Administrative Law, Lawyers, Ireland, History, Practice of law 

Irish Legal History Society 

"In this history of the ancient, and now defunct, office of the king's serjeant at law in Ireland, Judge Hart traces the development of an office which was at the centre of legal and political affairs in Ireland throughout the greater part of the seven centuries of its existence. From the early days of the 'first adventure of the common law' in the thirteenth century, to Serjeant Sullivan KC, who defended Sir Roger Casement on charges of treason in 1916, the serjeants at law included many of the leading members of the Irish bar, individuals who were as prominent in government, parliament and public life in Ireland as they were in the law courts. This survey seeks to provide for the first time a systematic analysis of their legal and political significance, and examines their changing role, from being the predecessor of the modern attorney general, to being chosen in the eighteenth century as much for their usefulness to the government as parliamentary champions as for their services in the courts. The contents also include the first table of all known holders of this office, details of their terms of office and careers, as well as appendices containing details of the earnings of serjeants before and after the Union. An Irish Legal History Series volume." -- Voila 

Content:

pt. I : -- 1. The king's serjeant and the legal system of the medieval Irish lordship -- 2. The king's serjeants in Tudor Ireland, 1485-1603 -- 3. The serjeants in the Stuart era, 1603-1690 -- 4. From the Boyne to the Union: the serjeants in eighteenth-century Ireland -- 5. 'No longer a prize to be fought for in parliament': the serjeants in post-Union Ireland -- Epilogue.
pt. II : -- Succession list of the serjeants at law in Ireland.
pt. III : -- Biographical details of the serjeants at law.
Appendices : -- 1. Payments to the serjeants and law officers at the Union -- 2. Professional earnings of Thomas Langlois Lefroy, 1799-1831 -- 3. Patent appointing Thomas O'Hagan second serjeant at law. 

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-202) and index.
Item donated by Graham Price.
Categorized by organization (Irish Legal History Society (ILHS)), then author/editor, then year.