Murder Trials in Ireland, 1836-1914The book describes how the courts dealt with murder, beginning with the coroner's inquest and ending with the conviction and hanging of the murderer. Between these two points the exquisite, almost balletic, procedure, of the courts and their officers is described, the Crown's case against the prisoner is analyzed, and the prisoner's defense is discussed. Magistrates, policemen, crown solicitors, witnesses, jurors, judges, and hangmen make their appearances. The prisoners, whose silence before and during their trials was their most notable characteristic in the nineteenth-century courts, make their apperances too, but not as prominently as their judicial custodians, until they finally and briefly come into the limelight on the gallows. An implicit theme of the book is the apparent contradiction between the apparent simplicity of the courts' procedures and the complexity of the rules that determined their operation. The book relies on a range of printed primary sources, such as newspapers, parliamentary papers, law reports, and legal textbooks, and on MS sources in the National Archives such as the Convict Reference Files. (Series: Irish Legal History Society) |
Contents
Apprehending a suspect | 35 |
Committal indictment and arraignment | 69 |
Empanelling the jury | 120 |
Copyright | |
12 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
accused acquitted arrest asked assizes attorney Baron barristers Bentley capital punishment charged clerk committed complaints confessions constable constabulary convicted coroner Cox CC Cr & Dix crime criminal law cross-examination crown counsel crown solicitor decided depositions Dublin England English examined example execution fact felony gaol grand jury hanged Hayes homicide house of lords Ibid indictment infanticides inquest Irish James John Judicial Statistics July juries Ireland jurors killing Larcom Papers NLI law of evidence Limerick London long panel lord lieutenant magistrates manslaughter minutes of evidence Monaghan murder Nenagh Newtownhamilton O'Brien offences officers Patrick peremptory challenges person Petty Sessions Ireland Phibbs Phoenix Park murder Pigot policeman practice prisoner prisoner's counsel proceedings prosecution prosecutor Purcell Queen's Bench referred returned for trial select committee sentence of death serjeant sheriff special commission spring assizes statement sub-sheriff suggests summer assizes sworn Thomas told tried verdict Vict William witnesses