John David FitzGerald, Baron FitzGerald, PC, PC (Ire) (1 May 1816 – 16 October 1889) was an Irish judge and Liberal politician.

Background

Born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, he was the son of the merchant David FitzGerald and his wife Catherine, eldest daughter of David Leahy. His sister Kate was married to Charles Robert Barry and his youngest sister Emily to Denis Caulfield Heron. FitzGerald was educated privately and was called to the bar by

King's Inns The Honorable Society of King's Inns () is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environments. The Benchers of King's Inns aw ...

in 1838. In 1870, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by the

University of Dublin The University of Dublin (), corporately named as The Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a research university located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dublin, whi ...

Career

FitzGerald became a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1847, and was a judge of the Munster circuit. He entered the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in 1852, sitting for

Ennis Ennis ( , meaning 'island' or 'river meadow') is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in Cou ...

the next eight years. In 1855, FitzGerald was first elected a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher c ...

, then nominated

Solicitor-General for Ireland The Solicitor-General for Ireland was the holder of an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office. The holder was a deputy to the Attorney-General for Ireland, and advised the Crown on Irish ...

. He became

Attorney-General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish and then, from 1801 under the Acts of Union 1800, United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on ...

a year later, on which appointment he was sworn of the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

. FitzGerald held the former post until 1858 and after a break for a year, again until 1860, when he was appointed Judge on the

Court of Queen's Bench (Ireland) The Court of King's Bench (of Queen's Bench when the sovereign was female, and formerly of Chief Place or Chief Pleas) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The King's Ben ...

. On 23 June 1882, he was created a

Lord of Appeal in Ordinary Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

with the

life peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

title of Baron FitzGerald, of Kilmarnock, in the County of Dublin. Six days later, he was additionally sworn of the

Privy Council of the United Kingdom The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are curre ...

, entitling him to sit on the Judicial Committee.

Judgments

*''

Foakes v Beer is an English contract law case, which applied the controversial pre-existing duty rule in the context of part payments of debts. It is a leading case from the House of Lords on the legal concept of consideration. It established the rule that p ...

884 __NOTOC__ Year 884 ( DCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * March 1 – Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, count of Castile, founds and repopulates (''repoblación'') Burgos a ...

UKHL 1, 881-85All ER Rep 106, (1884) 9 App Cas 605; 54 LJQB 130; 51 LT 833; 33 WR 233 - a leading case from the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

on the legal concept of

consideration Consideration is a concept of English law, English common law and is a necessity for simple contracts but not for special contracts (contracts by deed). The concept has been adopted by other common law jurisdictions. It is commonly referred to a ...

Family

In 1846, he married Rose, second daughter of John Donohoe, and had by her three sons. She died in 1850, and FitzGerald remarried Hon. Jane Matilda Mary, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Francis Southwell and Mary Ann Agnes Dillon, and sister of

Thomas Southwell, 4th Viscount Southwell Thomas Arthur Joseph Southwell, 4th Viscount Southwell KP (6 April 1836 – 26 April 1878) was an Irish peer. He was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Francis Southwell and Mary Anne Agnes Dillon. He joined the Army, but resigned after only t ...

. By his second wife, he had four sons and six daughters. The former Conservative politician

Amber Rudd Amber Augusta Rudd (born 1 August 1963) is a British former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019. She was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Pa ...

is his great-great-granddaughter. Fitzgerald Escutcheon

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:FitzGerald, John 1816 births 1889 deaths 19th-century Irish people Lawyers from Dublin (city) Attorneys-general for Ireland Irish King's Counsel Law lords Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Clare constituencies (1801–1922) 19th-century King's Counsel Solicitors-general for Ireland UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs who were granted peerages Judges of the High Court of Justice in Ireland Alumni of King's Inns Life peers created by Queen Victoria Politicians from Dublin (city)