Court of Chancery (Ireland)

In the early centuries of the office, the Lord Chancellor was a senior cleric, usually though not invariably an Englishman by birth.

From the Reformation on, he was usually a trained lawyer, though the practice of appointing a senior cleric only ended with Michael Boyle, Archbishop of Armagh, who retired in 1686.

After the Union, he was still required to advise both British and Irish Governments on a range of political and legal matters.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the office was notoriously a sinecure for absentee English politicians, but from 1800 on a determined effort was made to appoint judges of real ability.

Originally the Lord Chancellor was "keeper of the king's conscience", charged with giving relief in any case where the courts of common law could not supply a remedy.

In time, as in England, equity developed into a fully-fledged legal system in its own right, parallel to the common law.