Recorder of Belfast

The Recorder of Belfast is one of the two senior County Court judges of Northern Ireland known as Recorders, the other being the Recorder of Derry.

The County Court judges in Northern Ireland are senior judicial officers, hearing civil actions, consumer claims, and appeals from magistrates' courts. They are called Family Care Centre judges when hearing appeals from the family proceedings courts and cases under the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.

The Recorder of Belfast is deemed to be the Senior County Court Judge in the Province.[1]

History

In 1876, the Recorder of Belfast sat for eight sessions a year, plus four in the Quarter Sessions for County Antrim.[2]

In the House of Commons on 2 March 1882 Joseph Biggar asked the Attorney-General for Ireland, W. M. Johnson, whether he was aware that the Recorder of Belfast was paid to act at elections as assessor to the chairman of Harbour Commissioners in Belfast, and whether that was contrary to the County Officers and Courts Act 1877. Johnson replied that the Recorder of Belfast was appointed to the role of assessor long before the 1877 act was enacted and was not affected by its Section 92.[3]

The title of Recorder of Belfast was confirmed by Section 102 of the County Courts Act (Northern Ireland) 1959, which provides that "The judge, or (if more than one) one of the judges, assigned to the division which is or includes— (a) the area of the city of Belfast shall be styled the Recorder of Belfast".[4]

In 2005, for the first time, a solicitor, Thomas Burgess, was appointed as Recorder, and with effect from April 2006 a new dimension was added to the Recorder's role by the Justice Act 2004, making him the Presiding Judge with responsibility for the County Courts.[5]

The Recorder has the civic position of Second Citizen of Belfast, after the Lord Mayor.[5]

Salary

It was reported in June 2010 that with an annual salary of £149, 631, the Recorder was paid more than the British prime minister. This compared with £172,753 paid to each of the nine Justices of the High Court of Northern Ireland.[6] In 2010 the Recorder's salary had been confirmed at 108 per cent of the Series 5 salary, paid to other County Court judges, with the Review Body on Senior Salaries noting that the office-holder was the Presiding Judge of the County Court and also heard non-jury, Diplock trials dealing with terrorism-related offences.[7]

List of Recorders
This list is incomplete
  • 1873 to 1884: John Hastings Otway QC (1808–1884)[8]
  • 1884 to 1887: David Ross QC (died 1887)[9]
  • 1899 to 1909: Henry Fitzgibbon KC (1824–1909)
  • 1909 to 1910: James Johnston Shaw KC LLD (1845–1910)[10]
  • 1911 to 1919: John Walker Craig KC (died 1926)[11][12]
  • 1919 to 1921: Charles Louis Matheson KC[13]
  • 1921 to 1927: Daniel Martin Wilson KC (1862–1932)
  • 1927: Thomas H. Maxwell KC (acting)[14]
  • 1927 to 1941: Herbert Marshall Thompson KC (died 1945)
  • 1941 to 1943: Arthur Black KC (1888–1968)[15]
  • 1952 to 1959: Bernard Joshua Fox QC[16]
  • 1956 (acting): Charles Stewart QC[16]
  • 1959 to 1978: Walter Topping (1908–1978)[15]
  • 1978 to 1982: James Alexander Brown TD QC[17]
  • 1982 to 1984: Eoin Higgins (1927–1993)
  • 1984 to 1997: Frank Russell QC (1925–2013)
  • 2005 to 2012: Thomas Burgess, solicitor[5]
  • 2012 to date: David McFarland QC

Notes
  1. Recorder at nijac.gov.uk (Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission web site) accessed 9 January 2018
  2. Parliamentary Papers, Volume 10: Minutes of Evidence taken before Select Committee on Local Government and Taxation of Towns (Ireland) (HM Stationery Office, 1876), p. 350
  3. The Magistracy (Ireland)—The Recorder Of Belfast at hansard.parliament.uk, accessed 8 March 2019
  4. County Courts Act (Northern Ireland) 1959 at legislation.gov.uk
  5. "Judge Burgess — Reflections from the Bench" in The Writ, Issue 178 dated October 2006 at lawsoc-ni.org, accessed 8 March 2019
  6. Thirteen judges earn more than PM dated 3 June 2010 at newsletter.co.uk, accessed 9 January 2018
  7. Review Body on Senior Salaries thirty-third report (2011), p. 49
  8. The Solicitors' Journal & Reporter Volume 28 (1884), p. 566: "Mr. John Hastings Otway, Q.C., recorder of Belfast, and county court judge for Antrim, died at Lisburn on the 28th ult. Mr. Otway was the son of the Rev. Cassar Otway, and was born at Celbridge, Kildare, in 1808. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he took the usual degrees. He was called to the bar at Dublin in 1832, and he formerly practised on the Munster Circuit. Mr. Otway was formerly professor of the law of real and personal property..."
  9. Annual Report, Volumes 55-64 (1887), p. 10
  10. Law Times, the Journal and Record of the Law and Lawyers, Volume 128 (Office of The Law times, 1910), p. 115: "Mr James Johnston Shaw KC LLD, Recorder of Belfast, died at his residence in Dublin on Wednesday. Only six months ago Judge Shaw was appointed Recorder of Belfast, in succession to the late Mr. Henry FitzGibbon, K.C. He was born at Kirkcubbin, County Down, in Jan. 1845, and was educated at the Royal, Academy School. the Queen's College, Belfast, and at Edinburgh University, In, 1869 he became Professor of Metaphysics and Ethics in Magee College. Londonderry ..."
  11. David John Owen, History of Belfast, p. 427
  12. Campbell College Register online (Section 'Governors'), accessed 9 January 2028
  13. The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal, vol. 55 (1921), p. 135: "The death of the learned Recorder of Belfast, which is referred to in another column, has caused deep regret among the members of the Bar. There was no more strenuous worker than the late Mr. Matheson."
  14. The Belfast Gazette, Volume 7, p. 543: "The Lords Justices of Northern Ireland have been pleased by Order, dated 21st June, 1927, to appoint Mr. Thomas H. Maxwell, K.C., under the Civil Bill Courts (Ireland) Act, 1851, to do and execute the duties of the Recorder of Belfast and County Court Judge and Chairman of County Antrim, during such period as the latter may be unable to attend any of such Courts owing to illness, or until further Order."
  15. Biographies of Members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons at election.demon.co.uk, accessed 9 January 2018
  16. The Belfast Gazette (1956), p. 107: "His Excellency the Governor of Northern Ireland has been pleased to appoint, under the Civil Bill Courts (Ireland) Act, 1851, Charles Stewart, Esq., Q.C., to do and execute the duties of Recorder of Belfast during the absence of the Recorder , His Honour Bernard J. Fox, Q.C."
  17. Who Was Who 1996–2000 (London: A. & C. Black, 2001), p. 72
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