History: The King's Inns has been the body charged with the education and training of aspirant barristers in Ireland since the 16th century.
It began life in Blackfriars, a Dominican friary which was dissolved during the reign of Henry VIII and which was close to the site of the Four Courts. It was not until 1800, however, that the foundation stone was laid of the building designed by James Gandon on Constitution Hill, which has been the home of the Inns for the past two centuries. The magnificence of the King's Inns, with its impressive dining hall and superb library in Henrietta Street, was in stark contrast to the neglected and decayed houses in its vicinity. In more recent times, encouraging progress has been made as a result of the joint efforts of the Benchers of King's Inns, Dublin City Council, residents of Henrietta Street and other interested parties in improving the quality of this uniquely beautiful area of the capital.
The heritage of the Inns is, however, not merely architectural and aesthetic: the records of the thousands of students who have passed through its halls over the centuries provide a major resource for those interested in charting, not merely the history of the legal profession in Ireland over five tumultuous centuries, but also the changing face of Irish society.
In 1982 a volume appeared under the aegis of the Irish Manuscripts Commission entitled King's Inns Admission Papers 1607-1867, which listed in alphabetical order the names of those recorded as having sought admission to King's Inns between those years. Now we have a sequel, the central feature of which is an alphabetical list of those who were admitted to the degree of barrister-at-law between the years 1868 and 1968. The joint publishers, the King's Inns and Irish Legal History Society, are to be congratulated on this comprehensive and scholarly addition to the published records of the Inns. (I admit an interest as being a member for many years of both bodies).
In his introduction to the new work, Dr Kenneth Ferguson, the editor, points out that until 1866 King's Inns was responsible for the education of solicitors: it was only in that year that the duty was transferred by statute to the Law Society of Ireland, where it has remained ever since. Thus, while it was logical in the first volume to catalogue the names of all those admitted as students, this volume is confined to barristers.
The insistence of the King's Inns that newly called barristers furnish details of their age and parentage obviously increases the social and historical value of these records. But those responsible for compiling the lists in the new volume, Dr Ferguson, Julitta Clancy and Margaret Connolly, have provided a wealth of additional biographical material, which obviously involved much painstaking research.
Dr Ferguson also contributes an interesting portrait of the Irish bar in the years from 1866 to 1968. Three names in particular may serve as examples of the different strands in Irish life which are reflected in the membership of the bar in those years: Edward Carson, TM Kettle, killed in action in France in 1916 and Patrick Pearse, executed in Dublin in the same year.
Prof WN Osborough, in his record of landmarks in the history of the King's Inns, contributes a poignant footnote to the history of cross-Border relations. In 1921, the last Lord Chancellor, Sir John Ross, assured an audience in the Inns that, although Northern Ireland was now an accomplished fact, "there was one thing that would never be split up and that was the Honorable Society of King's Inns". In 1926, following bitter disagreements between a committee of Northern Ireland benchers and the parent body in Dublin about the admission of students, a separate Inn of Court was established in Belfast.
I have no doubt that this impressively produced and lavishly illustrated record will find a place on the bookshelves of everyone interested in Irish legal history.
• Ronan Keane was Chief Justice of Ireland from 2000 to 2005. He is the author of a number of legal textbooks, the most recent being on Irish company law
• King's Inns Barristers 1868-2004 Edited by Kenneth Ferguson The Honorable Society of King's Inns in association with the Irish Legal History Society, 446pp. €30