Nicholas Kearns | |
---|---|
President of the High Court | |
In office 28 October 2009 – 19 December 2015 | |
Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
Appointed by | Mary McAleese |
Preceded by | Richard Johnson |
Succeeded by | Peter Kelly |
Judge of the High Court | |
In office 28 October 2009 – 19 December 2015 | |
Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
Appointed by | Mary McAleese |
In office 9 January 1998 – 15 November 2004 | |
Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
Appointed by | Mary McAleese |
Judge of the Supreme Court | |
In office 15 November 2004 – 28 October 2009[nb 1] | |
Nominated by | Government of Ireland |
Appointed by | Mary McAleese |
Personal details | |
Born | Dublin, Ireland | 4 December 1946
Spouse |
Eleanor Kearns (m. 1978) |
Children | 4 |
Education | St Mary's College, Dublin |
Alma mater | |
| |
Nicholas Kearns (born 12 December 1946) is a retired Irish judge who served as President of the High Court from 2009 to 2015 and a Judge of the High Court from 1998 to 2015, and previously from 1998 to 2004, and a Judge of the Supreme Court from 2004 to 2009.[1]
Kearns was born in 1946 and educated at St Mary's College, Dublin.[2] He attended University College Dublin and subsequently attended the King's Inns. He also achieved a diploma in European law from UCD.[3]
He was called to the bar in 1968, the Bar of England and Wales in 1981 and became a senior counsel in March 1982.[3] His practice was primarily focused on personal injuries law.[2]
He was appointed a High Court judge in 1998. At one stage, he was in charge of the competition law list.[4] He co-founded the Association of European Competition Law Judges.[2]
He was an ad hoc judge of the European Court of Human Rights,[4] serving from 2000 until 2009.[2]
He was the chairperson of the Referendum Commission convened for the 27th Amendment to the Constitution of Ireland in 2004.[5]
He has presided over the Special Criminal Court,[6] and the former Court of Criminal Appeal.[5]
He was elevated to the Supreme Court of Ireland in 2004.[7][8]
He became the President of the High Court in October 2009.[9] He retired in 2015 ahead of the mandatory retirement date in order to spend more time with family.[10]
On 12 July 2010, the High Court granted leave to Sinn Féin Senator Pearse Doherty for a judicial review into why a by-election was not being held in Donegal South-West.[11] The seat was vacant since June 2009, following the resignation of Fianna Fáil TD Pat "the Cope" Gallagher on his election to the European Parliament. On 2 November 2010, the High Court ruled that there was an unreasonable delay in holding the by-election. In his ruling, Kearns described the delay as unprecedented[12] and that the delay amounted to a breach of Doherty's constitutional rights. He declared that Section 30 (2) of the Electoral Act 1992 should be construed as requiring that a writ for a by-election be moved within a reasonable time of the vacancy arising.[13] He further stated,
...it is the ongoing failure to move the writ for this by-election since June 2009 which offends the terms and spirit of the Constitution and its framework for democratic representation.[14]
However, Justice Kearns did not order the Government of Ireland to set a date for the by-election. The Government announced on 4 November 2010, that the by-election would be held on 25 November. They also stated that they would appeal to the Supreme Court.[12] On 26 November 2010, Doherty won the by-election.
Kearns was appointed by Mary Mitchell O'Connor in 2017 to become the chairperson of the Personal Injuries Commission. The purpose of the commission was to review claims process in Ireland.[4]
He became the deputy chairperson of the National Maternity Hospital, Dublin in 2015 and is a trustee of the Gate Theatre.[15][16]
He is married to Eleanor, with whom he has four sons.[2]