The Times We Lived In: Elite team prepared to lay down the law

‘THE first requirement of civilisation,” wrote Sigmund Freud, “is that of justice.”

The creators of our Republic clearly agreed – for in 1924, the Courts of Justice Act established a new system of courts for the Irish Free State.

The nine men in today’s picture – the judges appointed to oversee Ireland’s transition to a fully independent justice system – have good reason to look thoughtful.

They are: (seated front, left to right) Gerald Fitzgibbon, Timothy Sullivan, Chief Justice Hugh Kennedy, Charles Andrew O'Connor and JC Meredith. (Standing, left to right) Thomas Lopdell O'Shaughnessy, William E Wylie, William John Johnston and James Augustine Murnaghan.

This official photograph is formal and static. It contains no drama or movement. Yet it is fascinating to study the faces of the nine judges and wonder what is going on in their heads as they pose for the camera.

What qualities make a good judge? According to one website, the current requirements would be “patience, open-mindedness, courtesy, tact, courage, punctuality, firmness, understanding, compassion, humility and common sense”.

A judge is required to put personality aside and be as objective as is humanly possible. Looking along these faces, however, personality is plain to be seen. It emerged as an issue, apparently, between Hugh Kennedy and Gerald Fitzgibbon. According to Kennedy’s diaries, sparks often flew between the two men, who were – politically and personally – about as different as it was possible to be.

Kennedy was an enthusiastic nationalist. Fitzgibbon was a Protestant Unionist, famous for his sudden outbursts in court, whose scepticism about the Catholic nature of the new “free” state made him an increasingly uneasy fit.

Still, they rubbed along together until Kennedy’s death in 1936. Fitzgibbon retired in 1938, still grumbling – this time about the state of his pension. It all makes them seem quite contemporary, despite those stiff collars and that Victorian-era facial hair.

So there it is. Nine new judges. Of course they were still using the old – some very, very old – laws. But that’s another story.

Arminta Wallace This and other photographs from The Irish Times can be purchased from: irishtimes.com/photosales