The 50th anniversary of Wentworth Chambers

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 >

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 >

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

The Forbes Society is pleased to announce that the 2008 essay competition is now open.  The aim of the competition is to promote interest in and an awareness of Australian legal history.  The question for this year's competition is:

“How can a lawyer defend somebody he or she “knows” is “guilty”?... What is it to “know” that somebody is “guilty”?... Okay, to be more precise: What are, or should be, the ethical obligations of a lawyer acting for a client who, after being charged with a crime, makes a confidential confession of guilt?” 

Discuss this question from the perspective of a member of the community (who is not a lawyer) using examples drawn from the Dean Controversy (1895-1896) and/or Tuckiar’s Case (1932-1934).

The competition is open to all students enrolled, at any time during 2008, in an Australian secondary school, any undergraduate degree course at an Australian university, and any tertiary course leading to admission as an Australian legal practitioner. It is not confined to students enrolled in formal courses of study in history or law.

Read the Description, Conditions of Entry & Guidelines>

The best essays will be lucid and entertaining. While further research is welcome, students will be able to meet these goals with the following documents:

• “Background Information Paper” ,
• introductions to the Dean Controversy and Tuckiar v The King and
• law reports for In Re Meagher (1896) 17 NSWLR (law) 157 and Tuckiar v The King (1934) 52 CLR 335.

On Australia Day, 26 January 2008 the Society announced that James Triggs (a Year 9 Student, in 2007, at Doncaster Secondary College in Victoria), and his school, have been awarded prizes - worth $1,850.00 - for James' Essay entitled "Authority, Democracy and the Rule of Law". An edited version was published in the Australian Bar Review (2008) 30 Aust Bar Rev 221. 

The topic was 'Authority, Democracy and the Rule of Law - What does it all mean for us today? Does Australian History provide any insights?'

Essayists were invited to discuss those questions, referring to one or both of:

(a) The Rum Rebellion, 1808; and/or

(b) The Waterloo Creek Massacre and its aftermath, 1838.

View the 2007 Competition Guidelines

View Background Research Papers

The Rum Rebellion, 1808: A Lesson in Nation Building, which Justice Peter Young described as "probably the most balanced account of the Rum Rebellion" (2008) 82 ALJ 7 at p.8.

and

Aboriginal Colonists and the Law, 1838

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 [Available in PDF]

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]

The NSW Legal Profession at Gallipoli

Based largely upon military records, Tony Cunneen has written a working paper on the involvement of NSW lawyers in Australia's  Gallipoli campaign in the First World War. It is entitled Engaged to Act on Another Front. [View the paper]

Tony invites comments, corrections, criticism and the provision of research assistance from members of the legal profession, their families and the public generally so that this area of Australian social history can be elaborated. 

[ Contact Tony via e-mail ]

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 (application form in PDF)

Existing members - membership renewal 08/09

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. Autumn 2008 is now available online

Annual reports of the Forbes Society

The Forbes Society's 2007 annual report is available online.

The 2006 Forbes Lecture

Delivered by Reosemary Annable on 9 November 2006 in the Common Room of the New South Wales Bar Association.  [More information about this and other Francis Forbes Lectures...]

Other Forbes Society publications

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.