Justice of The High Court and The Supreme Court
On 9 January 1926 he was appointed a Justice of the High Court, upon which he served until he was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1940. He was also Chairman of the Irish Legal Terms Advisory Committee from 14 May 1948 to 13 May 1953.
Another High Court judge Kenneth Deale writing extra judicially in " Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt ", a collection of celebrated Irish murder trials, offers some interesting insights into O'Byrne's strengths and weaknesses as a judge. Deale praises him as a sound and experienced lawyer, conscientious, principled and level-headed. However he believed he had one flaw- he was excessively strong minded and having made up his mind was most reluctant to change it. This in Deale's view was a problem especially in criminal trials where it is hard to believe a jury would not be greatly influenced by the summing up of so formidable and strong minded a judge.
He married Marjorie O'Byrne, née McGuire, in 1924. He lived at Stonehurst, Killiney, County Dublin. He died in his office on 14 January 1954. His widow brought a celebrated test case arguing that judges could not be required to pay income tax as this breached the Constitutional guarantee that their incomes shall not be reduced. The Supreme Court decided by a 3-2 majority that judges are liable to pay income tax.
Read more about this topic: John O'Byrne
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