John Naish

John Naish PC, QC (15 August 1841 – 17 August 1890) was an Irish lawyer and judge, who held a number of senior offices, including Lord Chancellor of Ireland.

Born in Limerick on 15 August 1841, son of Carroll Naish of Ballycullen and his second wife Anne Margaret Carroll or O'Carroll, Naish was educated at Clongowes Wood School and Dublin University. He was an outstanding student, gaining numerous distinctions in mathematics, physics and natural science, as well as law.

He was called to the Irish Bar in 1865, and practiced on the Munster Circuit, becoming a QC in 1880. His reputation as a barrister was mixed: he was too nervous and retiring to be a good advocate, but hard work and academic brilliance compensated for this. He appeared in the celebrated libel action brought by Canon O'Keeffe against Cardinal Cullen, and co-wrote an influential textbook on the Common Law Procedure Acts.

He became Law Adviser to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (a deputy to the two senior law officers) in 1880. The office had become a very onerous one and had been criticised for its excessively political nature, since one of the Law Adviser's responsibilities was to advise magistrates on how to deal with proceedings with a political element. Naish is credited with having suggested that magistrates in their ongoing struggle with the Irish National Land League, should rely on an obscure medieval statute, 34 Edward III c.1, to imprison those who could not find sureties for their good behaviour. This was arguably an abuse of the law since the statute was clearly aimed only at cases of riot. These concerns about his obviously political role may explain why the office was left vacant after his promotion.

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