The Gazette 1971

Court Orders

The repository for legal records in Ireland prior to

the establishment of the Irish Free State was the Four

Courts (including the Public Record Office). The fire

which gutted the entire building in the first week of

Juy, 1922 destroyed practically all the old records.

The records now held date for the most part from

about October, 1922. In theory, records more than

twenty years old are sent to the Public Records Office

but in practice some of the older records have been

retained in the Supreme Court Office. The following

is the state of affairs as of May, 1971 :—

1. Cause Books showing number and title of Appeal,

Court or Judge appealed from, date of order appealed

from, date of service of Notice of Appeal, nature of

Order appealed from, date of Supreme Court Order(s)

and result of Appeal, Solicitor for Appellant and Solici-

tor for Respondent:

Vol. 1 March, 1922 to December, 1932

Vol. 2 January, 1933 to December, 1944

Vol. 3 January 1945 to December, 1955

Vol. 4 January, 1956 to December, 1962

Vo. 5 January, 1963 to December, 1968

Vol. 6 January, 1969 to date

All are held in the Supreme Court Office.

2. Registrar's Court Books: These are the books in

which the Court Registrar enters his notes at the hear-

ing of an Appeal. The amount of information varies

from one Appeal to another, some containing only a

list of cases and statutes cited and a brief note of Court

Order, others containing a precis of the argument and

of the judgment given. As a general rule, the older the

Book the briefer the record. The Books available run

from 26th October, 1922 to date.

3. New Trial Motion Cause Book: This Book covers

the period from 1922 to 1926 when the Office abandon-

ed the old procedure of dividing applications to the

Supreme Court into two classes—Appeals (entered in

Cause Book—see item 1) and New Trial Motions. The

New Trial Motion Cause Book was more a record of

the bespeaking of the Trial Judge's note, and the in-

formation recorded is not as full as for the Cause

Books.

The New Trial Motion Cause book is held in the

Public Record Office under the reference no. 2B-82-105.

4. Supreme Court Orders: Bound volumes of Orders

have been kept since 1928 and their are retained in the

Supreme Court Office. Prior to that date the draft

Order was filed with the relevant papers in the case

(the 'Book of Appeal').

5. (a) Copies of Judgments delivered between early

1922 and 17th June, 1965.

The 1922-1927 judgments are held in the Public

Record Office. Some are typed but the majority are

hand-written. They are filed in four bundles 1922-24,

1925, 1926 and 1927, and the Public Record Office

reference No. is 2B-82-111 to 114.

The 1928-1965 copy judgments are at present held

in the Supreme Court Office, though some of these are

scheduled for removal to the Public Record Office in

due course. Again, some are typed, more are manu-

script.

The majority of Reserved Judgments delivered are

available, hut occasional Judgments are missing,

(b) original Judgments delivered since 18th June, 1965.

The earlier system whereby copies of judgments

were supplied to the Office by the Court Reporters,

was discontinued in June, 1965.

served Judgments from 18th June, 1965 is now kept

and the original Judgment is retained in the Office.

The series is complete.

6. Legal Diaries: This Broadsheet has been published

daily for over 120 years, and gives the Lists forthe

various Courts (Supreme Court, High Court, Circuit

Court, Central Criminal Court, Land Commission

Court, etc. but not the District Courts). Bound volumes

of the Legal Diary are kept in the Taxing Master's

Office from 1923 on. Loose copies are available in the

Supreme Court Office.

7. Law Reports: The Reports relied on for the purpose

of summarising Judgments were :—

(a) Irish Reports 1922 to 1956

(b) Irish Law Times Reports 1922 to 1956;

The Irish Reports have been taken to be the authori-

tative reports, the other two reports being availed of

to cover appeals not reported in the Irish Reports.

J. B. MCCARTNEY

(Lecturer in Law, Queen's University,

Belfast)

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