Palles

The Legal Legacy of the last Lord Chief Baron

Oonagh B. Breen & Noel McGrath, editors

Marking the 2020 centenary of his death, this book explores the judicial legacy of chief baron Christopher Palles, the last chief baron of the Court of Exchequer Ireland, in a judicial career spanning over 40 years from 1874 to 1916. It brings together legal scholars, legal historians and social historians to critically analyse the impact of a leading figure in the development of Irish law and society in the late nineteenth century across a range of fields including land law, tort law, administrative and company law, charity law, criminal and civil procedure.

In the first scholarly assessment of its kind, this collection examines Palles’ contribution through his most enduring legacy – his written judgments – and tracks the global and lasting influence of those decisions in subsequent cases and contemporary legal scholarship throughout the common law world.

Oonagh B. Breen is Professor of Law at the Sutherland School of Law, UCD. Noel McGrath is Lecturer in Law at the Sutherland School of Law, UCD.