What Happened in Irish Court Houses?

At the start of the nineteenth century justice was administered at multiple levels, with various avenues of redress for civil disputes and criminal offences. Commenting on the proliferation of minor courts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, McDowell remarks that ‘[t]hey were numerous and varied considerably in respect to jurisdiction, procedure and terminology – and by 1800 – in respect to their activity and usefulness’. Civil bill courts had operated since the early eighteenth century for the recovery of small debts. A range of other courts also had jurisdiction over low-value civil cases, with variations throughout the country. These included the Courts of Conscience, established in several large towns and cities from the twelfth century. Courts of Record, for the recovery of debts, were generally established by charter or patent. Some larger towns, such as Carrickfergus, Galway, Waterford and Drogheda had Tholsel Courts to deal with civil disputes. Others had Borough Courts, often presided over by provosts and burgesses. In other places there were Corporation Courts, and Dublin had a Lord Mayors’ Court, which dealt with minor offences and settled disputes relating to such matters as wages and apprentices. Courts of piepowder (or piepoudre) determined cases which arose during fairs and markets.