The Principal Architect of the Irish Court System “One of t...

Hammer

€6,600

The Principal Architect of the Irish Court System

“One of the Ablest Judges to have Graced the Irish Bench”

KENNEDY, Hugh [1879-1936], First Attorney General and first Chief Justice of the Irish Free State, a small Archive of documents, letters, drawings and photographs.

Hugh Kennedy was a contemporary of James Joyce at University College in Dublin, where he was editor of St. Stephen’s, the student magazine which published some of Joyce’s early work, and auditor of the L&H. He was called to the bar in 1902, and quickly established a reputation; by 1907 he had published a legal textbook. An Irish speaker, he was active in the Gaelic League, serving on a committee with such people as Pearse and Ceannt. He had strong national sympathies, and an unsigned work of 1910 listed below shows that he had no illusions about the British. He was legal adviser to the Department of Local Government in the first Dail, and to the Provisional Government established under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. He was a member of the committee which drafted the Constitution of the new state, and engaged in detailed negotiations with the British to secure their agreement to its terms.  In this process he gained at least one notable success, over rights of appeal to the Privy Council in London (see Keane, D.I.B.). 
He was briefly a TD for a Dublin constituency.  In 1923 he was appointed Attorney-General, and when the new Irish courts system was established in 1924, Kennedy became the first Chief Justice, a position which he held until his death. He may fairly be described as the principal architect of the Irish courts system.   He authored many significant judgements, and ‘has been generally regarded as one of the ablest judges to have graced the Irish bench since independence’ (Ronan Keane in D.I.B. – himself a former Chief Justice).

The principal collection of Kennedy’s legal papers is in UCD. The present archive consists of items which have remained in family hands, including letters to Mrs. Kennedy after his death. 

It includes:
-        An important collection of coloured watercolour drawings of the green robes which Kennedy as Chief Justice proposed (at the suggestion of W.B. Yeats) for the new Irish Supreme Court, supposedly based on the robes worn by the Gaelic Brehons. According to Keane (D.I.B.), these designs were developed through discussion with Yeats, who was much interested in the outward symbols of the new State, and the drawings were executed by Yeats’ friend, the distinguished artist and designer Charles Shannon. There are three mounted drawings of designs for robes, each on card circa 37cms x 27cms, two designs for headgear, 27cms x 19cms, and one monochrome drawing of robes, probably a preliminary sketch. Although unsigned, these undoubtedly are Shannon’s original drawings, and are probably the only visual record of this project. The boards bear the stamp of The Ruskin Studio, VII New Court, [London] W.C. 2. The proposal was not welcomed by Kennedy’s colleagues, and when Yeats proposed a Senate motion on the issue, the division was lost by one vote.  See Foster, W.B. Yeats, A Life, Vol. II p. 331.
The drawings are in immaculate condition, as fresh as the day they were painted.

-        Five albums of letters, documents and photographs, as follows:

-        Album 1.  A collection of circa 40 mostly unmounted photographic prints, mostly 19cms x 24cms with some smaller, showing Kennedy (often with his wife Clare) at a variety of events through the 1920s and 1930s, illustrating the life of the elite in those years. These are mostly good quality professional. photographs. They are generally not captioned, but the principal participants are easily recognisable, including Kennedy, a small man who became increasingly corpulent with the passage of years and good dinners.  A well-known photograph shows mourners at the funeral of Arthur Griffith, led by Eoin MacNeill, with Kennedy in the third rank.  On the reverse is written, ‘This is when Uncle Hugh + others were locked up in the 4 Courts & the Castle in the ‘Troubled Times’.  An Irish Times photo (1924, probably at an Aonach Tailteann event) shows the veteran American Fenian John Devoy seated beside two Oriental gentlemen, with the Chief Justice and his wife at the ends of the line. There are some curious photos of the elaborate costume worn by Mrs. Kennedy at a ‘Nine Arts’ Ball in 1925.; also a menu for a banquet for John McCormack during Aonach Tailteann 1925, signed by the singer.

-        Albums 2, 3 and 4 contain a very wide variety of documents and letters dating from all periods of Kennedy’s life, not chronologically organised but including much interesting and some important material.  They include:
-        Manuscript in Hugh Kennedy’s hand `Claim for Compensation for Property Destroyed @ the Four Courts. One page quarto;
-        Manuscript in Hugh Kennedy’s hand List of Books Purchased December 1927 to March, 1928. Seven pages quarto;
-        Two invoices from Fred Hanna, Ltd., Booksellers, Nassau Street, dated 1 Oct 1929 and 3 Jan 1930;
-        A selection of (empty) official envelopes, including one dated 29.12.22, headed ‘Fé Rún.  For Minister Only’, addressed to ‘Dlí Oifigeach’, with official seal on reverse;
-        A selection of calling cards, including Kennedy’s (in Irish, Aodh Ó Cinnéide), Douglas Hyde, with an inscription, Myles Dillon, John A. Murphy (Mrs.  Kennedy’s father, inscribed  reverse) etc.;
-        A TLS appointing Kennedy a Vice-President of the Royal Irish Academy 1936; 
-        A  printed Syllabus of Courses for the School of Irish Studies, Dublin 1905;
-        A circular about a memorial collection for An Craoibhín Aoibhinn (Dr. Douglas Hyde); 
-        An elaborate French funeral announcement for Madame Jean Réquillart, née Louise Scrépel, 1925;
-        An affectionate letter from Kennedy to his wife while she was away in England;
-        Two ALS from R.I. Best, 1926 enclosing Old Irish triads outlining the qualities required of a judge, and 1934 detailing his progress with various Old-Irish projects, and  mentioning his contacts with Shane Leslie in New York, where Leslie says ‘The Irish here are very tired of blueshirts and black eyes and all the dog-fights in Ireland.  They want culture not politics’.
-        Several letters from MacSwiney of Mashonaglass, including a long letter of condolence to Mrs. Kennedy 1937;
-        An interesting typescript (carbon copy) letter to His Grace the Lord Archbishop of Dublin, 17 May 1928, expressing thanks for ‘very full advice’ concerning ‘the administration of my office as regards the education of my Catholic wards’, unsigned but with a manuscript draft in Kennedy’s hand and signed with his initials (this draft also shows that Kennedy was able to write shorthand, useful for a judge). 
-        An ALS from Eleanor Hull, 1900, asking if he may be interested in the work of the Irish Texts Society; and a card with details of Gaelic League classes 1907-8, on which his name and address (Aodh Ó Cinnéide, 8 Sraid Danmarg) have been translated to English, presumably by the postal service.
-        A copy of ‘Honesty’, July 25 1925, including a reference to Kennedy on p. 9;
-        A circular from the  Office of Public Works, 1923, informing Kennedy that he  is entitled to receive one buck [deer] from the Phoenix Park, which can be cut up as he desires;
-        A typescript letter with ms. draft from John B. Lynch seeking to serve a Habeas Corpus writ on Gen. Sir Nevil Macready and others concerning John Joseph Egan, June 14 1921 (when Kennedy was a legal adviser to the Dail);
-        A TLS to Mrs. Kennedy from Tom Walsh, 1933, mentioning his long friendship with Kennedy, old friends now gone etc.; 
-        A Dun Emer Guild receipt to Mrs. Kennedy 1929 for a Fender Stool;
-        TLS to Mrs. Kennedy, November 1963, from Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (then Chief Justice) about UCD’s interest in the papers of the late Chief Justice;
-        TLS from John A. Costello, November 1963, concerning a portrait;
-        A few family letters suggesting that Kennedy did not leave much money when he died; 
-        Hugh Kennedy’s Inaugural Address on The Irish University Question to the Literary and Historical Society of University College [Dublin], Dublin: 1900, printed wrappers [the defeated candidates for the Auditor’s position included James Joyce];
-        A Gospel of St. Matthew in Hebrew, inscribed at rear (i.e. at front) with Hugh B. Kennedy’s name and address dated November 22nd 1892, ‘A gift from his father’. [Kennedy’s father was a  Donegal-born surgeon who spent some years in the Society of  Jesus before turning to medicine; perhaps he may have studied Hebrew while with the Jesuits];
-        A manuscript letter to Kennedy dated July 1881, when he was two years old, from his Godparents, carefully kept, wishing that successive years will add to his mental advancement and culture, as well as his age and size; 
-        Various membership cards including one for the Catholic Association, Metropolitan Branch, 1902,  also a receipt dated September 1914 housed in a leather folder inscribed ‘F.F.’.

-        Album 5 (larger format) includes
-        An attractive mounted photographic portrait of Kennedy, signed in Irish, dated  24.8.1921, which shows his keen intelligence.
-        Saorstat Eireann.  Uimhir 1 de  1922  .. Number 1 of 1922.  An Act to enact a Constitution for the Irish Free State, etc.  The founding Act of the new State, largely drafted by Kennedy, his major achievement.
-        Hugh Kennedy.  Character and Sources of Constitution of the Irish Free State, address to American Bar Association 1928, 23 pages (printed).
-        Town Tenants (Ireland) Act 1906 .. edited with commentary etc. by Arthur Clery and Hugh Kennedy, barristers-at-law; and Michael Dawson, Solicitor. Dublin: Ponsonby 1907. Printer’s proofs in ten sections, unbound, with corrections.  Part of the process of establishing a legal reputation.
-        The House of Lords against Ireland.  Some Reminders of their Work of Destruction. Leaflet, 4 pages (three copies). Printed by Garrard Brothers, Dublin, no author, no date (c. 1910).  Very scarce, not found in COPAC.  NLI has a copy but does not name the author.  Since there are three copies here, it must be very likely that this is Kennedy’s work.  It shows a close knowledge of Irish history; the style is terse, effective, and accusatory. It suggests that if Kennedy had chosen to follow a political career, he would have been well equipped for success. Also a manuscript draft note in Kennedy’s hand (2 pages, one sheet), discussing the historical relationship between the House of Lords and the Commons, much amended.
-        Kennedy’s application for the Professorship of the Law of Property and the Law of Contracts at U.C.D., 1909/10, cyclostyled typescript, also the original manuscript draft (see below), with testimonials from the Solicitor-General for Ireland and the President of the Incorporated Law Society.  It seems he was unsuccessful; perhaps they thought he was too young at 30.
-        D.J. O’Sullivan, typescript article on The Constitution of the Irish Free State,  1929, carbon copy, with covering ALS to Hon. Chief Justice Kennedy.
-        Fabian Tract no.155. The Case Against the Referendum [as an instrument of policy].  By Clifford Sharp.  London: 1911. Kennedy’s copy, with several passages marked. Also R.J. Smith, Erin’s Lament and Appeal, being Head-lines for the Irish Free State Elections, Xmas 1932.  Dublin: Cahill.
-        Keith, Prof. A.B.  Certain Legal and Constitutional Aspects of the Anglo-Irish Dispute.  London: April 1934, green printed wrappers,  Kennedy’s copy with his signature in Irish at rear;
-        Kennedy, Hugh.  The Plaint of an Education Board. 2 pages, extracted from an issue of The New Ireland Review, circa 1900, apparently a review of a report of the Commissioners for National Education.
-        An envelope of essays and  research materials including typescript (carbon copy) on ‘Dublin’s Place in the Life of the Nation’, with corrections in Kennedy’s hand, apparently delivered to a student society, with a folder of notes in Kennedy’s hand on aspects of Dublin city and county; 
-        A manuscript draft in Kennedy’s hand of an interesting address to the Central Branch of the Gaelic League, 1908 (in English) on the failure of the 1848 insurrection, expressing his view that ‘noisy failures do permanent harm ... this rebellion ...  took from Ireland a generation of men of first rate talents ... who might have achieved something by recreating in a spirit of patience & tolerance the spent forces of O’Connell’s movement ... .’;
-        ‘Ireland a Nation’ and her New Place In The World. William  G. Fitz-Gerald, 1922, typescript prospectus (carbon) for the work later published as Glór na hÉireann (1924);
-        The original ms. draft of Kennedy’s application for the property  law professorship in UCD, with several  typescript versions.
-        Darrell Figgis, The Gaelic State in the Past &  Future (1917), inscribed to Kennedy by author, 26.1.22, with two photocopies of letters from/to Figgis (who served with  Kennedy on the Constitution Committee);
-        Hyde’s  pamphlet A University Scandal. Dublin: Gaelic League, c. 1902;
-        Bibliography.  A small group of letters and typescripts concerning the Dublin University Review and W.B. Yeats, including three ALS from P.S.  O’Hegarty, 1940s, to Seamus O’Sullivan (2) and  Lennox Robinson, presumably passed to Mrs. Kennedy by one of these (Kennedy having died ). 
-        Bouch’s paper on The Republican  Proclamation of Easter Monday 1916.  Dublin: Three Candles, 1936.
-        Manuscript copy of a minute (2pages) dated Monday 23rd June 1890, concerning  the transfer of the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy  to the Museum of Science and Art, signed Saml. Haughton, probably a scrivener’s copy;
-        Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, statement to Government of Saorstat Eireann, carbon copy, requesting a grant towards its operations;
-        The Lane Pictures.  Dublin Corporation. Statement of the  Claim, etc., by  John J. Reynolds, 1932, with circular letter from the City Manager;
-        A  British Committee  report, 1926, advising against return of the pictures;
-        First Annual Report of the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland c.1925 (members include Aodh O Cinneide, Chief Justice), and a few other publications related to the arts.
-        An  envelope of press cuttings from Kennedy’s official visit to U.S.A. 1928;
-        A letter and offprint from Seamus Ó Duibhlearga concerning folklore, 1925;
-        Invitations to various official functions, including the installation of the Governor-General.
-        Christmas card from President of Executive Council 1931, and cards from John A. Costello, Lord and Lady Aberdeen, etc.
-        Various old envelopes, some with interesting postage stamps attached, one containing copies of the letterhead of the Irish Courts of Justice; also a collection of (earlier) Privy Council Dublin Castle notepaper;
-        A few letters to the Chief Justice from members of the public, including AL signed J.W.B. dated 15 Aug. 1936, stating ‘Your the only person I can trust with the following Important Information, there is a postman named William Marshall employed in GPO ...  he is a very important man in the Red Communists formed in GPO ... ’
-        Seanad Eireann Election 1938.  Candidate’s leaflet for Mrs. Clare Kennedy (Widow of the late Chief Justice Aodh O Cinneide), 2 pages, with a portrait.  Three Candles printing. Rare.
-        Felix Hackett, two ALS to Mrs. Kennedy, 1955, mainly concerning Kennedy and St. Stephen’s.
-        An original manuscript indenture on vellum, August 1676, between Edward Wharroll and Francis O’Loughlin, relating to a bond, probably evidence in some case.

 The above listing broadly follows the order in which the items are filed in the relevant folders.  It establishes a portrait of a very talented man, with a keen intellect, wide-ranging friendships and broad interests, perhaps constrained by his high judicial office.  The photographs offer a beguiling portrait of the gilded lifestyle of Ministers, Judges and their associates in the twenties and thirties, though it is interesting that Kennedy apparently had little in the bank when he died, in spite of what must have been a generous salary. He was only 56 when he died, but had been ill for several years.

There are several documents of significant historical interest, but the most important element is undoubtedly the fine collection of drawings by the distinguished artist Charles Shannon of the proposed new judicial robes, testifying both to Kennedy’s interest in the Brehon judges of Gaelic Ireland and his friendship with W.B. Yeats, then an active member of the Senate and much interested in the external images and symbols of the new State. Yeats’ work on the new Irish coinage is well known, but his proposals for judicial dress have attracted little attention – understandably so, since these fine drawings have never been shown in public.

According to Foster (II p. 331), Yeats wished to exhibit the designs at the time, but the Chief Justice would not allow it. Perhaps it is not too late, even now, for an exhibition, with a selection of documents and photographs from this archive.  (1)