Marking the 2020 centenary of his death, this book explores the judicial legacy of chief baron Christopher Palles, the last chief baron of the Court of Exchequer Ireland, in a judicial career spanning over 40 years from 1874 to 1916. It brings together legal scholars, legal historians and social historians to critically analyse the impact of a leading figure in the development of Irish law and society in the late nineteenth century across a range of fields including land law, tort law, administrative and company law, charity law, criminal and civil procedure. In the first scholarly assessment of its kind, this collection examines Palles’ contribution through his most enduring legacy – his written judgments – and tracks the global and lasting influence of those decisions in subsequent cases and contemporary legal scholarship throughout the common law world.

Oonagh B. Breen is professor of law at the Sutherland School of Law, UCD. Noel McGrath is lecturer in law at the Sutherland School of Law, UCD.

Gladstone’s grudging appointment of Christopher Palles as Chief Baron At law, at equity, (sometimes) at odds with other judges: Chief Baron Palles and the Judicature Act Palles and company law: forgotten (and forgettable?) judgments Chief Baron Palles and the land question, 1870–91 From proof to presumption: the contribution of Palles to the public benefit debate in charity law Safeguarding against ‘evil results’: the Chief Baron and contempt of court Palles’ contribution to administrative law Compensation for criminal injuries: Palles at the intersection of civil and criminal law The influence of Chief Baron Palles on the development of the doctrines of vicarious liability and the non-delegable duty of care Christopher Palles and tort The Aeolus episode in Ulysses and the Freeman’s Journal: Chief Baron Palles and the law of defamation Global and local impact: a centennial posthumous recognition