Lord Cave, the Privy Council and Ireland

Abstract

This article examines the career of Lord Cave and his influence on the history of the Irish appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the 1920s and 1930s. Cave was a controversial figure in Anglo-Irish politics in the early twentieth century. Nevertheless, he held the office of lord chancellor for much of the 1920s and presided over a number of important appeals emanating from the Irish Free State. This paper argues that Cave’s pre-occupation with maintaining the integrity of the British Empire influenced decisions in a number of key cases that directly or indirectly affected the Irish Free State. This supports the conclusion that Lord Cave had a profound impact on the history of the Irish appeal to the Privy Council. This paper also examines suggestions made by other scholars to the effect that decisions made in cases affecting the Irish Free State support a conclusion that the Judicial Committee was occasionally influenced by the interests of the British government. These scholars question the entire position of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as an independent court of law and suggest that the Privy Council appeal was occasionally used as a tool of British governmental policy. This paper concludes that the decisions made in these key cases are more likely to have been influenced by the personal views of Lord Cave and not by policies embraced by the British government. This supports the conclusion that the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of the 1920s and 1930s was, after all, an independent court of law.