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Conor Maguire (judge)

Irish politician (1889-1971)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ177721 ↗
Source-derived summary

Conor Alexander Maguire (16 December 1889 – 26 September 1971) was an Irish politician, lawyer and judge who served as Chief Justice of Ireland from 1946 to 1961, a Judge of the Supreme Court from 1946 to 1961, President of the High Court, a Judge of the High Court from 1936 to 1946 and Attorney General of Ireland from March 1932 to November 1936. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the National University of Ireland constituency from 1932 to 1936.

Maguire was born in Claremorris, County Mayo, in 1889. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College and University College Dublin (UCD). At UCD, he was a founding member of the Legal and Economic Society (now known as the University College Dublin Law Society) in 1911.

He then returned to County Mayo, where he practised as a barrister and was instrumental in establishing Ireland's first working Republican Courts, which usurped the existing courts and created a forum to try offenders, resolve grievances and adjudicate on land issues.

He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD for the National University constituency at the 1932 general election and was re-elected at the 1933 general election. He was appointed as Attorney General of the Irish Free State in March 1932. In November 1936, he resigned as Attorney General and as a TD on his appointment as President of the High Court and a Judge of the High Court. In 1946, he was appointed as Chief Justice of Ireland, that is the president of the Supreme Court of Ireland, where he served until 1961.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Conor Maguire (judge)” as irish politician (1889-1971). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Conor, Maguire and judge.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1889, 1971, 1946, 1961—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1889-12-16. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Conor, Maguire and judge providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Conor Maguire (judge)”, the useful work is to connect “irish politician (1889-1971)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q177721. VIAF identifies the subject as 315945217. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1889, 1971, 1946 and 1961.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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  2. Expand the search: follow Conor Maguire (judge) primary sources, Conor Maguire (judge) archive and Conor research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Conor Maguire (judge)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.