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Book Cover
Book
Author Bennett, John Michael.

Title Sir James Cockle : first Chief Justice of Queensland, 1863-1879 / J.M. Bennett
Published Annandale, N.S.W. : Federation Press, 2003

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  KB 15 Cockle A2 Ben/Sjc  AVAILABLE
Description xvi, 144 pages : portraits ; 22 cm
Series Lives of the Australian Chief Justices
Lives of the Australian chief justices.
Contents 1. A tale of two cities -- 2. Always on the watch -- 3. Correcting the blunders of the Colonial Office -- 4. A noble career of usefulness will be open -- 5. He set out in troubled waters -- 6. Keeping steadily to the performance -- 7. Sympathy must not be allowed to distract my judgement -- 8. The machinery of the law -- 9. I claim the character of a Queenslander -- Abbreviations
Summary James Cockle was a brilliant mathematician, a future Fellow of the Royal Society, appointed Chief Justice of Queensland in the most stormy and unpromising of circumstances. When he came to Queensland in 1863, relations between the government and A.J.P Lutwyche, the resident Supreme Court Judge, were in a state of turmoil. Lutwyche, whose expectation of promotion to Chief had been dashed, had recently declared Queensland's infant Parliament and all its Acts invalid. The Law Officers in England agreed and Lutwyche continued to attack the government, looking for other legislation to invalidate. The Queensland Government begged the Colonial Office to find a Chief Justice in England and Cockle was appointed. Conciliatory, dignified, scrupulously impartial, and proficient as a lawyer, Cockle calmed the storms left by Lutwyche - and calmed Lutwyche who continued to sit on the bench as junior judge. Yet he was an enigmatic figure who was poorly recognised by Queensland governments. Poorly paid (Lutwyche had the higher salary), he resigned and returned to England and mathematical studies shortly after he qualified for a pension in 1878
Notes Includes index
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Subject Cockle, James, Sir, 1819-1895
Cockle, James, 1819-1895.
Judges -- Australia -- Queensland -- Biography.
Genre/Form Biography.
Biographies.
LC no. 2004401397
ISBN 1862874859 :