The Four Courts, Dublin, after the destruction of the Ormond Bridge in the Great Storm of 1802. Ferries carried passengers across the river until a new bridge was constructed. The sentry box probably belonged to one of the famous Charley: ruthcannon.com/2023/01/11/t... Image via British Library.

From the Daily News, 17 July 1922, a photograph showing the Fire Brigade clearing up the remains of the Four Courts during the Irish Civil War. Archive link below for a story about how the rebels audaciously rescued their flag under the nose of the Fire Brigade. ruthcannon.com/2022/01/05/f...

An early example of lawyer-bashing may be found in an Evening Herald report of a Clare County Council meeting of 1949, when a number of counsellors vociferously opposed the re-upholstering of barristers' benches in lovely Ennis Courthouse (below). Read it all here: ruthcannon.com/2025/07/29/c...

The heartfelt welcome given to Judge Cahir Davitt in Tullamore in 1946 painted an evocative picture of the judge appearing there 30 years earlier as a 'dark-haired, handsome... modest, bright-eyed, and chivalrous boy.' Follow the link below to find out more: ruthcannon.com/2025/07/25/a...

The below article records the leap from the Law Library to the silver screen of Irish barrister and movie star Edward George Little, better known under his stage name Edward Lexy (1897-1970). More about him here: ruthcannon.com/2025/07/24/f...

Normally Cockney criminals chose their prey first, but the ebullience of 19c Irish lawyers visiting London was such that they actually introduced themselves to the criminal - read on for an account of one such incident in New Oxford Street in 1907: ruthcannon.com/2025/07/23/i...

Although Irish judges, punning, and Catholicism might seem unlikely bedfellows, all three coalesced in early 19th century Ireland to sometimes magnificent effect. Read about it all here: ruthcannon.com/2025/07/22/p...

Tragedy turns to violence in the Dublin Coroner’s court in this story from the Strathearn Herald of 11 May 1878 as the brother of a pregnant suicide victim seeks to wreak physical vengeance on her employer and alleged seducer. More here: ruthcannon.com/2025/07/16/i...

From the Sphere, 23 May 1936, this photograph of Irish solicitor TG 'George' McVeagh competing in the Davis Cup of the same year. The firm established by him in Kildare Street survived into this century. More on McVeagh here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...

The new Irish Family Law Courts are slated for the below site at 167-9 Church Street, Dublin - but is there anything in the history of the site conducive or otherwise to remedying marital disharmony? Find out here: ruthcannon.com/2025/07/14/n...

A very young barrister, apprehended for 'midnight vocalism' at Beresford Place (below) near Dublin's infamous Monto, defends himself in the Dublin Police Court of 1887. Will he get off? What will happen to his career? Find out what happened to Charles Dunne BL here: ruthcannon.com/2025/07/09/m...

Researchers on longevity may be interested in Mr Condy Boyle, of Dungloe, Donegal, who served as court crier at Lifford Courthouse (image below) for 75 years between 1834 and 1909. Charming and multi-talented Mr Boyle had an interesting family history. More here: ruthcannon.com/2025/07/08/a...

Drama in 1879 as a moneylender flees the Four Courts to escape an angry crowd. More on Thomas Joyce and the Accommodation Bank here: ruthcannon.com/2025/07/07/n...

From the Irish Independent, 8 November 1930, via British Newspaper Archives. a very nice-looking group of new Irish barristers. George D Murnaghan later became a formidable High Court judge, and is remembered for having sentenced the last man hanged in Ireland (Michael Manning, 1954). Image

I had the pleasure this week of taking a lovely group of visitors through Ireland's iconic Four Courts. As there were no handouts, I said I would put the content of the tour up online. My bird's eye view of the history of this building is at the link below: ruthcannon.com/2025/06/28/a...

Some real-life compatriots of 'Miss Flite,' Dickens' eccentric lady litigant depicted on far left in image below, included Monaghan's Margaret McManus, a well-known figure around the Four Courts. More on Margaret and her even more eccentric English contemporary here: ruthcannon.com/2025/06/23/m...

Circuit practice around Ireland has always been a feature of the Irish Bar. This clipping from the 1904 Irish Jurist shows that, long before the idea of photographs of barristers being published on a website, Circuit barristers were preparing composites to ensure they could be identified easily!

Miler, the one-tune ballad-singer in the long grey coat who counted the railings around the Four Courts every Sabbath without fail, was just one of a number of non-legal eccentrics associated with the pre-1922 Four Courts. Read about him here: ruthcannon.com/2025/06/05/m...

Here, have a #painting. "Four Courts from the East" came out of going past a scene in my native Dublin a million times, which I'll admit is a suspiciously round number. #SpeirGorm #ArtYear

Another #painting "Mellows Bridge II". Because of Arran Quay with the church of St Paul and the Bank of Ireland building. And the Four Courts dome. And I still like what used to be our Central Bank. But Mellows bridge is really what this painting is about. I think it’s a beauty. #SpeirGorm #ArtYear

Among library correspondence for 1958, there is a letter from @deptjusticeirl.bsky.social permitting the import of prohibited publication 'Borstal Boy' by Brendan #Behan. Locating our copy, the inside cover confirms purchase 'under licence from the Minister for Justice'! #censorship #IrishAuthors

An evocative account from the Belfast News-Letter of 7 February 1823 of public attendance at the Four Courts for a prosecution for conspiracy to injure the Lord Lieutenant by throwing a bottle at him at the Theatre Royal, Hawkins Street. More here: ruthcannonbarristerhistory.com/2025/06/04/e...

Future Lord Chancellor of Ireland William Conyingham Plunket repeatedly sued over claims that he acted improperly in prosecuting Irish revolutionary Robert Emmet, given his previous friendship with the Emmet family. But were the claims justified? Read on & decide: ruthcannon.com/2025/06/03/f...

The Cork Slander Case of 1908-9 brought by a great-great uncle of Princess Diana had everything an aficionado of Edwardian litigation could require, and was one of the only Irish trials ever to be recorded by in-court photography. Read about it here: ruthcannon.com/2025/05/30/w...

19c High Court judges went on assizes to counties throughout Ireland several times a year, usually to much fanfare, often involving a brass band on arrival. But in 1887, Carlow Town Commissioners voted against cleaning the streets for the arrival of Baron Dowse (image b-r) Find out why below!

The image below is of Welbore Ellis MP, the owner of a large amount of property at Oxmantown, Dublin, and the man who cleverly negotiated the location of the Four Courts on Inns Quay, purely for his personal gain! Read about his bargaining chip here: ruthcannon.com/2025/05/28/t...

Midlife fitness is nothing new, as demonstrated by a mature Stephen's Green pickpocket who gave authorities a merry chase round the back of the Four Courts in 1893 before running into 'Bill' Stratford, the Lugs Branigan of his day! Read it all here: ruthcannon.com/2025/05/27/a... Image: Istock.

Daniel O'Connell - Irish barrister, politician... and talented mediator! Read about how a potential duel between two seasoned members of the Irish bar over heated words said in the Court of Exchequer was successfully and elegantly resolved by him in 1825... ruthcannon.com/2025/05/26/i...

Did you know that Chancery Lane, Dublin, now the home of the Irish Chief State Solicitor, has a historic association with this branch of the legal profession dating back centuries? Read about one of its past solicitor denizens here: ruthcannon.com/2025/05/23/a...

Irish Supreme Court judge TC Kingsmill Moore (shown below at Trinity College Races with his family, 1952), was also the author of 'A Man May Fish' (1960), a classic fishing tome which beautifully juxtaposed the practical and the lyrical. Read an extract from it here: ruthcannon.com/2025/05/22/a...

Step back in time to the roguish Dublin of the mid 19th century, as a eminent Irish lawyer is taken for a ride in every sense of the word! Clipping from the Advocate, 2 August 1856.

'Not hearing' a barrister is refusing to allow them to address the court. One situation in which this might occur is where the judge has already decided the case or point in their favour something which, as the below anecdote shows, this does not necessarily soothe hurt feelings at being muted!

In August 1860, the curate of St Michan's, Dublin 7 (image below) finds himself pelted with vegetables and accusations of 'souperism' after he gets sidetracked by a small child on a home visit to his parishioners. An unfortunate series of events or a set-up? More: ruthcannon.com/2025/05/19/c...

The obituary of Counsellor Terence McDonogh, the only Catholic to practise as a barrister in Ireland during the Penal Laws - but did you know he was undone by his own legal advice? More here:- ruthcannon.com/2025/05/16/o...

An extract from Burke's 'Anecdotes of the Connaught Circuit' (ebook available on google books) detailing the famous 'Catholic conveyancers' of the 18th and early 19th century.

The building we now know as the Four Courts, Dublin as it was originally meant to be - a building housing offices for the courts rather than the courts themselves, as well as providing a repository for public records. More here: ruthcannon.com/2025/05/14/b...

How did Lord Chief Justice of Ireland Charles Kendal Bushe come to be known as 'silver-tongued'? Find out in this polished profile of his advocacy skills penned by his colleague John Finlay: www.ruthcannon.com/2025/05/13/all-this-is-art-the-advocacy-skills-of-charles-kendal-bushe-1805-1822/

A court is not a theatre, and you will be removed - so said Irish Judge Christopher Palles (b-r) in 1903 when an unidentified woman in a blue dress clapped during a case in his court. More on this, and the counsel reprimanded by Palles for comparing a court to a racecourse, in the clipping below!

An interesting news clipping detailing an inquest into the death of barrister Edward Johnstone following an after-court visit to the Turkish Baths in Lincoln Place, Dublin (b-r) The reference to a barrister as Esquire. was usual at that time.

Some lovely illustrations of the Fruit and Vegetable Market, Halston Street, Dublin, published to commemorate its opening in 1892. The Market was originally known as the Fish and Vegetable Market because fruit-sellers were reluctant to join. More here: ruthcannon.com/2025/05/08/1...

How Ireland's top judge used to travel: the coach of 18c century Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Lord Clare, now in the National Museum. It would have been parked in the western courtyard of the Four Courts. Nymphs! Story from the Lurgan Mail, 5 March 1938. Image via National Galleries of Scotland.

A beautiful depiction of the Liffey and Inns and Ormond Quay, Dublin, with the dome of the Four Courts in the background, in this mid-20th century poster for Shell Oil. The artist may have been Henry C O'Donnell, bio here: modernbritishartgallery.com/artists/o-do...

The magnificent premises of Joseph Dollard, lithographer, Wellington Quay (below) still standing today, were nearly pulled down in 1888 shortly after their completion because of a right to light claim by a neighbour. Read about Flynn v Dollard here: ruthcannon.com/2025/05/02/e...

Did you know that there was once a lecture theatre in the Four Courts providing legal education to apprentice solicitors? The above clipping from the Freeman's Journal of 2 December 1873 features complaints from a solicitor and an apprentice about the service provided!

Better than fiction - this remarkable anecdote from the professional career of Charles Kendal Bushe, later Lord Chief Justice of Ireland between 1822 and 1841, recording an occurrence probably unprecedented in the history of criminal defence work.

You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife in Monasterevan District Court, Ireland, in 1929 when the breakdown of a friendship between two women once so close that they held a joint wedding ended in a private prosecution for assault and abusive language. More: ruthcannon.com/2025/04/29/1...

Looking down Hammond Lane, Dublin 7, at the dome of the Four Courts, then and now. Image on left from 1916, via the Bureau of Military History. Image on right from Google Streetview. More about Hammond Lane here: ruthcannon.com/2025/04/28/h...

My new video on the pre-1922 procedure for Irish couples seeking a divorce to remarry, as illustrated by a 1907 case involving the below sporting Irish barrister and his errant wife, former muse of WB Yeats, can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hcD...

From William Sadler II (1782-1839), chronicler of early 19th century Dublin, this evocative view of College Green, via invaluable.com. This area was at one time contemplated as a site for the Four Courts. Nice carriages! Click on image to see more detailed view.

Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald's brother Desmond, designer of Dublin Airport, and his wife, Kay FitzGerald (nee Gore Grimes) daughter of Dublin solicitor Christopher Gore Grimes, at a Ball in support of the Adelaide Hospital, Dublin, 1955. Photograph from Tatler, via British Newspaper Archives.