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29 Facts About Peter Charleton

1.

Peter Mitchel Andrew Charleton was born on 11 April 1956 and is an Irish judge who has served as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland since June 2014.

2.

Peter Charleton previously served as a Judge of the High Court from 2006 to 2014.

3.

Peter Charleton was educated at St Mary's College, Dublin, Trinity College Dublin and King's Inns.

4.

Peter Charleton was the Auditor of the College Historical Society between 1977 and 1978.

5.

Peter Charleton was in the final of the Irish Times Debate in 1977 and won the Benchers' Trophy for legal debate with Alex Schuster in 1979.

6.

Peter Charleton was called to the Bar in 1979, and became a senior counsel in 1995.

7.

Peter Charleton was the first senior counsel to appear in an Irish court without a wig, following the enactment of the Courts and Court Officers Act 1995.

8.

Peter Charleton was appointed to the Advisory Group on Criminal Law and Procedure in 1996 by Minister for Justice Nora Owen.

9.

Peter Charleton was prosecuting counsel in cases against Catherine Nevin for murder, and Paul Ward and John Gilligan in the Special Criminal Court for the murder of Veronica Guerin.

10.

Peter Charleton defended Ritchie Neville and Jason "J" Brown of the boyband 5ive following charges arising out of an altercation in Temple Bar, Dublin in 2001.

11.

Peter Charleton worked as senior counsel for the Morris Tribunal into allegations of corruption in the Donegal division of the Garda Siochana.

12.

Peter Charleton was joined by Paul McDermott SC and Anthony Barr.

13.

Peter Charleton left the Morris Tribunal two years before it finished to take up an appointment to the High Court.

14.

Peter Charleton has represented the State in cases before the European Court of Justice.

15.

Peter Charleton is the author of a number books on criminal law and has published on family and constitutional law, copyright, extradition and judicial review.

16.

Peter Charleton lectured in the King's Inns in the law of tort between 1982 and 1984, Trinity College Dublin in criminal law between 1986 and 1988, Fordham University, The University of Washington, and China University of Political Science and Law.

17.

Peter Charleton is an adjunct professor of criminal law and criminology at University of Galway and regularly delivers lectures there.

18.

Peter Charleton was Chairman of the National Archives of Ireland Advisory Council from 2011 to 2016, an unpaid position.

19.

Peter Charleton was appointed as a Judge of the High Court in December 2006, and assigned to the Commercial Court from 2010.

20.

Peter Charleton has acted as an ad hoc judge of the European Court of Human Rights.

21.

Peter Charleton was nominated to the Supreme Court in June 2014 and appointed by President Michael D Higgins in July 2014.

22.

Peter Charleton has written judgments for the Supreme Court on key aspects of criminal law.

23.

Peter Charleton developed the substance of Irish common law defences of duress and provocation in the Gleeson and McNamara cases respectively, in both instances deploying tests using mixed standards of objective and subjective elements.

24.

Peter Charleton published two substantive reports as chair of the Tribunal.

25.

The portion of the inquiry presided over by Peter Charleton ran from February 2017 until October 2018.

26.

Peter Charleton was particularly critical of the credibility of evidence given by several senior members of the police force.

27.

Peter Charleton suggested that instead of being run in a format akin to criminal trials, the main aspect of the inquiry should be directed from the tribunal itself.

28.

Peter Charleton later co-authored a journal article about his proposals for change.

29.

Peter Charleton was a founder-member of the National Symphony Chorus RTE Philharmonic Choir and a member of the board of the Irish Baroque Orchestra.