Retiring judge celebrates 50 years

A portrait of Dukes County Judge Corneilius Moriarty 2nd was unveiled during an intimate ceremony on Wednesday at the Dukes County Courthouse in Edgartown attended by the judge’s family and friends to commemorate his retirement. 

Moriarty’s legal career spanned 50 years across various courts throughout Massachusetts; he ruled on cases in Dukes, Hampden, and Plymouth Counties. In 2006, he was appointed as a justice to the Massachusetts Superior Court by former Gov. Mitt Romney.

At the portrait unveiling, led by former Dukes County Superior Court Clerk Joseph Sollitto, Moriarty was delighted to be surrounded by his loved ones, who included his colleagues on the Island, his wife, Geraldine, three of his sons, Braden Moriarty, Island attorneys Robert and Tim Moriarty, and eight grandchildren.

“I felt pleased that my family and friends on the Island were able to be there,” he said.

Moriarty’s portrait depicts him sitting on the local judicial bench, his hands clasped and wearing a contemplative expression on his face. The painting was commissioned by Edgartown artist Barry Koretz, Moriarty’s longtime neighbor and friend in Katama. Moriarty liked that the portrait showed him in action as a judge in Dukes County.   

“[The portrait] captured a look I sometimes had. This was a court that was close to my heart,” he said.

Moriarty, who moved full-time to the Island in 2006, said that handling predominantly land dispute cases as a judge in Dukes County was “a nice change of pace” compared to the higher volume of criminal cases that he was accustomed to managing in Hampden and Plymouth counties.

Moriarty said that his career in law reinforced his convictions in the importance of the rule of law. “Once we lose the rule of law, we’ve lost a lot and we’re nothing more than a banana republic,” he said.

As Moriarty settles into retirement, he is the most excited about spending more time with his grandchildren on the Island.