Free State adopted in December 1922 clearly envisaged the early establishment of new courts for the nascent state and the abolition of the position of the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. However, this only took place when the Courts of Justice Act 1924 was finally adopted. Under that Act, the position of the Chief Justice of the Irish Free State superseded the position of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland as the highest judicial office in the Irish Free State.
In what became Northern Ireland, the position was superseded by the position of Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

## List of holders

| Date | Name | Notes | Left Office |
| 1324-7 | Nicholas Fastolf, knight | (1st term) |
| 1327-8 | Henry de Hambury | From Hanbury, Worcestershire |
| 1328-30 | Nicholas Fastolf, knight | (2nd term) |
| 1330-1 | Elias de Asshebournham, knight | (1st term) |
| 1331-2 | Peter Tilliol, knight | Born at Scaleby Castle, Cumberland |
| 1332-3 | Thomas Louth | From Louth, Lincolnshire (1st term) |
| 1333-4 | Robert de Scardeburgh | ("but probably did not act") |
| 1334-7 | Thomas Louth | (2nd term) |
| 1337 | Elias de Asshebournham, knight | (2nd term) |
| 1337 | Thomas Louth | (3rd term) |
| 1337-8 | Elias de Asshebournham, knight | (3rd term) |
| 1338 | Thomas Louth | (4th term) |
| 1338-41 | Elias de Asshebournham | (4th term) |
| 1341-4 | Thomas de Dent | Patronymic derived from Dent, Yorkshire |
| 1344-5 | Robert de Scardeburgh | From Scarborough, North Yorkshire (only substantive term) |
| 1345-6 | John le Hunt | Born in Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire |
| 1346 | Henry de Motlowe, knight | Possibly connected to Mobberley or Motburlege, Chesire |
| 1346-51 | John de Rednesse | From Reedness, Yorkshire (1st term) |
| 1351-4 | Godfrey de Foljambe, knight | Born in Tideswell, Derbyshire |
| 1354-6 | John de Rednesse | (2nd term) |
| 1356 | Richard de Wirkeley | Prior of the Order of Hospitallers in Ireland - possibly connected to Wakefield, Yorkshire |
| 1356-9 | John de Rednesse | (3rd term) |
| 1359 | William le Petit | |
| 1359-61 | John de Rednesse | (4th term) |
| 1361-3 | William de Notton, knight | From Notton, Yorkshire |
| 1363-5 | Richard White | From Clongill, County Meath |
| 1365-7 | Thomas de la Dale, knight | Born in Little Barford, Bedfordshire |
| 1367-70 | John Keppock, or Keppok | (1st term) |
| 1370-2 | William de Skipwith, knight | Family originally from Skipwith, Yorkshire |
| 1372–82 | John Keppock, or Keppok | (2nd term) |
| 1382 | Sir Thomas Mortimer, knight | Family originally from Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy |
| 1384 | John de Sotheron | Born at Great Mitton, Lancashire |
| 1385 | John Penros | Born in Escalls, Cornwall |
| 1386 | Edmund de Clay | From the common pleas |
| 1388, 10 July | Richard Plunkett | Of a leading Anglo-Irish family with branches in County Meath and County Louth |
| 1388, 23 September | Peter Rowe | (1st term) |
| 1395 | William Hankford | From Hankford in the parish of Bulkworthy, Devon |
| 1396 | William Tynbegh, clerk | Family originally from Tenby, Pembrokeshire |
| 1397 | Peter Rowe | (2nd term) |
| 1397 | Stephen de Bray | (1st term) From the common pleas - family possibly from Bray, County Wicklow |
| 1404 | Richard Rede | From the Exchequer |
| 1406 | Stephen de Bray | (2nd term) |
| 1426 | Henry Fortescue | |
| 1429 | Stephen de Bray | (3rd term) |
| 1435 | Christopher Bernevall, or Barnewall | 2nd justice |
| 1437 | William Boys | |
| 1437 | Christopher Bernevall, or Barnewall | (2nd term) |
| 1446 | Richard Bye | |
| 1447 | Robert Plunket | |
| 1447 | Sir James Alleyn | |
| 1457 | Nicholas Barnewall | (1st term) |
| 1461 | Sir Thomas Fitz-Christopher Plunket | (1st term) |
| 1461 | Nicholas Barnewall | (2nd term) |
| 1463 (or before) | Sir Thomas Fitz-Christopher Plunket | (2nd term) |
| 1468 | John Chevir | From Kilkenny. Former Master of the Rolls in Ireland. |
| 1474 | Philip Bermingham | (d 1490, buried St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin) |
| 1490 | Thomas Cusacke | |
| 1494 | Thomas Bowring | Family from Bowringsleigh, Devon |
| 1496 | John Topcliffe | From the Exchequer |
| 1513 | Patrick Bermingham | |
| 1521 | Patrick Bermingham | By a new patent |
| 1533 | Sir Bartholomew Dillon, knight | 2nd justice, from the Exchequer | Died same year |
| 1534 | Patrick Finglas | From the Exchequer |
| 1535 | Sir Gerald Aylmer | From the Exchequer |
| 1559 | John Plunket | |
| 1562 | John Plunket | By a new patent |
| 1583 | James Dowdall | |
| 1586 | Robert Gardiner | Serjeant-at-law in England |
| 1604 | Sir James Ley | Afterwards Earl of Marlborough: resigned |
| 1608 | Sir Humphrey Winch, knight | Chief Baron; from the Exchequer | Made a Justice of the Common Pleas of England |
| 1612 | Sir John Denham, knight | Chief Baron, from the Exchequer |
| 1617 | Sir William Jones, knight | Serjeant-at-law |
| 1620 | Sir George Shurley, or Shirley, knight | Serjeant-at-law (d.1647) |
| 1655 | Richard Pepys | Under the Protectorate – died 2 January 1659 |
| 1659 | John Santhey | 19 Jan pro tem on Pepys' death |
| 1659 | William Basill | Attorney general; 24 Jan |
| 1660 | Sir James Barry, knight | Afterwards Lord Santry |
| 1673 | Sir John Povey, knight | From the Exchequer |
| 1679 | Sir Robert Booth, knight | | Died the next year |
| 1681 | Sir William Davys, knight | Prime serjeant |
| 1687 | Thomas Nugent | | Removed |
| 1690 | Sir Richard Reynell, 1st Baronet | | Dismissed |
| 1695 | Sir Richard Pyne | Chief Justice of the Common Pleas |
| 1709 | Alan Brodrick | | Removed |
| 1711 | Sir Richard Cox, knight and baronet | | Removed |
| 1714 | William Whitshed | | Removed to the Common Pleas |
| 1727 | John Rogerson | Previously attorney general | Died in office 1741 |
| 1741 | Thomas Marlay | Previously Chief Baron of the Exchequer | Retired 1751 |
| 1751 | St George Caulfeild | Previously attorney general | Retired 1760 |
| 1760 | Warden Flood | Previously attorney general | Died in office 1764 |
| 1764 | John Gore, later Lord Annaly | Previously solicitor general; 24 Aug | Died in office 1784 |
| 1784 | John Scott | Previously Prime serjeant; Created Lord Earlsfort, afterwards Viscount and Earl of Clonmell; 29 Apr | Died in office 1798 |
| 1798 | Arthur Wolfe, Lord Kilwarden | Previously attorney-general; 13 June | Murdered 23 July 1803 |
| 1803 | William Downes | Previously a judge of the Court of King's Bench; afterward 1st Baron Downes; 12 Sep | Retired 1822 |
| 1822 | Charles Kendal Bushe | Previously solicitor general from 1805; 14 Feb | Retired 1841 |
| 1841 | Edward Pennefather | Previously solicitor general; 10 Nov | Retired 1846 |
| 1846 | Francis Blackburne | Previously Master of the Rolls; 21 Jan | Became Lord Chancellor 1852 |
| 1852 | Thomas Langlois Lefroy | Previously a Baron of the Exchequer | Retired 1866 |
| 1866 | James Whiteside | Former attorney-general | Died in office 1876 |
| 1877 | George Augustus Chichester May | Previously attorney-general | Retired 1887 |
| 1887 | Michael Morris | Previously Chief Justice of the Common Pleas | Became Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 1889 |
| 1889 | Peter O'Brien | Previously attorney-general | Retired 1913 |
| 1913 | Richard Robert Cherry | Previously a Lord Justice of Appeal | Retired 1916 |
| 1916 | James Henry Mussen Campbell | Previously attorney-general | Became Lord Chancellor 1918 |
| 1918–1924 | Thomas Molony | Previously a Lord Justice of Appeal | Position abolished |

## Sources

* List from Liber Munerum Publicorum Hiberniae, by Rowley Lascelles, copied in Haydn's Book of Dignities
* Names from 1852 onwards from The Oxford Companion to Law, ed David M. Walker, 1980
* Francis Elrington Ball The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 2 Vols (John Murray London 1926)