From the Globe, Monday, January 2, 1893, this account of the differences between the English and Irish Bar and Bench of the time:
” The close and intimate connection between the Bench and Bar of England and Ireland will render of interest (the Law Times observes) some account of the chief points in which the Irish differ from the corresponding English institutions in England.
In England, the Lord Chancellor is invariably a peer and a member of the Cabinet. In Ireland of late years, the Lord Chancellor is seldom elevated to the peerage, and only one Lord Chancellor of Ireland has ever been a member of the English Cabinet, Lord Ashbourne, Chancellor in the late administration Even before the Union, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland was not necessarily an Irish peer… The Irish Lord Chancellor, on entering office, receives an allowance with £1000 for an outfit. This custom is evidently a relic of a period during which this office was invariably filled from the English Bar. Previously to 1780, no Irishman had ever been appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland. In Ireland, the Mace is only used when the Chancellor sits representing the sovereign parens patriae in the exercise of his jurisdiction in lunacy and minors matters. In England, however, whenever the Chancellor may be sitting in the Court of Appeal or in his own court, all the insignia of his office is displayed.
In 1801 the office of Master, or Keeper, of the Rolls in Ireland, which had been a sinecure generally filled by English politicians, was converted into a judicial office, the idea being that the Master of the Rolls could largely relieve the Chancellor of judicial work which absence in England, by reason of the Union, would render him unable to discharge. The office did not formally disqualify for a seat in Parliament and though no Irish Master of the Rolls has sat since the Union in Parliament, Mr. Curran, while holding that post early in the century, was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of Dundalk. The Irish Vice Chancellorship – there is but one – dates only from 1807.
METHOD OF APPOINTING JUDGES.
The method of appointing judges in Ireland differs radically from that in England, which is supposed to be on the recommendation of the Chancellor, and without reference to official or political claims. In Ireland it has been the habit since 1835 for an Attorney General to accept a puisne judgeship. Between the passing of the Act of Union in 1800 and 1835, there were only six occupants of the office of Attorney General of Ireland. Since that year, when it became usual for the occupant of that post to accept a puisne judgeship, there have been no fewer than 48 holders of the office. The English puisne judges are not, as a rule, members of the Privy Council, though on retirement from the bench they are sometimes sworn of that body. The practice in Ireland is the reverse, from the fact that puisne judgeships are accepted by gentlemen who having filled the post of Attorney General are Privy Councillors. Of late, it is usual to swear Irish judges who have not been law officers of the Irish Privy Council.
In Ireland, the judges do not receive the honour of knighthood. It was contemplated in the early of the present year to give them this honour. The position of judges of the Supreme Court gives some precedence of Knights Bachelors, but no precedence is conferred in their wives and children. The Irish judges, however, were not unanimous as to the propriety of accepting knighthoods, and the matter dropped. In England, the independence of the judges is secured by the Act of Settlement. In Ireland judges did not become independent until 1782.
The Attorney General for Ireland is always a member of the Irish Privy Council. The Attorney General for England is seldom, if ever, a member of the English Privy Council. When, on the resignation of Mr. Gladstone’s Cabinet in 1885, Sir Henry James, the outgoing Attorney General, was sworn of the Privy Council, the matter was so unusual as to excite comment. The Irish Attorney General is much more of a political officer than the Attorney General for England. His advice is taken every day, not only on matters of law, but on matters of State, while he discharges moreover, the duties of a Public Prosecutor. Counsel in every public prosecution in Ireland represent the Attorney General and are held, even if no witnesses be called, for the defence to be entitled to the right of reply.
THE ORDER OF THE ‘COIF’
The order of the Coif has not been abolished in Ireland, but the number of serjeants at the Irish Bar has always been limited to three. From 1627 till 1805 there was an office in Ireland- that a Prime Serjeant – unknown in England, whose holder took precedence of the Attorney and Solicitor General. Since 1805, when that office was abolished, the serjeants-at-law in Ireland take precedence after the Attorney and Solicitor General. In former times a serjeant was entitled to hold a brief and lead for the Crown in every public prosecution on the circuit to which he belonged. This privilege has been abolished within the last few years, and the ‘coif’ now only bestows precedence.
The honour of a silk gown in Ireland is not, as a rule, directly applied for us in England, nor is any formal notice given to “stuffs” who are senior in standing at the bar of an intention to take silk. The offer of silk is frequently made by the Chancellor to men who have no desire to be called within the bar. In Ireland juniors take part with their leader in the conduct of a case in court to an extent unknown in England, if the leading counsel opens the case, the second counsel will speak to evidence, while as a rule the examination and cross-examination of all but the most important witnesses is taken by each counsel in turn.
In Ireland there is not the severance between the Chancery and Common Law Bars, which in England is so marked a feature, So far from ‘specialising’ in particular court, very few members of the Irish Bar, indeed, confine themselves exclusively to one branch of business and it is not unusual for a man to be equally sought for in equity arguments and in jury cases.
At the Irish Bar, barristers’ clerks are unknown. The fees are received by the counsel from solicitor direct and deeds and pleadings are drafted by counsel themselves. The briefs are sent not to chambers but to the residences of counsel in Dublin, or are received by Counsel in the Law Library, the Four Courts, where every practising barrister is expected to be, or to be heard of, in court hours during the sittings.”
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