High Court of Justice in Ireland

The High Court of Justice in Ireland was the Court created by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 to replace the existing court structure in Ireland. It mirrored the reform of the Courts of England and Wales five years earlier under the Judicature Acts. The Act created a Supreme Court of Judicature, consisting of a High Court of Justice and a Court of Appeal.

The High Court was created by the Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland) Act 1877, through the amalgamation of a number of courts. Most importantly, the three superior common-law courts (the Court of King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of Exchequer) and the Court of Chancery were merged into the new court. Also merged into it were the Courts of Landed Estates, Probate, Matrimonial Causes, Admiralty, and Bankruptcy. However, the right of appeal from Ireland to the House of Lords in England was preserved.

An important consequence of the amalgamation of the superior common-law courts with the court of equity (Chancery) was that, for the first time, the previously separate systems of common law and equity were merged.

The structure of the abolished courts was reflected in the divisions created for the new High Court. This proved to be unnecessarily complex, and the opportunity presented by the death, retirement, and transfer of a number of the judges was taken to simplify the organisation of the divisions, so that by 1897 there were only two: Chancery, and the Queen's Bench.

Of the existing office holders, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland presided in the new Court of Appeal. The Master of the Rolls in Ireland and the Vice-Chancellor moved to the Chancery Division; the latter office was abolished in 1904. The Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas retained his rank until 1887 when the incumbent became Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Christopher Palles, the last Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer remained in office until 1916, acting as a judge both of the King's Bench Division and of the Court of Appeal.

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