Hugh Kennedy

Hugh Edward Kennedy (11 July 1879 – 1 December 1936) was an Irish judge, politician and barrister who served as Chief Justice of Ireland from 1924 to 1936, a judge of the Supreme Court from 1924 to 1936 and Attorney General of Ireland from 1922 to 1924. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin South from 1923 to 1924. As a member of the Irish Free State Constitution Commission, he was also one of the architects of the Constitution of the Irish Free State.

Early life and education

Kennedy was born in Dublin in 1879. He was the son of the surgeon Hugh Boyle Kennedy and Mary Kate Kennedy (née Kennedy; not related), from County Tipperary.

On 31 January 1922, Kennedy became the first Attorney General in the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State. Later that year, the Provisional Government appointed him to the Irish Free State Constitution Commission to draft the Constitution of the Irish Free State. The Irish Free State was established on 6 December 1922. The functions of the Provisional Government were transferred to the Executive Council of the Irish Free State. Kennedy was appointed Attorney General of the Irish Free State on 7 December 1922. However, Kennedy was not optimistic about the prospects of Irish self-governance, privately stating:

In 1923, he was appointed to the Judiciary Commission by the Government of the Irish Free State, on reference from the Government to establish a new system for the administration of justice under the Constitution of the Irish Free State. The Judiciary Commission was chaired by Lord Glenavy, who had also been the last Lord Chancellor of Ireland. It drafted the Courts of Justice Act 1924 for a new court system, including a High Court and a Supreme Court. It provided for the abolition, among other things, of the Irish Court of Appeal and the Irish High Court of Justice. Most of the judges were not reappointed to the new courts. Kennedy personally oversaw the selection of the new judges and made impressive efforts to select them on merit alone. The results were not always happy: his diary, of which some extracts have been published, reveal the increasingly unhappy atmosphere in the Supreme Court itself, due to frequent clashes between Kennedy and his colleague Gerald Fitzgibbon, since the two men proved to be so different in temperament and political outlook that they found it almost impossible to work together harmoniously. In a similar vein, Kennedy's legal opinion and choice of words could raise eyebrows amongst legal colleagues and fury in the Executive Council, for example regarding the Kenmare incident.

He was also a delegate of the Irish Free State to the Fourth Assembly of the League of Nations, between 3 and 29 September 1923.

Political career

He was elected to the 4th Dáil at the 1923 Dublin South by-election held on 27 October, as a Cumann na nGaedheal TD. He was the first person to be elected in a by-election to Dáil Éireann. He resigned his seat in June 1924 when he was appointed Chief Justice of Ireland.

Judicial career

On 5 June 1924, he was appointed Chief Justice of Ireland, thereby becoming the first Chief Justice of the Irish Free State. He was also the youngest person appointed Chief Justice of Ireland. When he was appointed he was 44 years old. Although the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal had been abolished and replaced by the High Court and the Supreme Court respectively. Kennedy campaigned for the replacement of the wigs and gowns traditionally worn by judges and barristers, which he regarded as the trappings of an alien regime. He received little support from the judges or the government and the traditional dress was retained.