The High Court of Justice in Ireland was the court created by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 187740 & 41 Vict. c.57 to replace the existing court structure in Ireland. Its creation mirrored the reform of the courts of England and Wales five years earlier under the Judicature Acts. The Act created a Supreme Court of Judicature, consisting of a High Court of Justice and a Court of Appeal.
Establishment The High Court was created by the Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland) Act 1877, through the amalgamation of a number of courts. Most importantly, the three superior common-law courts (the Court of King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of Exchequer) and the Court of Chancery were merged into the new court. Also merged into it were the courts of Landed Estates, Probate, Matrimonial Causes, Admiralty, and Bankruptcy.Delaney, V.T.H. Christopher Palles Alan Figgis and Co. 1960, p. 94-5 However, the right of appeal from Ireland to the House of Lords in England was preserved.
An important consequence of the amalgamation of the superior common-law courts with the court of equity (Chancery) was that, for the first time, the previously separate systems of common law and equity were merged.
The structure of the abolished courts was reflected in the divisions created for the new High Court. These proved to be unnecessarily complex, and the opportunity presented by the death, retirement, and transfer of a number of the judges was taken in order to simplify the organisation of the divisions, so that by 1897 there were only two: Chancery, and the Queen's Bench.
Of the existing office holders, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland presided in the new Court of Appeal. The Master of the Rolls in Ireland and the Vice-Chancellor moved to the Chancery Division; the latter office was abolished in 1904. The Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas retained his rank until 1887 when the incumbent became Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Christopher Palles, the last Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer remained in office until 1916, acting as a judge both of the King's Bench Division and of the Court of Appeal.
Partition
The Government of Ireland Act 1920 abolished the Supreme Court of Judicature created by the 1877 Act.Government of Ireland Act 1920 s.38 It split the High Court into separate courts for Northern and Southern Ireland; judges of the former court became judges in Southern Ireland unless they chose otherwise. The Court of Appeal was also split into separate courts with a new overarching High Court of Appeal for Ireland; the latter court sat on a few occasions but was abolished in 1922 in consequence of the establishment of the Irish Free State.Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act 1922
Judges The following judges held the title of Judge of the High Court of Justice in Ireland from the Court's creation in 1878 to the abolition of the pre-independence courts in 1924. Dates in brackets indicate holding an equivalent position in a predecessor court prior to 1878. +Puisne judges of the High Court of Justice in Ireland (1878–1921) and High Court of Justice in Southern Ireland (1921–1924)NameDivisionReason for leaving office Common Pleas King's/ Queen's Bench Exchequer Probate Chancery LandWilliam KeoghThe Law Reports (Ireland), Volume 2, 1877-78 Page vii–1878DiedJames O'Brien–1882DiedFrancis Alexander FitzGerald–1882ResignedJohn FitzGerald–1882Appointed as a Lord of Appeal in OrdinaryRobert Warren–1897DiedJames Anthony Lawson–18781878–1887DiedStephen Woulfe Flanagan–1885RetiredCharles Robert Barry–1897DiedRichard Dowse–1890DiedHenry Ormsby–1885RetiredMichael Harrison1878–18881888–1895DiedJohn O'Hagan1881–1890DiedWilliam O'Brien1882–18831883–1899DiedWilliam Drennan Andrews1897–1909 1882–1897RetiredWilliam Moore Johnson1883–1909RetiredJames Murphy1883–18881888–1892;1897–19011892–1897DiedJohn Monroe1885–1896ResignedHugh Holmes1887–18881888–1897Promoted to be a Lord Justice of AppealJohn George Gibson1888–1921RetiredEdmund Thomas Bewley1890–1898RetiredDodgson Hamilton Madden1892–1919RetiredJohn Ross1896–1921Appointed as Lord Chancellor for IrelandWalter Boyd1897–1916RetiredWilliam Kenny1897–1921DiedRichard Edmund Meredith1898–1906Appointed as Master of the RollsDunbar Plunket Barton1900–19041904–1918RetiredGeorge Wright1901–1913DiedJames Owens WylieThom's Irish Who's Who/Wylie, The Right Hon. James Owens1906–1920Dictionary of Irish Biography - Wylie, William EvelynRetiredWilliam Huston Dodd1907–1924Court abolishedThomas Molony1913–1915Promoted to be a Lord Justice of AppealJonathan Pim1913–1924Court abolishedJohn Gordon1916–1922DiedWilliam Moore1917–1921Promoted to be a Lord Justice of Appeal in Northern IrelandJames O'Connor1918–1918Promoted to be a Lord Justice of AppealJohn Blake Powell1918–1923DiedArthur Samuels1919–1924Court abolishedWilliam Evelyn Wylie1920–1922;1923–1924Court abolished
Subsequent developments Following the establishment of the Irish Free State in December 1922, the High Court of Justice in Southern Ireland (now the High Court of the Irish Free State) remained in existence for two years, in accordance with the "carry-over" provisions in Article 75 of the Constitution of the Irish Free State. It was abolished by the Courts of Justice Act 1924, which replaced it with a new High Court. With only two exceptions, the judges of the old High Court were retired on a generous pension.Hogan, G.W. Chief Justice Kennedy and Sir James O'Connor's Application Irish Jurist, Vol. 23, p. 144
In Northern Ireland a new Supreme Court of Judicature was created in 1978, although the basic court structure remained largely unchanged.Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978, sch. 7
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