Stories of the Four Courts

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  • A Pleading Two-Step, Part 1: The Dangers of Dispensing With Counsel, 1866

    From the Evening Freeman, 28 July 1866 and the Cork Constitution, 30 July 1866: “Mr Hardy applied to have the defence filed in the case of Tedcastle v Stockholme set aside on the ground that it was informal and embarrassing. Mr O’Driscoll said he held a brief for the defendant,…

  • The Brats of Mountrath Street, 1867-1890

    From the Freeman’s Journal, 27 May 1867: “CHANCERY PLACE AND MOUNTRATH STREET Dear Sir- I beg, through the medium of your influential journal, to call the attention of the authorities to an assemblage of ill-behaved boys and girls that meet nightly at the corner of the above mentioned localities, throwing…

  • The Man of Many Wives, 1884-1895

    From the Illustrated London News, 14 June 1884: “At the Dublin Commission Court, before Mr Justice Lawson, on Saturday, Brian Denis Molloy, son of a magistrate for the County of Mayo, and who, on the death of his father, will become entitled to £1000 per annum, was indicted for bigamy. …

  • The Bar Cricket Club in Season, 1889-1890

    From the Clonmel Chronicle, 10 July 1880: “The members of the Bar of Ireland sometimes unbend the legal mind in the soft excitement of lawn tennis; but when they do, the learned gentlemen have their little frolic in ‘chamber’ as it were, and not in court.  They had what is…

  • Boys’ Night In Ends in Three Months’ Hard Labour for Elderly Barrister, 1892

    From the Derry Journal, 8 June 1892: “At the Petty Sessions, Nenagh, Mr Sadleir Stoney, Barrister at Law and Justice of the Peace for Dublin, who resides at Ballycapple, between Nenagh and Cloughjordan, surrendered to heavy recognisances and was charged with having assaulted Mrs Alice Bunbury, wife of Captain Bunbury,…

  • The ‘Cleansing’ of Bull Lane, 1878

    From the Freeman’s Journal, 1 March 1879: “During the past few months, quietly and unknown to the general public, a work has been in progress in Dublin calculated to materially benefit the city.  By a judicious use of the authority vested in them and a rigid exercise of their legal…

  • Future Supreme Court Judge Unsuccessfully Sued for Negligent Driving, 1924

    From the Dublin Evening Telegraph, 4th and 5th March, 1924: Miss May McConnon, a typist, residing at the Gaelic Hotel, Blackrock, Dundalk, claimed £3000 damages against Mr Cecil Lavery, barrister-at-law, for personal injuries caused, as alleged, by the negligence of the defendant in the management of a motor car near…

  • An Aggrieved Apprentice, 1874

    From the Freeman’s Journal, 16 December 1874: “To the Editor of the Freeman. SIR – Would you kindly insert the following in the interest of the grievances of attorneys’ apprentices.  The facts are briefly these:- In the second week of last month a sessional examination was held at the Four…

  • A Barrister’s Right to Walk Unobstructed, 1893

    From the Cork Constitution, 17 April 1893: “STRANGE CONDUCT OF AN IRISH BARRISTER CHARGED BEFORE THE MAGISTRATES WITH STREET OBSTRUCTION Mr William C Hennessy, barrister-at-law, Tralee, was charged by Constable John Foster with obstructing the footpath on the Grand Parade, at four o’clock on Friday evening.  Mr Hennessy had been…

  • Ormond Quay Prison Break, 1784

    From the Hibernian Journal; or, Chronicle of Liberty, 16 July 1784: “Yesterday in the afternoon, a number of the prisoners, confined in the New Gaol, found means to break into the sewer that communicates from the prison to the Bradogue River, or water course that falls into the Liffey at…

  • A Princess Arrested in the Four Courts, 1864

    From the Waterford Mail, 17 February 1864: “SITTINGS AT NISI PRIUS Wyse v Lewis This was an action brought by Madame Letitia Bonaparte Wyse, widow of the late Thomas Wyse, formerly British ambassador at Greece, against Mr William Lewis, of Messrs Lewis and Howe, solicitors, of Nassau-street, in this city…

  • The Man Who Married His Mother-in-Law, 1904

    From the Belfast Weekly News, 12 May 1904: “The trial of James Thompson for having married his mother-in-law took place on 10th inst, in the Recorder’s Court, Dublin.  Mr Bushe KC, who prosecuted, stated the case for the Crown.  He said in 1896 the prisoner on 2nd June married a…

  • Carlow Solicitor Takes Down Two IRA Men in Career-Ending Gun Battle, 1923

    From the Freeman’s Journal, 19 February 1923: “INDOMITABLE COURAGE RAIDERS FOUGHT BY CARLOW SOLICITOR TABLES TURNED INTRUDERS SHOT: ONE KILLED Sensational to an almost incredible degree is the account that has just come to hand of experiences that befell Mr Edward S Maffett, a Co Carlow solicitor, and his family…

  • Fun on Circuit, 1909

    From the Irish Independent, 2 July 1909: “ON CIRCUIT, by G.O. July is undoubtedly the pleasantest month in the barristers’ working year.  The Circuits are out then, and business is judiciously combined with pleasure.  The old stager, whose hair is whiter than his wig, and to whom briefs are a…

  • His Only Brief, 1896

    From the Weekly Irish Times, 27 June 1896: “HIS ONLY BRIEF ‘QC, MP’ tells a true story infinitely full of pathos.  A fortnight ago a letter reached him in the handwriting of an old college friend, telling a pitiful story of a stranded life.  The writer had been called to…

  • The Goat of Morgan Place, 1881

    From the Freeman’s Journal, 22 April 1882: “ROBBERY FROM THE FOUR COURTS A fish dealer named Ennis was charged by Police Constable 69D with having stolen a goat, the property of Mr Alexander Blyth, Four Courts.  A workman named Michael Higgins, in the employment of the Board of Works, stated…

  • Legal Monkeys Hire Organ-Grinders to Disrupt Judge’s Party, 1846-66

    From the Derry Journal, 28 June 1909: “The recent successful campaign against the street organ-grinders in securing that persons who disliked it should not be annoyed by street music recalls a practical joke played on a learned Judge through the medium of organ-grinders in Dublin.  Mr T.B.C. Smith, who was…

  • No Catholic Testament in the Four Courts, 1919

    From the Weekly Freeman’s Journal, 6 December 1919: “In the King’s Bench Division – Probate, before Mr Justice Kenny, in the matter of the goods of Denis Dwyer, Deceased, the Rev James O’Sullivan, PP, attended, under an order of the Court, in order to give evidence as to his knowledge…

  • Enough to make Curls Stand on End: Fee Recovery and the Junior Bar, 1862-present

    From the Roscommon & Leitrim Gazette, 5 February 1876: “The normal calm of the ‘Coffee-Room,’ that veritable place of ‘refreshers,’ was somewhat disturbed by an occurrence of an unprecedented character, so far as the Four Courts of our days are concerned.  In a very short space of time as many…

  • The Fighting Herb Doctors of Church Street and Parnell Street, 1852

    From the Freeman’s Journal, 4 May 1852: “John McDonnell, of Church-Street, ‘herb doctor’ and ‘professor,’ appeared to sustain a complaint against Michael Gafney, ‘herb doctor and universal practitioner,’ for an alleged violent assault. The complainant professing in this instance to have been assaulted was a low-sized dark visaged young man,…

  • Sligo Jury Turns Water into Whisky, 1860

    From the Belfast News-Letter, 17 March 1860: “A DISTRESSED JURY While the jury empanelled to try the case of Michael Lynot, charged with committing an aggravated assault on Pat Sexton, were locked up considering their verdict, Judge Hayes came into court on Monday night, at ten o’clock, to ascertain whether…

  • State Trial Implodes as Attorney General Challenges Opposing Counsel to Duel, 1844

    From the Sun (London), 1 February 1844: “The Irish State trials were resumed on Tuesday, when Mr Fitzgibbon QC, appearing for Mr Gray, said that the doctrine of conspiracy, as laid down by the Attorney-General, was that it was a combination of two or more persons to do an illegal…

  • To Catch a Thief, 1892

    From the Belfast News-Letter, 3 November 1892: “JUDGE CAPTURES THIEF Judge Boyd distinguished himself by catching a young thief in flagrante delicto. Passing through Kildare Street, his attention was attracted to some newsboys besetting a lady. One boy was on her right, and the other on her left hand. As…

  • Mad Cow Escapade in Chancery Street, 1856

    From the Freeman’s Journal, 19 July 1856: “Mad Cow – Serious Accident A young lad named Dominick Roynane was brought up in custody of Police Constable John Cartin 101D, charged with incautiously driving through the streets, without proper control, a wild and furious cow, to the great danger of the…

  • The Cruel Master, 1778

    A sad story tonight, from Saunders’ News-Letter, 30 January 1778, involving a murder and secret burial in the graveyard of St Michan’s Church next to the Law Library buildings at 158/9 Church Street. “Last week one of those chimney sweepers who employ a number of boys or children, adapted in…

  • Malpractices of the Senior Bar, 1862

    From the King’s County Chronicle, 5 March 1862, an impressive editorial diatribe against the then practice of Irish Queen’s Counsel accepting multiple briefs for the same day while asserting the right to retain all fees paid in advance, even where they failed, as a result, to appear in one or…

  • Swallowing the Evidence, 1839

    From the Dublin Evening Packet and Correspondent, September 1839: “EXTRAORDINARY CASE- SWALLOWING A WATCH A young gentleman, called Rathbane, charged Anne Lynch with having stolen his watch. Complainant said he was passing through Marlborough Street when he was followed by the prisoner, who snatched the watch out of his waistcoat…

  • Irish Free State Prosecuting Barrister Kidnapped, Tarred and Tied to Railings Outside Arbour Hill Prison, 1934

    From the Irish Independent, 8 December 1934: “Mr PJ McEnery, the well-known Dublin barrister, who has appeared for the State in recent cases tried by the Military Tribunal, was the victim of a startling affair last night.  While on his way from the Courts to his home at Killiney, Dublin,…

  • Visiting English Barrister Mistakes Free State Detectives for Gunmen, 1923

    From the Belfast News-Letter, 11 December 1923: “SCENE IN DUBLIN HOTEL – LONDON BARRISTER THOUGHT DETECTIVES WERE GUNMEN Described as a barrister, Frederick Ritters, London, was in the Dublin police courts yesterday charged with obstructing two detectives in the execution of their duty. The two detectives were about to make…

  • Something Wicker This Way Comes: Laughter in Court at Child Noise Nuisance Case, 1853

    From the Evening Freeman, 18 April 1853: “CONSOLIDATED NISI PRIUS COURT – SATURDAY Mangan v Tuthill This was an appeal from a decree of St Sepulchre’s Court for £9. Counsel for Mr Tuthill stated that his client lived in No 6 Rathmines Road, and the appellant in No 5; that…

  • Mr Godley BL in Trouble Again, 1948

    From the Belfast Telegraph, 4 June 1948: “John Godley, 87, was placed on probation for a year at Weston-Super-Mare today, on two charges of attempting to obtain money by false pretences. Superintendent Baker said since 1934 practically all Godley’s income had been derived from writing begging letters. ‘He made a…

  • The Marrying Kind, or, Mr Godley BL and the Two Wives, December 1903

    From the Belfast News-Letter, 4 December 1903: “At the Commission Court last evening, before Mr Justice Kenny, the jury found John Godley, Barrister-at-Law and Alice Lilian Pritchard, trading as Leigh, Moore & Co, 6 Westland Row, Dublin, guilty of obtaining money by false pretences by means of cheques.  They strongly recommended…

  • Mr Godley BL and the Bounced Cheque, October 1903

    From the Northern Whig, Saturday 31 October 1903: “Yesterday in the Southern Police Court, before Mr Swifte, Mr John Godley, Barrister-at-Law, and Miss (or Mrs) Lilian Moore, otherwise Pritchard, otherwise Mrs L Moore, carrying on business at 6 Westland Row, appeared on remand to answer a summons to show cause…

  • Wife of John Godley BL Catches Fire at Leeson Street Party, 1888

    From the Waterford Standard, 18 February 1888: “An accident which might have had a fatal termination to a young lady well known in Dublin Society took place on Friday night at a ball given by Mr Molloy QC in Leeson-Street.  As one of the earliest dances of the evening was progressing,…

  • Mr Dunn BL Back in Town, 1839-40

    From the Leeds Intelligencer, 29 December 1838: “MR DUNN AGAIN AND MISS BURDETT COUTTS At Bow-Street, on Monday, Miss Angelina Burdett-Coutts, accompanied by her father, Sir F Burdett, and attended by Mr Parkinson and Mr Humphries, solicitors, appeared before Sir F Roe to proffer a charge of annoying and insulting…

  • Mr Dunn BL in Prison for Love, October 1838

    From the Tuam Herald and the Sheffield Independent, 13 October 1838: “The Irish Gentleman (Mr Dunn, the Irish Barrister) alluded to in our paper a few weeks ago, is now at Knaresboro’ in the custody of a police officer from London, on the charge of annoying a certain rich young…

  • Mr Dunn BL in Love Again, 1838

    From an unnamed London journal, as recounted in the Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier, 25 September 1838, this update on the continued romantic endeavours of Irish barrister Richard Dunn, last heard of on the way to Kilmainham Gaol two years earlier, after an unsuccessful attempt to win the hand…

  • Judicial Coach Hijacked by Helpful Ennis Local, 1902

    From the Westminster Gazette, 10 April 1902: “The Ennis representative of the Freeman’s Journal tells a delightful story of young Ireland.  At Ennis the Assizes were held by Lord Chief Justice O’Brien and Mr Justice Johnson.  At the Courthouse door there drew up in the usual course the High Sheriff’s…

  • The Law and the ‘Flu, 1918-22

    The Spanish ‘flu arrived in Ireland in the summer of 1918, possibly in Belfast.   The Belfast News-Letter of 10 July 1918 reported the death of Bernard Hughes BL, a North-East Circuit barrister of eight years vintage, after a severe attack of influenza.   Mr Hughes, from a bakery family, was described…

  • Mr Dunn BL in Love, 1836

    From the Warder and Dublin Weekly Mail, 30 July 1836: “INVESTIGATION AT KINGSTOWN Yesterday an investigation was entered into by magistrates of the Blackrock petty sessions in Kingstown, relative to the alleged misconduct of Mr Richard Dunne (more commonly spelt Dunn), a barrister, residing at N.1 Clare Street, Dublin, against…

  • Beneath the East Wing: The Inns Quay Infirmary, 1728-89

    The above image shows the site of the Four Courts as surveyed by John Roque in 1756, when it was still owned by the Benchers of the King’s Inns. You can see what is left of the old Priory/King’s Inns buildings on the far left. Much of the rest of…

  • Teenager Hoaxes Thirteen Belfast Solicitors, 1925

    From the Weekly Telegraph, September 5, 1925: “Unlucky Thirteen – Belfast Solicitors Hoaxed An extraordinary hoax has been carried out on at least thirteen Belfast solicitors, as a result of which a person about whom the police are now enquiring, is believed to be richer to the extent of about…

  • Irish Barrister’s Wife Linked to International Man of Mystery, 1926

    From the Evening Herald, 13 April 1926: “A music hall star well known 35 years ago as ‘Bonnie Kate Harvey’ and now Mrs Kate Macaulay, wife of an Irish barrister, brought an action in the King’s Bench, London, claiming damages for defamation in respect of a story in which it…

  • Early Irish Bar Strike, c.1790

    From the Irish Industrial Journal, 4 September 1850: “REBELLION OF THE IRISH BAR – Lord Clonmel, upon occasion, in the Court of King’s Bench, used rough language to Mr Hacket, a gentleman of the Bar, the members of which profession considered themselves as all assailed in the the person of…

  • Let off for Lunch: Pioneering Women Jurors, 1921

    In 1921, Irish women became eligible for jury service on civil and criminal trials. This article by Anna Joyce from the Freeman’s Journal of 9 February 1921 brings us back in time to the very first High Court trial involving women jurors: “Some people suffer from boredom to an excessive…

  • Judge Calls Women’s Fashion the Ruin of the Country, 1895

    From the Sheffield Daily Telegraph , 5 January 1894: “The Kilrush correspondent of the ‘Freeman’s Journal’ says: ‘At the Quarter Sessions here yesterday a milliner brought an action against a pension for goods supplied to his daughter, who is now in America.  His Honour Judge Kelly said women were the…

  • The (Would-be) Serial Killer of Church Street, 1861

    From the Belfast Morning News, 2 January 1861: “Joseph Dwyer is now in custody on a charge of having made one of the most daring and diabolical attempts to deprive a fellow-creature of life, for the mere purpose of pecuniary gain, that perhaps the world ever heard of. A young…

  • Irish Barristers and their Fees, 1866

    From the Dublin Evening Mail, 24 October 1866: “A gentleman who signs himself ‘A Stuff Gown,’ states in a letter addressed to a Dublin contemporary… that ‘bar etiquette requires that barristers shall not accept briefs unless they get the fees with them, and that gentlemen who do otherwise violate, in…

  • Tragic Tipstaff Death in Phoenix Park, 1905

    From the Irish News and Belfast Morning News, 9 June 1905, this sad account of the death of Mr Robert Pierson, tipstaff/crier to the Recorder of Dublin: “Yesterday at the Dublin City Commission, before the Lord Chief Justice and a jury, James Doolan, publican, Watling Street, was charged with the…

  • The Registrar who Knew Joyce, 1937

    From the Irish Press, 19 October 1937 (photo above): “The ceremony of opening the new revolving doors at the Chancery Place entrance to the High Court was performed by Mr CP Curran, Senior Registrar, in the absence of the Master of the High Court yesterday. The doors are the first…

  • Round Hall Wrestle After Perceived Insult to Barrister’s Mother, 1893

    From the Belfast News-Letter, 25 January 1893: “Dublin, Tuesday – Mr Pierce De Lacey Mahony, Parnellite candidate for North Meath, a picturesque, handsome, tall, sparely-built man, with Shakespearian cast of countenance, fine dark eyes and hair turning grey, assailed, Mr Matthew J Kenny, MP, of the North=West Bar, a tall,…

  • The Wimple Life, 1908

    From the Preston Herald, 22 August 1908: “Unless the widow of Mr Michael J Hanmore, a solicitor, late of 3, Prince of Wales Terrace, Bray, Co Wicklow, consents to enter a convent and devote the remainder of her life to prayer. His executors are instructed that she is to receive…

  • The Female Barrister – Fair, Feared and ‘Finished at Forty,’ 1896

    The 1896 decision of the Benchers of the Ontario Law Society to admit women to the Bar of Ontario, resulted in a flurry of excitement as to whether the same dread fate might await this jurisdiction. The Freeman’s Journal of 12 August 1896 did not look kindly on the idea…

  • Solicitor Caned in Four Courts Yard Over Missed Deed, 1846

    From the Dublin Evening Post, 26 November 1846: “Mr Richard Hackett, solicitor, summoned Mr Michael Hackett, also solicitor, for assault. The complainant gave evidence that he was in the yard of the Four Courts [when] the defendant, in passing by, asked him to return him a deed. The complainant replied…