On this day in 1831, John Toler, the notorious Nenagh-born man who became known as the ‘Hanging Judge’, died in Dublin.
He was appointed Chief Justice in 1800, despite the fact that ‘his scanty knowledge of the law, his gross partiality, his callousness, and his buffoonery, completely disqualified him for the position.’
Toler was born in Beechwood near Nenagh in December 1745. He was admitted to the Irish bar in 1770 and worked his way up the ladder before being appointed Chief Justice in 1800. Contemporaries were said to have been appalled that such a man would be appointed to the position. The Lord Chancellor, John Fitzgibbon is said to have quipped, “Make him a bishop, or even an archbishop, but not a chief justice.”
It is said that he joked even when the life of a human being was hanging in the balance, which earned him the nickname the ‘hanging judge’. His most famous trial was that of Nationalist leader Robert Emmet. He interrupted and abused Emmet throughout the trial before sentencing him to death in 1803.
Toler was detested by Daniel O’ Connell and in 1826, O’ Connell presented a petition seeking Toler’s removal from office on the grounds of incapacity and infirmity. The final straw was when it was alleged that Toler (by now Baron Norbury of Ballycrenode, Co. Tipperary) had fallen asleep during a murder trial and was later unable to present any account of the evidence given.
It was 1827 before he was finally induced to resign, but only with the sweetener that he would become 1st Earl of Norbury. Toler died on 27 July 1831 and is buried in St Mary’s Churchyard in Dublin.
Sources:
https://www.dib.ie/biography/toler-john-a8585
https://seamusdubhghaill.com/2021/12/03/birth-of-john-toler-1st-earl-of-norbury/
Moira Lysaght, Norbury, "The Hanging Judge"(1745-1831) in Dublin Historical Record
Vol. 30, No. 2 (Mar., 1977), pp. 58-65
