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The exclusion of catholics from the legal profession in Ireland, 1537-1829

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Colum Kenny
Colum Kenny*
Affiliation:
School of Communication, National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin
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Extract

Between the Reformation and catholic emancipation a succession of statutory and other provisions was framed by the authorities in Dublin and London with the intention of enforcing religious conformity Persons who refused to conform were rendered liable to various disabilities and penalties of a severe nature. Discrimination became widespread in the first half of the eighteenth century with what were collectively known as the penal laws. These contained general provisions which touched all citizens in relation to many aspects of their lives, especially the holding of land. But from 1537 there were also specific measures aimed at particular groups, including the legal profession. These measures ensured that appointments to the bench could continue to be manipulated on the basis of loyalty to the established church. Long after the first relaxation of the penal laws, catholic lawyers who refused to conform were still excluded from the higher ranks of the legal profession. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which statutory and other requirements, introduced from 1537 onwards, were effective in excluding Roman Catholics from legal practice and in achieving outward religious conformity among lawyers between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Type
Articles
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 100 , November 1987 , pp. 337 - 357
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1987

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