He was born in Cavan in 1903, the second son of Dr. Francis Teevan and his wife Anne.
The family moved to Dundalk, County Louth, where he went to the Christian Brothers School and then to University College Dublin.
[2] His first case as a judge was probably the most memorable: the unsuccessful libel action by Patrick Kavanagh against the Leader magazine.
[citation needed] As both a barrister and judge, he was an expert on rights of way, a field of law which he admitted did nothing to improve one's view of human nature.
Giving judgement in Connell v. Porter (21 December 1967) he described the behaviour of both parties as "disgusting" and made the memorable remark: "It is a strange paradox of our times that concurrently with so much alertness to personal rights, very many people flagrantly and callously do serious hurt to the feelings, rights and properties of others and expect immunity for their trespasses".