People, Place and Power – The Grand Jury System in Ireland

2 Foreword The archives of the Grand Jury, which in some cases span two centuries of Irish history, shine a light on social and political life at the most local of levels, in almost every corner of the country. As this booklet shows, the grand jury system of local government operated in Ireland frommedieval times. Initially the grand jurors, consisting of local wealthy landlords, were concerned with the administration of justice. Court sittings took place twice a year in spring and summer. Over the course of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the grand juries were given broader functions such as building roads and bridges, schools, hospitals, public buildings and the county gaol, as well as tax (county cess) collection. The range of duties carried out by the grand juries from the late eighteenth and particularly the nineteenth century is well-documented in the many assizes and presentment books, as well as other grand jury records which survive such as contract books, maps, minutes of meetings, accounts and correspondence. The survival rate of grand jury records varies from one local authority to another. Some presentment records date back to the early-eighteenth century. Extraordinary events in the grand-jury era include the 1798 Rebellion, the 1801 Act of Union, the Great Famine, the Land War and the eventual modernization of local democracy in 1898–9. Administrative duties of the grand juries ended in 1899, when the 1898 Local Government (Ireland) Act was implemented and the more democratic County Councils, Urban and Rural District Councils were established. King’s County’ Presentments (1852–75) Courtesy of Offaly Archives