MISS Justice Carroll was the first woman to be appointed to the High Court in 1980. She took her place in the Four Courts at the age of 46, only four years after she was admitted to the Inner Bar.
She is probably best known for her decision in 1994 not to disqualify herself from hearing an action on abortion services information.
The Dublin Well Woman Centre Ltd was seeking a declaration that it could make available in the State information relating to abortion services lawfully provided in other EU countries.
The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) argued that the judge should not hear it on the grounds that the application was going to call for the construction of the amendment to the Constitution. It argued that the judge, in her capacity as chairwoman of the Commission on the Status of Women, sent a letter in 1992 referring to women's rights to avail of counselling and information to the then Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds. SPUC appealed her decision to the Supreme Court and Mrs Justice Denham ruled that Miss Justice Carroll should not hear the action.
She studied at UCD and King's Inns and was called to the Bar in 1957 and the Inner Bar in 1976. She was elected, chairwoman of the Bar Council of the General Bar of Ireland in 1979.