Courts

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courts of law. For around eight centuries justice has been administered in Ireland through a combination of central and local courts. The earliest central court, known simply as the king's court in Ireland or as the county court of Dublin, was in existence by the 1190s. It was remodelled c.1220 to bring it more closely into line with royal courts in England. Initially its sessions (assise) were held both at Dublin and elsewhere in the lordship. By c.1250 the Dublin sessions were clearly differentiated from those held elsewhere, but it was only in 1274 that there emerged a separate Dublin bench, later called the court of Common Pleas, a permanent and mainly civil court with its own personnel holding regular sessions at Dublin. This was the first of the Four Courts to become permanently established as a law court in Dublin. It remained there for over six centuries, apart from a period between 1364 and 1394 when it moved to Carlow.

The second of the Four Courts, the court of King's Bench, began existence as the justiciar's court but was renamed the court of King's Bench after Richard II's visit in 1394–5. Only in the 16th century did this court take up permanent residence in Dublin. King's Bench had both a civil and criminal jurisdiction and played an important role in reviewing cases previously heard in other courts.

A separate Irish chancery existed from the early years of the 13th century. Initially it was primarily an administrative organization with responsibility for issuing writs in the name of the monarch both for legal and for administrative purposes. Like its English counterpart, by the 14th century its administrative responsibilities had given rise to its exercise of a limited legal jurisdiction but it was only in the second half of the 15th century that it began to act as a court of equity, providing remedies in certain particular circumstances where other courts were unable to act. By 1520 it was holding regular sessions in Dublin and by 1537 it too was accounted one of the Four Courts. It was probably primarily seen as a law court by then, though it continued to exercise administrative responsibilities as well.

The fourth of the Four Courts, the exchequer, had also existed since the early 13th century. Its primary responsibility was the collection and expenditure of government revenue but already in the 13th century (as in England) this also led to its dealing with some litigation about matters such as disputed liability for debts to the crown. It was probably only in the 16th century that the exchequer came to be seen primarily as a court and only in the late 17th century that it came to exercise a general equity jurisdiction. This competed with that of chancery until its abolition in 1850.

The Four Courts shared accommodation at a variety of venues in Dublin from the early 16th century onwards. From 1609 to 1796 they were located together behind Christ Church cathedral and in 1796 moved to their new building (see four courts) on the former site of King's Inns. In 1878 the Four Courts were merged into one Supreme Court consisting of a single High Court (with several separate divisions) and a Court of Appeal. The 1920 Government of Ireland Act created two separate Supreme courts for Northern and Southern Ireland. In 1924 the latter was abolished and replaced by a new High Court and Supreme Court of the Irish Free State.

From the 1220s onwards royal justice was also brought on an irregular basis to the counties of the lordship by the king's court in Ireland holding local sessions with a wide jurisdiction in civil and criminal pleas and the responsibility of making local inquiries on behalf of the royal administration. After 1274 there was a separate group of itinerant justices who went on eyre to perform this function. However, the last full eyre in Ireland took place in 1322. The eyre was partially replaced by much more regular sessions held locally by justices of assize with a more restricted civil and criminal jurisdiction. The assizes remained the principal local courts of criminal trial until their abolition in independent Ireland in 1924.

During the Middle Ages and into the early modern period (and in some cases later) there were also a variety of more local courts within the lordship. These ranged from private liberty courts, whose powers were almost as extensive as those of the royal courts and whose jurisdiction might extend over several modern counties though more commonly over individual counties or parts of counties, to county courts and city courts and down to local manorial courts. In Ireland the keepers (or later the justices) of the peace do not seem to have become the main local group for hearing all but the most serious criminal offences in each county until the early 17th century, when they began holding four yearly sessions (quarter sessions) for this purpose, and it was not until the early 19th century that individual justices of the peace began to try the most minor criminal offences and to hold preliminary hearings into the more serious offences in petty sessions. During the first half of the 19th century the government also began replacing unpaid justices of the peace with salaried resident magistrates. The minor original civil jurisdiction of the assize courts was transferred in 1796 to an ‘assistant barrister’ in each county who also provided expert advice to quarter sessions; in 1877 these became sessions of a distinct county court. When the courts were reorganized in 1924 within the new Free State the petty sessions became district courts; the county court and quarter sessions became circuit courts.

Paul Brand

courts of law Judicial assemblies established to try legal cases and to impose punishment for wrongdoing or to remedy a damage. The history of the court system lies in the English assumption of common law as its legal basis (which Britain introduced to its former colonies, including the USA and Canada) as opposed to Roman law, which is the judicial basis of many other countries around the world. In the UK and the USA, courts are hierarchically organized, and try suits of two different types, civil and criminal. In the UK, civil law cases are heard by county courts and the High Court of Justice, while those of criminal law are heard by crown courts or magistrates' court. Serious criminal offences are referred from magistrates' courts to a crown court. The Court of Appeal is divided into civil and criminal divisions and hears appeals from crown courts, county courts and the High Court. Appeals from the High Court are heard by the House of Lords, the Supreme Court of Appeal. In the USA, there are two court systems. Federal courts administer cases involving the nation, federal laws, interstate disputes and non-US nationals. They include the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, district courts and specialist courts (that cover issues such as tax or patents). State courts are divided into superior and inferior courts. Superior courts include the State Supreme Court, county and municipal courts. Inferior courts include magistrates' courts, and tribunals such as traffic courts, juvenile and small claims courts.

Courts. See Federal Government, Judicial Branch; Municipal Judicial Systems.