Awards for the 2011 Australian Legal History Essay Competition

Prizes for the 2011 Australian Legal Hisotry Essay Competition have been awarded to Christine Iacono of Macquarie University (in the Tertiary Students Category) and Ben Nam of Year 11 at James Ruse Agricultural High School (in the Senior Secondary School Students Category).

Christine’s essay addressed the question whether, from a legal perspective, the “Rum Rebellion” against Governor Bligh on 26 January 1808 can be justified.  It will be published in the forthcoming issue of the Australian Bar Review.

Ben’s essay addressed the Essay Competition’s set question about the law of contract as it relates to rewards offered to the public.  Ben is a second-time winner of the Competition.  In 2008, as a Year 8 student at St Pius X College, Chatswood, he won a prize in the Junior Secondary Student Category.

Christine and Ben will each receive a formal certificate, cash and a book voucher from Abbey’s Bookshop (www.abbeys.com.au) as a personal prize for their respective essays.  Ben’s school will also receive a cash award and an Abbey’s book voucher.

The Society has also awarded Certificates of Merit to entrants in the Competition.  In the Tertiary Students Category, Merit Certificates have been awarded to Martin Bernhaut (Sydney University/College of Law), Rosa Grahame (Australian National University), Leah Mills (University of New England) and Alice Rumble (ANU).  In the Senior Secondary School Students Category, Merit Certificates have been awarded to James Begeng, Michael Loomes and Ciaan Perera, all of Year 11 at St Pius X College, Chatswood.

The 2012 Australian Legal History Essay Competition

Entrants in the 2012 Australian Legal History Essay Competition are invited to address any question of their own choice on “Australian Legal History” or to address one of four questions proposed by the Society.

The set questions respectively address:  (1)  The Reception of English Law in Australia;  (2)  Patterns in the Legal Histories of Australia and other British Colonies;  (3)  “Mining Rights” in Australian Legal History;  and (4)  The Australian Parliament’s “Marriage Power”.

Read the Conditions of Entry and Guidelines,  which incorporate brief Background Notes  on each of the four nominated questions.

Recent Legal History Publications

The Forbes Society is pleased to announce that, in conjunction with the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, it has published Emeritus Professor John McLaren’s Dewigged, Bothered & Bewildered:  British Colonial Judges on Trial, 1800-1900, available from Federation Press (www.federationpress.com.au).  Professor McLaren explores the meaning, and development, of judicial independence in British Colonies.

A forthcoming publication sponsored by the Forbes Society is Judge Advocate-Ellis Bent:  Letters and Diaries 1810-1811 edited by Paula Jane Byrne.  It will be available from Federation Press.

A symposium on historical connections between the legal profession and the Australian Defence Forces

The Forbes Society, the New South Wales Bar Association and the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney have jointly sponsored a Symposium (to be held at the UTS Law Faculty on Saturday, 24 March 2012) on historical connections between the legal profession and the Australian Defence Forces.  The symposium will be opened by the Hon. T F Bathurst, Chief Justice of New South Wales.  For further details, see the website of the UTS Faculty of Law (www.law.uts.edu.au) or contact Tony Cuneen (email:  acunneen@bigpond.net.au)

Getting to know CEW Bean, Barrister and Judge’s Associate

Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean (1879-1968) is widely known in Australia as a Journalist (and author of On the Wool Track) who became, in turn, Australia’s Official War Correspondent in World War I and, thereafter, Editor of the Nation’s Official History of the War.

A little known fact is that Bean (who was born in Bathurst but educated in England) commenced his working life in Australia (in February 1905) as a Barrister, and as a Judge’s Associate (between 1905 – 1907), before turning to The Sydney Morning Herald to become (in January 1908) a full-time Journalist.

His “legal career” provides new insights into the life and times of a prominent Australian.

As a contribution to this year’s ANZAC Day celebrations, and in the hope of encouraging a reassessment of Charles Bean’s contributions to Australian heritage, the Society publishes Be Substantially Great in Thyself: Getting to Know CEW Bean; Barrister, Judges’ Associate, Moral Philosopher by Geoff Lindsay SC, together with the following appendices:

I- CEW Bean, Thomas Arnold, Australian Character and the ANZAC Spirit
II – Edwin and CEW Bean in Poetry and Song
III – A Chronology of the Judicial Work Schedule of Owen J during CEW Bean’s Associateship (1905-1907)
IV – Wagga Wagga Circuit Court Business, September-October, 1905
V – Deniliquin Circuit Court Business, October 1905
VI – Newcastle Circuit Court Business, September 1906
VII – Tamworth Circuit Court Business, October 1906
VIII - Virginia Woolf’s allusion (in 1940) to Bean and Thoby Stephen at Clifton College
IX – CEW Bean’s Correspondence from Thoby and Adrian Stephen 1905-1907
X – A Bibliography of C.E.W. Bean’s Major Works
XI – A Bibliography of biographical works “on or about” C.E.W. Bean

Comments can be sent to secretary@forbessociety.org.au

The Legal Profession in the First World War

Tony Cunneen’s research on the involvement of the NSW legal profession in Australia’s Wars continues.

The papers published by Tony include:

A Social History of the New South Wales Supreme Court Judges in the First World War;
The Law at War (1916): A Social History of the New South Wales Legal Profession in 1916
Engaged to Act on Another Front: Solicitors in World War One (NSW Law Society Journal, November 2008);
Engaged to Act on Another Front: the Actions of Members of the NSW Legal Profession on Gallipoli (published in Digger magazine);
Slaughter of the Innocents: The Destruction of the 18th Battalion at Gallipoli, August 1915 (Australian Army Journal, Winter Edition, 2010);
The New South Wales Judges' Retirement Act 1918; and
The Women's Legal Status Act 1918.

The Legal Profession in the Second World War

Tony invites comments on these and his work generally, particularly the following articles:

Doing their Bit: NSW Barristers in the Second World War; and Honour Roll of Barristers who served in the Second World War.

Theset two items are newly posted on the website for comment. Using official records, Almanacs, interviews, published histories and private records, “Doing their Bit” has been prepared to provide an overview of the extensive range of service of NSW barristers in the Second World War. The article describes the variety of experiences barristers had during that conflict: as prisoners of war; frontline soldiers in the desert or the jungles; on flying duty over Europe or the Pacific; service on the North Atlantic convoys; legal officers in all parts of the globe or as enthusiastic supporters of those who had enlisted through the (Sydney) Law School Comforts Fund.

Barristers formed a “legal circle” within the services, where news of each other’s fate could travel quickly from one side of the world to the other. The article outlines the fate of the 18 barristers who lost their lives as well as the experience of barristers who completed their legal studies after the War. Many veterans became judges and/or senior counsel, providing some of the leading members of the Bar and contributing to its distinctive character in post war decades.

An Honour Roll of over 300 barristers who served in the Second World War is also provided in conjunction with this article.

Tony’s research is ongoing. He invites comment and the provision of information or photographs touching upon that research. He can be contacted via email at acunneen@bigpond.net.au

The Legal History Discussion Group

Consideration is presently being given to arrangements for meetings of the Legal History Discussion Group to be held in 2012.  An announcement of those arrangements will be published on this website in due course.  Anybody (including non-members of the Society) seeking further details of the Group in the meantime is free to communicate with its Convenors via email addressed to secretary@forbessociety.org.au.

Publication of the Kercher Reports

The Forbes Society (in conjunction with Federation Press) has published another important work on Australian history: The Kercher Reports, edited by Emeritus Professor Bruce Kercher and Brent Salter. It places before the public an authoritative report of the earliest court cases in Australia, between 1788-1827. In those days the dramas of local politics, society and law – pretty much in that order – were played out in rough-hewn courts.

Publication of The Kercher Reports carries the potential to force a re-think about how Australian history in general (and Australian legal history in particular) should be viewed. Broad themes can be measured against particular cases. Adaptations of formal, English law to the realities of early colonial life exposed fundamental debates about the meaning of law and its relationship with society.

Inquiries about the publication should be directed to Federation Press (www.federationpress.com.au). Arrangements have been made by the Society with Federation Press for members of the Society to purchase copies of The Kercher Reports, and its companion volume Dowlings Select Cases, 1822 to 1844 (edited by T D Castle and Professor Kercher), at discounted rates.

The Francis Forbes Society

for Australian Legal History

ABN 55 099 158 620

Basement, Selborne Chambers
174 Phillip Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: 02 9232 4055
Fax: 02 9221 1149
enquiries@forbessociety.org.au

Information Needed concerning NSW Lawyers in WWII

Tim Castle's Capital Punishment Database

The names, crimes and fate of the 1300 people who were sentenced to death between 1826 and 1837 are contained in the Castle Database. Some were executed, and many others were reprieved by the Governor and the Executive Council only to face a term of transportation to places such as Norfolk Island or Moreton Bay. Visit the database >

Wentworth Chambers - 50 years

In August 2007 Counsel's Chambers Ltd celebrated the 50th anniversary of the opening of Wentworth Chambers.  To mark the occasion, and to record at least a portion of the company's history, CCL has published a commemorative booklet. The booklet is now available from the Counsel's Chambers web site. Visit the web site >

With assistance from the Public Purpose Fund, the Forbes Society proposes to publish on this web site electronic copies of important research papers not otherwise readily available, together with selected primary material.

The Magistracy in New South Wales, 1788-1850, by John McLaughlin
[Ch. 1-3] [Ch. 4-6] [Ch. 7-9] [Ch. 10-12] [Ch. 13-Conclusion] [Bibliography]  | View whole document [Warning: 59MB]

Supreme Court Judges' Dinner - A speech by the Hon J P Slattery AO QC, 1 February 2007 [Find out more]

Of the people, by the people, for the people: Law-making in New South Wales, 1843-1855, A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of New England, November 2006, by Kerry Fraser Mills, M.A. LLB. (University of Sydney) [Abstract - Intro ] [Ch. 1-3] [Ch. 4-6 ] [Ch. 7-9] [Ch. 10-11] [Appendices ] [Conclusion] [Bibliography]

Towards a Doctrinal History of Australian Contract Law

Comment is invited on the paper, Understanding Contract Law Through Australian Legal History: Whatever Happened to Assumpsit in New South Wales? (and the Appendix to that paper, English “Contract Law” According to Texts in circulation at the time of Britain’s settlement of NSW, 1788-1824”) prepared by Geoff Lindsay SC.

The paper was delivered at a Continuing Legal Education Seminar conducted by the University of New South Wales on 15 March 2011.

Comments can be sent to secretary@forbessociety.org.au

View our archive of articles about the latests initiatives of the Forbes Society.

"Just what does 'guilty' mean?", The Australian, 4/4/2008

"Penal colony history just a web link away", The Australian, 24/03/2008

"In Australia's early days, justice was dark and deadly", The Australian, 14/09/2007

"Laying down the law in a new land", Sydney Morning Herald, 31/01/2005

"History in the dock", Sydney Morning Herald, 31/01/2005

"Power and pain in old Sydney", Sydney Morning Herald, 1/02/2005

"A chief justice who once ran foul of the law", Sydney Morning Herald, 25/10/2004

• encourage the study and advance the knowledge of the history of Australian law
• publish and promote, for the benefit of the public, books, journals, periodicals and other literary publications
• arrange and promote, for the benefit of the public, continuing education
• promote the compilation of authentic records relating to Australian and Indigenous law.

Members of the council of the Forbes Society

For enquiries about membership of the Forbes Society, contact the Secretary of the Forbes Society, Geoff Lindsay SC

Ph: (02) 9232 6003
Fax: (02) 9233 7416
secretary@forbessociety.org.au

Become a member / renew membership (form in PDF)

Forbes Flyer: The newsletter of the Francis Forbes Society

The Forbes Flyer is designed to be an informative reference source for members of the Forbes Society. It contains information about events of historical significance, articles about legal research and details of future lectures and other activities the Forbes Society. Summer 2009-10 is now available online

The Forbes Lecture

Learn more about the Francis Forbes Lectures.

Other Forbes Society publications

Annual Report for 2011

Australian Journal of Legal History

Sir Francis Forbes was the first chief justice of New South Wales, between 13 October 1823 and 1 July 1837.

An informative summary on the career of Sir Francis Forbes and other chief justices may be obtained from the history pages of the web site of the NSW Supreme Court.

Federation Press has recently published, as part of its series on the Lives of the Australian chief justices, a book on the life of Sir Francis Forbes. A review of this title was published in the Winter 2002 edition of Bar News.