This thesis focuses on the Irish Republican Courts which existed during the Anglo-Irish War of 1919-1921, also known as the Irish War of Independence. The republican courts were a part of an Irish...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the Irish Republican Courts which existed during the Anglo-Irish War of 1919-1921, also known as the Irish War of Independence. The republican courts were a part of an Irish alternative government, which existed alongside the then still present British government in Ireland. It focuses especially on the motives of ordinary Irishmen to use the republican courts, what is was that made them function, and to what extent they can be considered to have functioned successfully as judicial institutions. Their success as judicial institutions was measured by comparing them to British courts, the Petty Sessions, in terms of the number of cases and types of cases each dealt with. The results amount to a correction of the existing image of the republican courts.Show less