john o'byrne (24 april 1884 &ndash; 14 january 1954) was an irish barrister, attorney general and judge. ==early life== he was born on 24 april 1884, the fourth son of patrick oâbyrne and mary o'byrne nÃ©e tallon, of seskin, county wicklow, in ireland. he was educated at the patrician monastery, tullow, county carlow, and studied moral and mental science at the royal university, where he graduated in 1907 in first place with first class honours. he was awarded a master of arts degree in 1908. he joined the land commission, where he acquired an intimate knowledge of the system of real property and land tenure in ireland. subsequently, he studied at king's inns, dublin, and was called to the irish bar in 1911, where he practised mainly in real property. he stood as a pro-treaty sinn fÃ©in candidate at the 1922 general election for the wexford constituency but was not elected. in 1922 he was appointed by the provisional government of southern ireland to the irish free state constitution commission to draft the constitution of the irish free state, commonly known as the irish free state constitution commission. it prepared a draft constitution. he was thus one of the constitutional architects of the irish free state. in 1923 he was appointed to the judiciary commission by the government of the irish free state, on a reference from the government to establish a new system for the administration of justice in accordance with the constitution of the irish free state. the judiciary commission was chaired by the last lord chief justice of ireland (who had also been the last lord chancellor of ireland). it drafted legislation for a new system of courts, including a high court and a supreme court, and provided for the abolition of the irish court of appeal. he was appointed king's counsel in 1924, the last barrister in the free state to receive the rank. he was also a delegate of the irish free state to the league of nations in the same year. ==attorney-general== on 7 june 1924 he was appointed the second attorney-general of the irish free state when hugh kennedy was appointed chief justice. his photograph appears at . ==justice of the high court and the supreme court== on 9 january 1926 he was appointed a justice of the high court, upon which he served until he was appointed to the supreme court in 1940. he was also chairman of the irish legal terms advisory committee from 14 may 1948 to 13 may 1953. another high court judge kenneth deale writing extra judicially in " beyond any reasonable doubt ", a collection of celebrated irish murder trials, offers some interesting insights into o'byrne's s
1884_births 1954_deaths Alumni_of_the_Royal_University_of_Ireland Attorneys_General_of_Ireland Justices_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_Ireland People_from_County_Wicklow