Mr. A. M. Sullivan exposes in a long letter to
the Times the fact on which we have so often dwelt, that the Irish Judicial Bench is absurdly overmanned. The work in Ireland as com- pared with the work in England is nearly as 3 to 12, while the .judges are as 12 -to 18, the object being to buy up the Irish Bar, -which till very lately was supposed to lead the Irish people. So .eagerly was this objeet pursued, that, it is said, to this day there is in Ireland one salaried office to every three members of the Bar. Mr. Sullivan, however, not content with this ex- posure, adds that the Judges are enormously over-paid. In
• P,,,ngiand a first-class barrister loses by taking a Judgeship, in Ireland he almost always doubles his income. That may be true, and still the Judge may not be over-paid. In Ireland, of all places, it is needful that he should associate only with the best in the land, and should be absolutely released from pecuniary temptation. It is hard enough to make law respected there at all, and Judges chosen by a sort of Dutch auction would not increase the respect. The best thing that could happen to Ireland would be to put the Irish Judges on the English Rota, and make them interchange circuits. Judge Keogh could do no harm in Cornwall, and Baron Bramwell would do infinite good in Galway.
Previous page
