Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland

Background

The office of Lord Chief Justice was originally established as one of two successor offices of the position of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, underneath the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, who was president of the courts. The Lord Chief Justice replaced the Lord Chancellor as president of the courts by statute in 1978.

Role and responsibilities

The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland holds the office of president of the courts of Northern Ireland and is head of the judiciary of Northern Ireland.The Lord Chief Justice is responsible for representing the views of the judiciary of Northern Ireland to government, for the maintenance of appropriate arrangements for the welfare, training and guidance of the judiciary of Northern Ireland, and for the maintenance of appropriate arrangements for the deployment of the judiciary of Northern Ireland and the allocation of work within the courts.The Lord Chief Justice is president of the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Crown Court, the county courts and the magistrates' courts of Northern Ireland. The Lord Chief Justice is entitled to sit on any of those courts, but routinely sits on the Court of Appeal.

List of lord chief justices of Northern Ireland

• Sir Denis Henry, 1st Baronet, (1922–1925)
• Sir William Moore, 1st Baronet (1925–1937)
• Sir James Andrews, 1st Baronet (1937–1951)
• John MacDermott, Baron MacDermott (1951–1971)
• Robert Lynd Erskine Lowry (1971–1989)
• Brian Hutton, Baron Hutton (1989–1997)
• Robert Carswell, Baron Carswell (1997–2004)
• Sir Brian Kerr (2004–2009)
• Sir Declan Morgan (2009–2021)
• Dame Siobhan Keegan (2021–)

References

Sources

• N.C. Fleming and Alan O'Day, The Longman Handbook of Modern Irish History since 1800, N.C. Fleming and Alan O'Day, p. 420;

References

1. "Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 s.12".
2. "Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 s.2".
3. "Dame Siobhan Keegan: NI's first Lady Chief Justice sworn in". BBC.
4. "Government in Ireland Act (1920)".
5. "Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978".
6. "Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002".
7. Walker, David M., The Oxford Companion to Law, Appendix I, list of Lord Chief Justices of Northern Ireland, 1922–, p. 1354.