Liam Hamilton

Liam Hamilton ( 1928 - November 29, 2000 ) was an Irish judge , President of the High Court and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1994 to 2000 .

biography

After attending the Christian Brothers' School in Michelstown, he studied law at the UCD in Dublin and at King's Inns . As the best student of the final year he received a scholarship ( John Brooke Scholarship ) and 1956 admission to the bar . After several years of practical work as a lawyer, he was appointed Inner Bar in 1968 and thus Senior Counsel .

In 1974 he was appointed judge of the High Court, the highest civil and criminal court in Ireland, of which he became president in 1985, succeeding Thomas Finlay .

During this time he was a distinguished President of the Special Criminal Court and led a number of significant criminal proceedings such as the case in the Sallins Train Robbery in 1976, the case against the assassins on Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma in County Sligo in 1979 and against the Eskund gun runner .

Other significant decisions during his tenure at the High Court include the fundamental decisions in the Murphy v. 1982 Attorney General stating that joint taxation of married couples was contrary to the Constitution of Ireland and the Kennedy v. Ireland from 1987, which showed the state limits to interference in the private lives of its citizens. In 1991 he also became a member of a government-appointed tribunal ("Beef Tribunal") that worked until 1994 to investigate allegations of illegal activities, fraud and professional misconduct in the beef processing industry.

In 1994 he was appointed Chief Justice of Ireland. One of the most important decisions in 1995 was the confirmation by the state of a legal regulation for obtaining information from private counseling centers and abortion clinics. Another fundamental decision arose from the TF v. Ireland , which recognized the incurable breakdown of the marriage as the reason for judicial separation and thus wrote an important piece of Irish legal and social history.

After retiring as Chief Justice in 2000, he became a member of the Commission to Investigate Bombings in Dublin, Dundalk and Monaghan in 1976. However, he resigned shortly thereafter on health grounds and died a few months later.

Web links

• Former Chief Justices (Homepage of the Supreme Court)