In 1877, a Catholic solicitor, William Gallagher, sued a Protestant colleague, George Cochrane, for assault in the bar-room of Armagh Courthouse (below, via Wikipedia), with damages of 100 pounds subsequently awarded against Mr Cochrane. Read about the case here: ruthcannon.com/2026/01/20/s...

Stamps used to be, quite literally, stamped onto documents. The beautiful #embossing was an elegant way to show that the right money was paid to the right people. In the King's Inns archive we find #stamps from the last few centuries.

Probably the earliest photograph of Ireland's oldest law school, the Honorable Society of King's Inns, Dublin, taken by Henry Fox Talbot c.1845. At the time of the photograph, Gandon's original building had yet to be extended by bays on either side. Image via www.talbot.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

From the days when judges had time for extra-curricular pursuits, a photograph of Richard Cherry, Lord Justice of Appeal in Ireland (1909-1914) and later Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (1914-16) ringing the bells at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, which appeared in the Sketch of 19 December 1909.

From the Echo (London), 27 January 1888, this tale of John McCarthy, journalist, who narrowly escaped conviction in the Police Court behind the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland, after having concealed himself for the night in the monument known as ‘Nelson’s Pillar,’ Sackville Street, Dublin. Ireland.

In 1759, M Claude Jaunice, a French officer on parole, visited the Old Four Courts at Christchurch, Dublin, Ireland (image by George Grattan below, via V & A Museum). His account of his visit highlights issues still relevant 300 years later. Read his views here: ruthcannon.com/2026/01/14/a...

Never out of the Dublin Police Court reports, the forgotten street of Bull Lane (later the site of the Motor Tax Office) played host to multiple homicides in the 19c, when it was home to over 200 prostitutes and their pimps. More here: ruthcannon.com/2026/01/13/t...

I’m pretty sure judges gossip about lawyers all the time but this is a whole new level...

Beautiful Ross House, Cavan, Ireland (image below) was once the home of James Somerville, his beloved Mary Anne, and their many children. But, when James died intestate, a dispute arose as to those children's legitimacy. Read about it all here: ruthcannon.com/2026/01/09/t...

One of the many classic stories from the Dublin Police Court behind the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland, as reported in the Aberdeen Express, 17 February 1886. Liverpool Road was the original name of what is now Portobello Road, Dublin. It was changed due to 'unsavoury associations.'

This Modern Plan of the City of Dublin (1798) may have been the first to show Ireland's newly opened Four Courts. Much has changed in the configuration of the Four Courts and surrounding streets since then. Read about it here: ruthcannon.com/2026/01/07/t...

The image below is of Michael Fitzpatrick, Chief Tipstaff in the Four Courts, Ireland, aged 98 at the date of his death in 1915. Read his account of his times, and pick up some bonus longevity tips, here: ruthcannon.com/2026/01/06/r...

Merriment in Wexford, Ireland, in 1857, as a ballad singer, incarcerated for singing a rebel song, secures his release on Christmas Eve thanks to the generosity of anonymous Irishmen abroad. Read about it here: ruthcannon.com/2026/01/05/t...

As illustrated by this print of John Philpot Curran, later Master of the Rolls, an 18c Irish circuit barrister and his horse enjoyed a special relationship. A moving tribute by a contemporary of Curran to his recently deceased horse 'Pleader' may be read here: ruthcannon.com/2025/12/12/a...

Perfection as an orator was the goal for any self-respecting barrister in the newly opened Four Courts of 1796. Tyros who wanted advice on how to achieve this could start by acquiring Knox's 'Hints on Public Speaking' from Fitzpatrick's bookshop on nearby Ormond Quay for just over one shilling...

The seagulls at the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland have always had a tendency to swoop on its inhabitants (see below). However, fighting there during the Civil War of 1922 provoked them to screaming, window-thumping heights akin to Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds'. More here: ruthcannon.com/2025/12/08/a...

The Honourable Society of the King's Inns, Dublin, by night, when it is easy to imagine it as it once was. Behind it is Henrietta Street, once the Anchorite's Park. Read about the early history of Henrietta Street, and the adjacent King's Inns site, here: ruthcannon.com/2025/11/24/t...

The first telephone in the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland, was installed by the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland in the 1880s in what is now the Law Library, and guarded zealously by solicitors. Read about one such incident of guarding here: ruthcannon.com/2025/11/11/j...

Ireland's most famous bigamist was a woman, Mary Jane Scott, who escaped the arm of the law thanks to her defence counsel, Isaac Butt (below) subsequently challenged by the prosecution solicitor to a duel. But there would be no pistols at dawn! More here: ruthcannon.com/2025/11/03/c...

Consternation at Clonmel Station (below) in 1898 when two elderly judges marooned there by railway difficulties requested a cup of tea. Luckily Mrs Daniel Leahy stepped in to save the day. Later, she received a large, shiny present... Read this sweet vignette here: ruthcannon.com/2025/10/22/2...

When the Irish Bar (including infamous Leonard McNally, betrayer of Robert Emmet) rallied together as a body in Kilmainham Courthouse to voluntarily offer legal aid to a child of under 10 charged with stealing a loaf of bread... ruthcannon.com/2025/10/09/i...

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...