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Book Cover
Book
Author Bennett, John Michael.

Title Sir Francis Forbes : first Chief Justice of New South Wales 1823-1837 / J.M. Bennett ; foreword, A.M. Gleeson
Published Annandale, N.S.W. : Federation Press, 2001

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  KB 15 Forbes A2 Ben/Sff  AVAILABLE
Description xv, 176 pages : portraits ; 22 cm
Series Lives of the Australian Chief Justices
Lives of the Australian chief justices.
Contents Introduction. Part I: The Northern Hemisphere. 1. "Solus inter plurimos" -- 2. "A fief of admiralty" -- 3. "Dissipating clouds of error" -- 4. "Detained in London". Part II: The Southern Hemisphere. 5. "Credit for good intentions" -- 6. "Lord Chief Justice Abbott at the horse guards" -- 7. "He would not certify me if required" -- 8. "We entered on a new world" -- 9. "You are Chief Justice of Australia?" -- Conclusion
Summary Few Chief Justices in Australia have been so reviled and misrepresented as was the very first - Sir Francis Forbes. After distinguished service in Bermuda and Newfoundland, he became Chief Justice of New South Wales in 1824. A man with a commanding grasp of legal and constitutional principle, and a great breadth of colonial experience, he set the new Supreme Court upon a robust foundation while adapting its procedures to local circumstances. Against his will, he was drawn into colonial politics. Ex officio membership of the Executive and Legislative Councils, and his duty of certifying all laws as being not repugnant to the laws of England, created extreme difficulties. He collided with the high-handed military Governor Darling and with vested interests among the colonists. Although his opponents were vituperative, Forbes could not publicly debate them. Their wilful distortions of his character, his motives and his actions have endured for nearly two centuries. Dr Bennett's major reassessment reveals the true qualities of one of the greatest judicial lawyers in Australian history
Analysis Judiciary
Supreme Courts
New South Wales
History, 1801-1900
Biography
State issue
Francis Forbes
Notes Includes bibliographical references and index
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Audience Tertiary/Undergraduate, General
Subject Forbes, Francis, Sir, 1784-1841.
Judges -- Australia -- New South Wales -- Biography.
Genre/Form Biography.
Biographies.
Author Gleeson, Murray, 1938-
LC no. 2002392320
ISBN 1862874085 :