John Tirel

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John Tirel, or Tyrell (died 1395) was a prominent judge and statesman in fourteenth-century Ireland who held office as Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) and Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.[1]

He was the son of Warin Tirel, of a junior branch of the leading Anglo-Irish family of Tyrell, whose senior branch, which died out in 1370, held the feudal Barony of Castleknock.[2] He seems to have been a substantial landowner, though the precise location of his estates is unclear.

He was in England, presumably studying law, in 1354; he returned to Ireland, and was King's Serjeant from 1372 to 1376.[3] The office was an onerous one, on at least occasion involving physical danger, at a time when English rule in Ireland was insecure, and long journeys were dangerous. He seems to have been a political figure of some importance, being summoned to sit in the Irish House of Commons in the Parliaments of 1375 and 1380, and several meetings of the Great Council.[4]

He was appointed a judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) in 1376 and Chief Justice of Common Pleas in 1386. He was exempted from certain duties as a landowner in 1378.[5] Like many Irish judges of the period he seems to have been reluctant to go on assize: in 1380 Walter Cotterell was deputised to act for him in Munster, Kilkenny and Wexford, "on account of the dangers of the roads".[6] He died in 1395.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 London John Murray 1926 Vol. 1 p.88
  2. ↑ Ball p.88
  3. ↑ Ball p.88
  4. ↑ Hart, A.R. The History of the King's Serjeants at law in Ireland Four Courts Press 2000 p.16
  5. ↑ Ball p.88
  6. ↑ Hart pp.19-20
  7. ↑ Ball p.88


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