The Grand Jury

Grand Juries were the earliest form of local government in Ireland. Grand Jurors, who were appointed by the Sheriff, were usually local landowners. They were initially concerned with the administration of justice. However, their role gradually expanded to include the provision of roads, and bridges, and the maintenance of dispensaries, county infirmaries, lunatic asylums, courthouses and gaols. The Grand Jury was empowered to levy a tax in the county (local Cess: tax or rate) and met at Spring and Summer Assizes where presentments (works) were passed. Corrupt practices among grand juries were widespread in the nineteenth century and the office of the county surveyor in 1817 brought back some degree of control into the order of making presentments.

The County Council superseded Grand Juries in 1898, thereby introducing democratically elected county and city representatives for the first time.

Digitised copies of the surviving records of the County Kildare Grand Jury are available here.

Further references:

Gentlemen of County Kildare, Spring Assizes, 1772 (G. Faulkner's Journal for 9 February 1778) is available in the County Kildare Archaelogical Society Journal, Vol. XII No. 2, p. 105 (a list of names and addresses).

The Grand Jury panel for County Kildare in 1808 is available in the County Kildare Archaelogical Society Journal, Vol. XII No. 3, pp. 128-130 (a list of names and addresses).