David Hargraves Hodgson (10 August 1939 – 5 June 2012) was a judge of the Court of Appeal of the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court i ...

, the highest court in the State of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, which forms part of the

Australian court hierarchy The judiciary of Australia comprises judges who sit in federal courts and courts of the States and Territories of Australia. The High Court of Australia sits at the apex of the Australian court hierarchy as the ultimate court of appeal on matter ...

. He was described by

James Allsop James Leslie Bain Allsop (born April 1953) is Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, in office since 1 March 2013. He was previously President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, where he presided from 2 June 2008 to 28 February ...

, Chief Justice of the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

, as "one of the finest judges who ever graced a court in this country".

Education

Hodgson was educated at

Sydney Grammar School (Praise be to God) , established = , type = Independent, day school , gender = Boys , religious_affiliation = None , slogan = , headmaster = R. B. Malpass , founder = Laurence Hynes Halloran , chairman = ...

from 1950–1956, where he played rugby, served in the cadets, was

dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux' ...

of the school, and topped the state in mathematics I and II. Hodgson attended the University of Sydney with a university and Commonwealth scholarship. He graduated in 1962 with degrees in Arts and Law with first-class honours, the same year as fellow judges

Murray Gleeson Anthony Murray Gleeson (born 30 August 1938) is an Australian former judge who served as the 11th Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1998 to 2008. Gleeson was born in Wingham, New South Wales, and studied law at the University of Sydn ...

and Michael Kirby.Michael Kirby
''The Supreme Court of NSW, Tradition and Diversity''
, speech given 12 February 2004 Hodgson then attended the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

on a

Rhodes scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

, where he completed a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

on the topic of utilitarianism which formed the basis of his book, ''Consequences of Utilitarianism''.Who's Who in Australia Hodgson's thesis supervisor, Herbert Hart, described Hodgson as the ablest Doctor of Philosophy student he had ever had.Farewell Ceremony for the Honourable David Hodgson AO, 9 August 2011
at 2

Nicola Lacey Nicola Mary Lacey, (born 3 February 1958) is a British legal scholar who specialises in criminal law. Her research interests include criminal justice, criminal responsibility, and the political economy of punishment. Since 2013, she has been Pr ...

, ''A Life of H. L. A. Hart: The Nightmare and the Noble Dream'' (2004), p. 262.

Legal career

In 1962 Hodgson served as associate to High Court judge Sir

Victor Windeyer Major General Sir William John Victor Windeyer, (28 July 1900 – 23 November 1987) was an Australian judge, soldier, educator, and a Justice of the High Court of Australia. Early life and career Windeyer was born in Sydney, into a legal famil ...

. He was admitted to the bar in 1965. Hodgson served as a Commissioner of the

New South Wales Law Reform Commission The New South Wales Law Reform Commission is a commission to investigate, review and advise on the reform of the law in New South Wales, a state of Australia. The present commission came into existence on 25 September 1967 although it had been ...

part-time, lectured at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, was Assistant Editor of the '' Australian Law Journal'' from 1969–76, and served on the Bar Council from 1978 to 1979.NSW Law Reform Commission website
/ref> He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1979. In 1983 Hodgson was appointed as a Judge of the

. He was Chief Judge in Equity from 1997–2001, and was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2001. He retired from the bench in 2011.

Philosophical work

Hodgson wrote numerous philosophical articles, mainly dealing with issues in

philosophy of the mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are add ...

.Philosophical Articles by David Hodgson
/ref> He wrote primarily on the topics of

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...

and

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

. Hodgson authored three books published by Oxford University Press, ''Consequences of Utilitarianism'' (1967), ''The Mind Matters: Consciousness and Choice in a Quantum World'' (1991) and ''Rationality + Consciousness = Free Will'' (2011). The judge also wrote on probability and plausible reasoning.

Personal

Hodgson married in 1964 and had two sons and a daughter.Who's Who in Australia He enjoyed classical music and jazz, and played tennis regularly.Who's Who in Australia Hodgson died on 5 June 2012.NSW Bar Association

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, David Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Australian Rhodes Scholars University of Sydney alumni 1939 births 2012 deaths Alumni of University College, Oxford Australian King's Counsel