- Hugh Kennedy
:"Hugh Kennedy may also refer to Professor in History of the Islamic Middle East
Hugh N. Kennedy "Hugh Kennedy (11 July 1879 – 1 December 1936) was the only Attorney-General of
Southern Ireland and the first Attorney-General of the Irish Free State, and later the first Chief Justice of theIrish Free State . As a member of the Irish Free State Constitution Commission, he was also one of the constitutional architects of the Irish Free State. He was also elected to the4th Dáil .Early life
Hugh Kennedy was born in
Dublin in 1879. He studied for the examinations of the Royal University while a student atUniversity College Dublin andKing's Inns , Dublin, and was called to the Bar in 1902. He was appointedKing's Counsel in 1920 and became a Bencher of King's Inns in 1922.During 1920 and 1921 Hugh Kennedy was a senior legal adviser to the representatives of
Dáil Éireann during the negotiations for theAnglo-Irish Treaty .Attorney-General
On 31 January 1922 Hugh Kennedy became the first and only
Attorney-General of the Provisional Government of Southern Ireland.In 1922 he was appointed by the Provisional Government of Southern Ireland to the Irish Free State Constitution Commission to draft the
constitution of the Irish Free State. It prepared a draft constitution. He was thus one of the constitutional architects of the Irish Free State.The
Irish Free State was established on 6 December 1922, and the former Provisional Government of Southern Ireland ceased to exist, its functions being transferred to the newly created Executive Council (Government) of the Irish Free State.On 7 December 1922 he was appointed by the Governor-General as the first Attorney-General of the Irish Free State. A photograph from this period appears at [http://www.attorneygeneral.ie/ago/gallery5.html] .
In 1923 he was appointed to the Judiciary Commission by the Government of the Irish Free State, on a reference from the Government to establish a new system for the administration of justice in accordance with the Constitution of the Irish Free State. The Judiciary Commission was chaired by the last
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (who had also been the lastLord Chancellor of Ireland ). It drafted legislation for a new system of courts, including a High Court and a Supreme Court, and provided for the abolition, inter alia, of theIrish Court of Appeal and theIrish High Court of Justice . Most of the judges were not reappointed to the new courts.He was also a delegate of the Irish Free State to the Fourth Assembly of the
League of Nations between 3-29 September 1923.By-election
He was elected to
Dáil Éireann on 27 October 1923 as aCumann na nGaedhael TD at the by-election for the Dublin South constituency. He was the first person to be elected in aby-election to Dáil Éireann. He resigned his seat when he was appointed Chief Justice.Chief Justice
On 5 June 1924 he was appointed Chief Justice, thereby becoming the first Chief Justice of the Irish Free State. 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, one of his first acts was to issue a practice note that the wearing of wigs and robes would continue in the new courts. Fact|date=February 2008 This practice is still continued in trials and appeals in the High Court and the Supreme Court (except in certain matters). Fact|date=February 2008 He held the position of Chief Justice until his death on 12 December 1936.
External links
* [http://www.ucd.ie/archives/html/collections/kennedy-hugh.htm Article at University College Dublin archives department]
* [http://www.attorneygeneral.ie/ago/gallery5.html Page on AttorneyGeneral.ie]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
