Justice for Sale, Skibbereen Area, West Cork Evidence of Father Collins, parish Priest,’ I have known Magistrates who had no other visible means of support but the trade they carried on as Magistrates, Receiving Presents to a large amount, having their work done, presents of potatoes, corn and cattle and presents of money too’. Alexander O’Driscoll, ‘Several in That part of the County Called Trading Magistrates, Who are Understood to Sell Justice to the Party Who Pays them Best’ Perjury at Elections Mr. McCarthy, Magistrate. From the Westminster Review.

Justice for Sale, Skibbereen Area, West Cork Evidence of Father Collins, parish Priest,’ I have known Magistrates who had no other visible means of support but the trade they carried on as Magistrates, Receiving Presents to a large amount, having their work done, presents of potatoes, corn and cattle and presents of money too’. Alexander O’Driscoll, ‘Several in That part of the County Called Trading Magistrates, Who are Understood to Sell Justice to the Party Who Pays them Best’ Perjury at Elections Mr. McCarthy, Magistrate from the Westminster Review.

There were calls around this time for a minimum property qualification for Magistrates to avoid the type of temptation alleged. From the early 1820s Petty Session Courts began spontaneously to appear in Cork. They were given a statutory basis later in the decade and supplemented by paid Stipendiary Magistrates who sat with local Magistrates

Cork Magistrates:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZvT84JCKTIhMqqZjJsF_AUJLH8S820ksObykwOty3wg/edit

https://books.google.ie/books?id=snkIAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=petty+session+skibbereen&source=bl&ots=VpMC3KMivx&sig=0Cd3mp3B7m2S-b462cvalhzNkqI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjc-JmkoZrVAhXHLsAKHfMPCWw4ChDoAQgdMAE#v=onepage&q=cork&f=false..

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