Mr Justice Liam Hamilton died late on Wednesday night, less than a year after his retirement from the highest judicial office in the State at the age of 72. He had served on the bench for 25 years.
He was appointed to the High Court by the Cosgrave-led coalition government in 1974 after a relatively short career at the bar, to which he was called in 1956. This included representing the former minister, Mr Neil Blaney, who was before the District Court on charges related to the Arms Trial.
Mr Justice Hamilton was soon appointed to the Special Criminal Court, over which he presided for many years. The cases which came before him included the Earl Mountbatten murder trial, the McGlinchey trial and the O'Grady kidnapping trial.
However, one of the longest cases in this court was the Sallins mail train robbery case, where the accused showed evidence in court of having been beaten in custody. They were convicted nonetheless. Two were later freed on appeal and a third, Mr Nicky Kelly, was freed later by the State.
Mr Justice Hamilton became president of the High Court in 1985 and in 1988 was appointed chairman of the Commission on Constituency Boundaries.
In the High Court he heard the SPUC case against women's clinics which were distributing abortion information, and he awarded damages to two journalists, Bruce Arnold and Geraldine Kennedy, for having their phones tapped by the State on the grounds that their constitutional right to privacy had been infringed.
However, it was as chairman and sole member of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the Beef Processing Industry that he became a familiar figure on television screens, often clutching a cigarette as he went to the hearing.
Before his appointment he had been tipped for appointment to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, to succeed Mr Tom O'Higgins. However, his appointment to head the tribunal ruled him out.
The tribunal sat for 2 1/2 years and produced huge legal bills, most of which were eventually paid by the taxpayer.
In his report Mr Justice Hamilton confirmed that there had been widespread and planned evasion of tax and abuse of regulations, and that the State had been exposed to a £100 million risk for export credit insurance cover. However, he said he found no evidence to impugn the personal integrity of the politicians in power when the irregularities arose.
In September 1994 he was appointed chief justice. In that office he was faced with the referral of the Abortion Information Bill to the Supreme Court by President Mary Robinson. The court found it to be constitutional.
In 1995 the court gave a judgment which prompted the picketing of his home. This concerned the case of a woman who had been kept alive on life-support for 20 years, and whose family wished her to be allowed to die. In his judgment Mr Justice Hamilton said: "The right to life implies the right to have nature take its course."
Other cases which appeared before him in this court included Mr Des Hanafin's unsuccessful attempt to overturn the divorce referendum on the grounds that the government had funded one side.
Mr Justice Hamilton's last months as chief justice were taken up with, and clouded by, a controversy which did not reach the court at all. This was what came to be known as the Sheedy affair, where two judges, his friend, Supreme Court colleague and expected successor, Mr Hugh O'Flaherty, and Judge Cyril Kelly were accused of having acted improperly.
Mr Justice Hamilton cannot but have known that his report on this affair, in which he said Mr O'Flaherty's conduct had been "inappropriate and unwise" and had "damaged the administration of justice", would end his friend's career.
In April last year he announced the setting up of a judicial committee to deal with complaints about judges.
When he retired last January he immediately stepped into the inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1971. However, last October he was forced to resign from it as a result of the illness which led to his death.