Palles

The Legal Legacy of the last Lord Chief Baron

Oonagh B. Breen & Noel McGrath, editors

“Christopher Palles retired from the bench in 1916 and died in 1920. This volume is a carefully integrated set of reflections on “how Palles' judicial legacy has been received by the legal community in the century since his death” or, as put slightly more rhetorically by Mr Justice Hedigan in 2015, on how “the learned chief baron's wisdom still reaches out across more than a century to us … The editors and other learned contributors have made linked and scholarly assessments of Palles' contribution to law in Ireland and further afield, under about a dozen broad headings ... This book makes a splendid contribution to our knowledge of Palles, and opens new perspectives on the wider legal and political world in which he moved” The Irish Jurist. 2023, Vol. 69.

“This is a stimulating read by skilled authors about a singular judge. I commend it highly to anyone with an interest in law and/or history. It deserves the widest readership.” Mr Justice Max Barrett, Irish Judicial Studies Journal

“Breen and McGrath bring together 11 essays, which trace how Christopher Palles, the last chief baron of the Irish Court of Exchequer, shaped Ireland's legal and social trajectory of the 19th century. The volume, which honors the centenary of Palles' death, surveys his expansive body of written judgments. Each chapter considers Palles' historical and contemporary influence within distinct facets of Irish law, which stretch from land ownership to contempt of court.” Yale Law Report, Summer 2023

"The volume under review is a series of essays to mark the centenary of [Christopher Palles’] death and, while not a biography in the traditional sense, explores Palles’ subsequent impact in Ireland and elsewhere on a wide variety of areas of law. The stated aim of the book is to adopt a critical stance in assessing Palles’ legacy. […]  readers will also find this book of great interest, whether in whole of in part(s). The book eases the reader into the subject with a very comprehensive introduction and an historical essay on Palles, the subsequent chapters deal with his impact on various aspects of the law. […] Overall, this book is a fascinating assessment of a member of the Irish senior judiciary in a period that is often ignored or dismissed. The fact many of Palles’ judgements are still referenced, cited and relied upon in a wide variety of jurisdictions is a testament to his skill as a judge. […] The book reads well as a whole, and the individual chapters are accessible and informative on their own. […] I would agree with the final statement in the book’s conclusion: ‘this collection has provided further recognition of [a] remarkable life and career’ (214).” Richard McBride, The Journal of Legal History, Winter 2025