Dáil courts

Dáil courts (1919–22), set up by the first and second Dála to replace the courts of the British administration in Ireland. In 1919 the Dáil established arbitration courts, a Supreme Court, district courts, and parish courts. The impetus for these moves was the escalation of land agitation in the west of Ireland and the threat it posed to the Dáil's authority.

Parish courts dealt with petty criminal offences and civil claims under £10; district courts heard civil appeals from the parish courts and civil claims under £100; the Supreme Court functioned as a final court of appeal from both the district courts and the Land Settlement Commission, which dealt with land cases. More serious criminal cases, theoretically reserved for special sittings of the higher courts, were in practice dealt with summarily by local IRA units.

The law to be applied by the courts was that existing on 21 January 1919, the first meeting of the Dáil, and citations could be made to the courts, as far as practicable, from early Irish law‐codes, Roman law, and the Code Napoléon, but not from any legal textbook published in Britain. Despite the difficulties of martial law, the courts gradually became established (except in parts of Ulster) and replaced the existing British structures. Their greatest popularity came after the truce of July 1921. After the Anglo‐Irish treaty the situation became confusing, with the crown courts operating side by side with those of the Dáil. In July 1922, following the outbreak of civil war, the Provisional Government rescinded the decree establishing the Dáil Supreme Court, which had granted an application of habeas corpus on behalf of a republican prisoner. The authority of the other Dáil courts was likewise rescinded in October 1922. These steps caused considerable resentment and controversy. The Dáil Éireann Courts (Winding Up) Act 1923 gave statutory recognition to the judgments issued during the courts' period of operation. New courts, incorporating many features from the Dáil courts, were set up under the 1924 Courts of Justice Act.

Deirdre McMahon