5 - Hugh Kennedy: Ireland’s (Quietly) Towering Nation-Maker

Summary

In the global pantheon of ‘towering judges’, Hugh Kennedy, the first chief justice of independent Ireland, is often overlooked. But Kennedy played a profound role in shaping the Irish constitutional order and was a central architect of the 1922 Constitution produced for the new Irish Free State, ensuring its maximal autonomy. He established a new court system to replace the highly politicised judiciary of the imperial era. He proved to be an intellectual powerhouse, delivering judgments suffused with historical and comparative legal knowledge, and working to craft a new and genuinely democratic jurisprudence. He was the Court’s backbone of principle, most notably asserting in 1934 (in a blistering dissent) the power to substantively review constitutional amendments. His defence of rights and the rule of law set the scene for the dramatic expansion of the Supreme Court’s power in the 1960s and 1970s, and lingers still. More profoundly, Kennedy set the scene for Ireland’s trajectory towards declaration of a fully independent republic in 1948. While leaving a somewhat contested legacy, he deserves global recognition.