Court of Common Pleas (Ireland)
The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. It was one of the four courts of justice that gave the Four Courts building in Dublin its name. The Four Courts, present day Contents 1 History 2 Abolition 3 References 3.1 Sources 3.2 Citations History According to Elrington Ball [1] the Irish Court of Common Pleas, which was known in its early years as the Common Bench or simply the Bench , was fully operational by 1276, headed by its Chief Justice (the Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, as distinct from the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, who was the head of the Irish Court of King's Bench). He had two (occasionally three) justices to assist him. Traditionally its workload was less heavy than that of the Court of King's Bench, and its judges had the reputation, which was probably unjustified, for being less learned than those of the other courts of common law. They were al...