Sir John Lewes Pedder (10 February 1784 – 24 March 1859) was an
English Australian
English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians, are Australians whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry (wheth ...
judge, politician and grazier, he was the first
Chief Justice of Van Diemen's Land (now
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
).
Early life
Pedder was born in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, the eldest son of John Pedder, a barrister.
[
] Pedder junior was educated at
Charterhouse
Charterhouse may refer to:
* Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order
Charterhouse may also refer to:
Places
* The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery
* Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey
Londo ...
and the
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...
from 1818 where he was
called to the bar in 1820.
[ Then he entered Trinity Hall, ]Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
, graduating LL.B.
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
in 1822.
Career
Pedder was appointed Chief Justice of Van Diemen's Land on 18 August 1823. Pedder sailed in the ''Hibernia'', arriving in Hobart with his wife Maria, a daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Everett,[ on 15 March 1824.][ Also on the ship were ]Joseph Gellibrand
Joseph Tice Gellibrand (1792 – 1837) was the first Attorney-General of the British colony of Van Diemen's Land where he gained notoriety with his attempts to establish full rights of trial by jury. He became an integral part of the Port Phill ...
, the first Attorney-General of Van Dieman's land and Saxe Bannister
Saxe Bannister (1790 – 16 September 1877) was a writer and the first Attorney-General of New South Wales, Australia.
Early life and education
Bannister was born in Steyning, Sussex, son of John Bannister. He matriculated at The Queen's Colle ...
, the first Attorney-General of New South Wales
The Attorney General of New South Wales, in formal contexts also Attorney-General or Attorney General for New South Wales and usually known simply as the Attorney General, is a minister in the Government of New South Wales who has responsibili ...
. Trial by jury was a contentious issue in the colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land and each were immediately involved.[ (1975) 5(3) ]Adelaide Law Review
The ''Adelaide Law Review'' is a scholarly refereed law journal based at the University of Adelaide.
It is published twice a year by the Adelaide Law Review Association of the University of Adelaide's Faculty of Law.[John Bigge
John Thomas Bigge (8 March 1780 – 22 December 1843) was an English judge and royal commissioner. He is mostly known for his inquiry into the British colony of New South Wales published in the early 1820s. His reports favoured a return to the ...]
conducted an inquiry from 1819 to 1821 into the colonies of NSW and Van Diemen's Land. Bigge's 1823 report on judicial establishments recommended against trial by a civilian jury, and the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
had narrowly defeated a proposal that juries be introduced for criminal trials, prior to passing the ''New South Wales Act 1823
The New South Wales Act 1823, or New South Wales Jurisdiction Bill, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established the New South Wales Legislative Council and the Supreme Court of New South Wales, in addition to the Suprem ...
'' which prescribed military juries for criminal trials before the Supreme Court and that convicts could be tried summarily. Nothing was said of the procedure before courts of quarter session
The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...
s. Both Gellibrand and Bannister were of the opinion that courts of quarter sessions could not try free persons without juries. On 24 May 1824 Gellibrand in his inaugural address to the Supreme Court, spoke of trial by jury as being "one of the greatest boons conferred by the legislature upon this colony".
The issue of trial by jury was first argued before the newly established 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 ...
and Chief Justice Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
held that civilian juries were required for Court of Quarter Sessions. Despite his initial address, Gellibrand subsequently vacillated in his views. In July 1825 the issue came before the Supreme Court of Van Diemen's Land, with the Second Law officer of the Crown, Solicitor-General Alfred Stephen, seeking an order requiring juries to be assembled while Gellibrand as the 1st Law Officer opposed it. Pedder, in a long and weighty judgment took a different view to Forbes, holding that the right to trial by civilian jury was taken away by section 19 of the ''New South Wales Act'' 1823.[.]
As Chief Justice, Pedder was automatically a member of the Legislative Council and the Executive Council, which necessitated a very close relationship with Governor Arthur and even led to him being referred to as belonging to the "government party". The Chief Justice should not have been put into such a position, and in 1851, when the new partly elected legislative council was formed, the Chief Justice was no longer one of the government nominee members. James Fenton
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
, in referring to this, says that, although Pedder was "a very useful member of the old council", he was "now wisely removed from the disturbing arena of political strife".
On 19 July 1854 Pedder had a paralytic seizure while on the bench, and shortly afterwards retired on a pension of £1500 a year under an act passed in the previous May. Pedder's wife died on 23 October 1855 after suffering from paralysis.[ Pedder returned to ]England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and died in Brighton on 24 March 1859. He was knighted in 1838. As a judge he has been called slow in decision and fearful of overstepping the written word of a statute. He was not a great lawyer, but he was upright and thorough, always careful that the accused should suffer no injustice. Fenton, who had personal knowledge of him, says that his "prudence and foresight often prevented grave injustice and dangerous blunders in the administration of affairs under the peculiar and difficult conditions of a colony half bond and half free".[
]
Legacy
Lake Pedder
Lake Pedder, once a glacial outwash lake, is a man-made impoundment and diversion lake located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia. In addition to its natural catchment from the Frankland Range, the lake is formed by the 1972 damming of the ...
in south-west Tasmania was named after him.
References
* 884Australian Colonial Law Monographs 2.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedder, John
1784 births
1859 deaths
Knights Bachelor
Chief Justices of Tasmania
Judges of the Supreme Court of Tasmania
Members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council
Members of the Middle Temple
English barristers
Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
People educated at Charterhouse School
Van Diemen's Land judges
Colony of Tasmania judges
19th-century Australian judges
19th-century English lawyers
19th-century Australian politicians
British emigrants to Australia