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 of them, looked venerable in their grand wigs. The people can hardly persuade themselves that the very quiet looking gentlemen they saw walking in the streets are the same personages they see on the bench clothed in the majesty of justice, and in the estimation of the multitude the majesty would undoubtedly be very much lowered if the judge appeared without his wig and robes.
The visitor going the round of ‘the Hall’ first enters the Court of Chancery. There he beholds the Lord Chancellor, Maziere Brady, in his place, hale and vigorous, strongly built, and looking earnest and determined. He may be observed daily during Term walking home with his umbrella under his arm, evidently caring more about his health than his dignity. Yet it is 40 years since he was called to the bar. He has filled his present office since 1856, having previously been Chief Baron of the Exchequer from 1840, so that it is 25 years since he was elevated to the bench.
Associated with the Chancellor in the Court of Appeal is the Lord Justice Blackburne, who was called to the Bar in 1805, and has been consequently 60 years in the profession, of which period 19 years have been spent on the bench. He was Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench from January 1846 to March 1852, and was appointed Justice of Appeal – a new office – in 1857, having been Lord Chancellor about nine months. This gentleman was called to the bar in 1819, 46 years ago.
We next enter the Court of Queen’s Bench. Justices O’Brien, Hayes, and JD Fitzgerald are all comparatively young. In their midst sit their Chief, one of the most remarkable instances on record of judicial longevity. The Lord Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench is said to be now in his 90th year, but he has as yet given no sign of his intention to retire. It is affirmed by his numerous friends and admirers that his perception is still quick and keen, and his judgment clear. This is admitted to be wonderfully true even by those who are not his friends; but they say it is true only for two or three hours after his coming into court in the morning, and that in the afternoon his intellectual powers visibly fail, and he does not seen so capable of grasping a subsequent or of following a chain of argument, and this is said to be a matter of frequent and anxious observation by barristers who practice in court. He was called to the bar in 1797 and has been incessantly engaged in his profession for the long period of 69 years.
The next judge in the order of seniority is the Chief Baron Pigot, who was called in 1826, and has been on the bench since 1846. He has been 39 years working at his profession, and he may be said to be the most painstaking of all the judges. The only fault with him is that he takes too much pains with minor matters, and too often wears out the patience of jurors and suitors, entailing upon the latter heavy extra expenses in the shape of ‘refreshers’. Like all our judges, he is strictly upright and impartial, but it seems to be generally let that his scrupulosity is excessive, almost morbid, and that it is sometimes a heinous inconvenience to the public. Associated wit him are Barons Fitzgerald, Hughes and Deasy, all able and efficient judges.
Chief Justice Monahan is the youngest of the Chiefs. He was called to the bar in 1828, the year before Emancipation, and he has been Chief Justice since 1850. He was Attorney-General during the State trials, when he distinguished himself by his zeal and ability in conducting the prosecutions of the political prisoners. No one has complained of any failure on his part. It is in his court the vacancy has been left by the retirement of Mr Justice Ball. The other judges in it are Mr Justice Keogh and Mr Justice Christian, both highly esteemed by the public.
All these gentlemen acted prudently, and went on the bench when they had an opportunity. The name of Judge Keogh suggests another name – the most eminent of our Equity lawyers – Mr Brewster, who is still toiling at the Bar, though he was Attorney General under Lord Aberdeen’s Government, Mr Keogh being solicitor General. When that administration was broken up, and the Peel section retired from office, Mr Brewster, who was one of the party, felt that he was bound in honour to retire with them. Mr Keogh did not see matters in exactly the same light, and so he remained in office under the Whigs, and became a very young judge. It has been generally regretted that the exigencies of party, and the legitimate claims of others, have so long kept Mr Brewster from receiving the just rewards of his pre-eminent professional merit. He was called to the bar so long ago as 1819, and for years his energies have been taxed to the utmost by the accumulating business that presses upon him.
Times’ Correspondent.”
The writer of the article must have possessed some form of prophetic power, because Mr Brewster was appointed Lord Justice of Appeal in Ireland in July 1866, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1867. The unnamed 90-year-old Lord Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench was Thomas Langlois Lefroy, one-time admirer of Jane Austen; he finally retired, amid some kerfuffle, the year after the article, proof of the remarkable longevity of 19th century Irish judges – a longevity preserved despite the crowded, fetid and frankly unsanitary atmosphere of the courtrooms over which they presided!
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