Master of the Rolls in Ireland

The Master of the Rolls in Ireland was an official in the Irish Chancery under English and British rule, equivalent to the Master of the Rolls in the English Chancery. Originally called the Keeper of the Rolls, he was responsible for the safekeeping of the Chancery records such as close rolls and patent rolls. The office was granted by letters patent from 1333, the first being Edmund de Grimsby. As the bureaucracy expanded, the duties of the Master of the Rolls were performed by subordinates and the position became a sinecure awarded to a political ally of the Dublin Castle administration. In the nineteenth century it became a substantive judicial appointment, ranking second within the Chancery behind the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. The post was implicitly abolished by the Courts of Justice Act 1924, passed by the Irish Free State established in 1922.

History of the Office

Until the sixteenth century the Master of the Rolls was always a clergyman. The office was closely associated with St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin: several Masters of the Rolls served as Dean or Prebendary of the Cathedral. The office was originally an administrative rather than a judicial office, and not all of the early Masters were qualified lawyers: as late as the mid sixteenth century the office was held by John Parker, a layman who had made a fortune from selling hats; nor was his successor, Henry Draycott, as far as is known, a lawyer. At that time, as the older title Keeper of the Rolls suggests, the Master's task was mainly to have custody of the Chancery records.

Francis Blackburne, Master of the Rolls 1842-6

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was notoriously a sinecure for absentee politicians and some of the appointments have been described as "farcical". Richard Rigby is said never to have set foot in Ireland during the 30 years he held the office, and William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster, who succeeded him, had no qualifications whatever for judicial office.

Nineteenth-century reforms

In the nineteenth century the office became a full-time judicial position: the Master acted as Deputy to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, with full powers to hear any claim brought in the Court of Chancery. A number of gifted judges including Sir Michael Smith, Edward Sullivan and Andrew Marshall Porter greatly enhanced the reputation of the office. Michael O'Loghlen was notable not only as a fine judge but as the first Roman Catholic appointed to the Bench since 1688. It was repeatedly offered to Daniel O'Connell, who admitted that it was the only office he truly wanted but in the end always refused. Charles Andrew O'Connor, the last holder of the office, was highly regarded enough to be appointed a judge of the new Supreme Court of the Irish Free State.

Supersession

The 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State prescribed a new court system for the new State but allowed the existing system, based on the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877, to persist as a transitional measure.^[1] In 1923, Charles Andrew O'Connor as Master of the Rolls participated in the Judiciary Committee established by the Free State Executive Council which planned the Courts of Justice Act 1924.^[2] In this capacity he caused controversy by refusing to admit an affidavit written in Irish because he did not know the language.^[2] When the 1924 Act was passed, O'Connor became a judge of the new Supreme Court.^[2] The officers of the Chamber of the Master of the Rolls were transferred in 1926 to the Examiner's Office.^[3]

List of Masters of the Rolls in Ireland

2nd Duke of Leinster, Master of the Rolls 1788-9 1333 Edmund de Grimsby 1334 William de Bardelby 1337 Robert de Hemmingburgh 1346 William de Whithurst 1350 Robert de Leycestre 1356 Thomas de Cottingham 1372 Thomas de Thelwall 1377 Robert Sutton 1386 Thomas de Everdon, Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral 1395 Robert de Faryngton, or de Farrington 1395 Robert Sutton, second term 1398 John de Kirkby 1404 Robert Sutton, third term 1430 William Sutton 1436 Robert Dyke 1450 John Chevir 1461 Patrick Cogley 1461 Peter Trevers 1471 Thomas Dowdall 1492 Thomas Butler 1496 John Payne, Bishop of Meath 1513 Thomas Rochfort, Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral 1521 Walter Wellesley, Bishop of Kildare 1522 Thomas Darcy, Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral 1523 John Rycardes, Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral 1528 Thomas Darcy again 1530 Anthony Skeffington 1533 John Alan 1539 Robert Cowley 1542 Thomas Cusack

1550 Patrick Barnewall 1552 John Parker 1566 Henry Draycott 1572 Nicholas White 1578 Edward Fitz-Symon 1578 Nicholas White again 1593 Anthony St Leger 1609 Francis Aungier, 1st Baron Aungier of Longford 1633 Christopher Wandesford 1641 Sir John Temple 1677 Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet 1689 Sir William Talbot, 3rd Baronet 1690 Sir William Temple (2nd time) 1696 William Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley of Stratton 1731 Thomas Carter 1754 Henry Singleton 1759 Richard Rigby 1788 William Robert Fitzgerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster 1789 John Crosbie, 2nd Earl of Glandore and John Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort jointly 1801 Sir Michael Smith, 1st Baronet 1806 John Philpot Curran 1814 Sir William MacMahon, 1st Baronet 1837 Sir Michael O'Loghlen, 1st Baronet 1842 Francis Blackburne 1846 Thomas Berry Cusack Smith 1866 John Edward Walsh 1870 Sir Edward Sullivan, 1st Baronet 1883 Sir Andrew Porter, 1st Baronet 1906 Richard Edmund Meredith 1912 Charles Andrew O'Connor

See also

• Master of the Rolls

References

Sources

• The Oxford Companion to Law, ed David M Walker, 1980
• The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921, F. Elrington Ball, 1926