Sketches of the Irish Bar; with Essays

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: to catch the peculiarities of their mind and manner; and, with regard to these, I beg to disclaim all pretensions to adjust their comparative merits and professional importance. With the single exception of Mr. Plunket?for he unquestionably stands the first, the order in which they may appear in my list is not to be taken as the measure of their general estimation. Here I had intended to commence my series with a notice of Mr. Plunket, but I am reminded that a good deal that I may have to say of the several persons on my list may not be perfectly intelligible, on this side of the channel, without a short general description of the particular theatre upon which they move, and of certain local peculiarities to which allusions must of necessity be often made?I therefore begin with the HALL OF THE FOUR COURTS.1 The law, and the practice of the courts, in Ireland, are, with some trivial exceptions, precisely the sameas with us;1 but the system of professional life in the Sister Island is in some respects different. One of the particulars in which they differ may be made a source of interest and recreation to a stranger in Dublin? at least it was so to me. I allude to the custom, which the Irish Bar have long since adopted, of assembling daily for the transaction of business, or in search of it if they have it not, in the Hall of the Four Courts. The building itself is a splendid one. Like the other public edifices of Dublin (and I might add, the private ones) it is an effort of Irish pride, exceeding far in magnificence the substantial wealth and civilization of the country. In the centre of the interior, and o'ercanopied by a lofty dome, is a spacious circular hall, into which the several courts of justice open. I was fond of lounging in this place. From the hours of twelve t...