History
Formation of the Society
The Medico-Legal Society of Ireland was founded in August 1956 following a meeting held in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin . It was agreed that a need then existed for a society in which doctors and lawyers would meet and discuss topical issues of mutual interest. The meeting was called by Dr J.P. Brennan, Coroner, who was elected as the first President of the Society. Others present at that initial meeting included Mr. Justice Murnaghan who took the chair, Dr. Patrick Meenan BL, Dr. Maurice Hickey, Mr. Michael Leech, Solicitor, Mr. L. Trant McCarthy, Solicitor, Dr. C.S.P. Hamilton and Dr. Brennan. The then Chief Justice of Ireland , Mr. Justice Conor A. Maguire became the first Patron of the Society.
A notable event in the early years was a reception hosted by the Society in 1957 to mark the visit to Ireland of the American Bar Association, led by Earl Warren, then Chief Justice of the United States of America.
The first elected officers of the Society
President: Dr. J.P. Brennan
Vice-Presidents:
Mr. Ian Fraser FRCSI,
Mr. D. O‘Donovan, Chief State Solicitor
Professor R.A.Q. O‘Meara
Mr. D. Costigan, Commissioner of An Garda Siochà na
Judge J. A. McCarthy
Honorary Secretary: Mr. M. Leech
Honorary Treasurer: Mr. J.A. Kelly
Editor of Debates: Dr. J. F. Fleetwood
Council:
Mr. E. Fahy BL
Mr. Sean Hooper SC
Dr. P.N. Meenan BL
Dr. M. Hickey MD
Dr. D.A. McErlean MD
Dr. Francis McLaughlin MD
The inaugural meeting
The inaugural meeting of the Society was held in the Dolphin Hotel, Dublin on the 29th October, 1956 when a paper entitled “The Mind and Crime“ was delivered by Judge J.A. McCarthy, a Vice-President of the Society.