Rickard Deasy PC (1812 – 6 May 1883) was an Irish lawyer and judge. He was born at Phale Court, Enniskean,

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns ar ...

, the second son of Rickard Deasy, a wealthy

brewer Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

, and his wife Mary Anne Caller. He was educated at the

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where he graduated with a Doctorate of Law. He was called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

, and became

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

. He practised mainly on the

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...

Circuit, and quickly became one of its leaders. He married Monica O'Connor, youngest daughter of Hugh O'Connor of Dublin, and had three children, of whom two died young. His only surviving son was

Henry Hugh Peter Deasy Henry Hugh Peter Deasy (29 Jun 1866 – 24 Jan 1947) was an Irish army officer, founder of the Deasy Motor Car Company and a writer. Career He was born in Dublin, the only surviving son of Rickard Deasy, justice of the Court of Appeal in Irela ...

(1866-1947), the soldier and writer, author of ''In Tibet and Chinese Turkestan'', and founder of the

Deasy Motor Car Company The Siddeley-Deasy Motor Car Company Limited was a British automobile, aero engine and aircraft company based in Coventry in the early 20th century. It was central to the formation, by merger and buy-out, of the later Armstrong Siddeley Motor ...

. Henry in turn was the father of the agricultural campaigner Rickard Deasy. Deasy was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for

on 23 April 1855 in a by-election following Edmond Roche's elevation to the peerage. He was appointed Third Serjeant-at-law in 1858, then

Solicitor-General for Ireland The Solicitor-General for Ireland was the holder of an 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 legal matters. On r ...

in 1859 and then

Attorney-General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. With the ...

in 1860, being also appointed to the

Irish Privy Council 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 ...

(on 21 February). On the death of Richard Wilson Greene in 1861 Deasy was raised to the bench as a

Baron of the Exchequer The Barons of the Exchequer, or ''barones scaccarii'', were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (''inferior'') barons. When Robert Shute was ...

. He was appointed to the

Irish Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal in Ireland was created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 as the final appellate court within Ireland, then under British rule. A las ...

in 1878, and served on that court until his death in 1883. He was buried in the family vault in

Deans Grange Cemetery Deans Grange Cemetery (; also spelled ''Deansgrange'') is situated in the suburban area of Deansgrange in the Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown part of the former County Dublin, Ireland. Since it first opened in 1865, over 150,000 people have been buri ...

, beside his wife, who had died a few weeks earlier. He was a fine lawyer, especially in the field of

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the diff ...

: as a barrister, he was noted for identifying himself fully with his clients' interests. He was also an effective Parliamentarian, concise and professional in his dispatch of Government business. His name is permanently associated with the

Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act 1860 The Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment Act, Ireland, 1860 (23 & 24 Vict c 154) or the Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act 1860, better known as Deasy's Act, was an Act of Parliament preceding the agrarian unrest in Ireland in the 1880s, ...

, universally known as Deasy's Act, which as Attorney General he steered through Parliament.

Arms

References

* F. Elrington Ball, ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'', John Murray, London 1926

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deasy, Rickard 1812 births 1883 deaths UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 Burials at Deans Grange Cemetery Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Cork constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Privy Council of Ireland People from County Cork Lords Justice of Appeal for Ireland Serjeants-at-law (Ireland) 19th-century Irish judges 19th-century Irish lawyers Alumni of Trinity College Dublin