![John Walter Hulme](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/John_Walter_Hulme.png)
John Walter Hulme was a British lawyer and Judge. He was the first
Chief Justice of Hong Kong taking office in 1844.
Early life
Hulme was born in 1805 in Fenton, Staffordshire, England. He was the son of a "highly respectable solicitor."
He was called to the Bar of the Middle Temple in 1829. He served his pupillage with the noted barrister and author
Joseph Chitty
Joseph Chitty (12 March 1776 – 17 February 1841) was an English lawyer and legal writer, author of some of the earliest practitioners' texts and founder of an important dynasty of lawyers.
Life and practice
He was himself the son of a Joseph Ch ...
. He was a co-author with Chitty of ''A Practical Treatise on Bills of Exchange'' and ''A Collection of Statutes of Practical Utility''. He also married Chitty's daughter, Eliza
Legal appointment
Hong Kong was ceded to the United Kingdom under the
Treaty of Nanking signed in 1842. A military government was first formed. In 1844, civilian government was put in place headed by Governor
John Francis Davis.
Hulme was appointed the first
Chief Justice of Hong Kong. The Colonial Office had great difficulty in finding a judge willing to go to the newly established colony. Hulme was offered the very high salary of £3,000 per annum to go to Hong Kong. In return he agreed to give up his right to a pension.
He arrived in Hong Kong Kong on 7 May 1844 on board the
H.M.S. Spitfire together with Davis and other officials. He was also appointed as a member of the
Hong Kong Legislative Council. The Supreme Court was formally opened on 1 October 1844 with Hulme on the bench.
As Chief Justice, Hulme fearlessly protected the independence of the judiciary. He had a number of run-ins with Governor Davis that culminated in charges being brought against him of drunkenness. The charge against him read that he had been "in a state of intoxication as to attract public attention when attending a public entertainment given by Rear Admiral Thomas Cockrane on November 22, 1845". He was brought before the
Executive Council of Hong Kong in 1847 who found him guilty and suspended him from his position. On 30 December 1847, Hulme returned to England during his suspension. The Colonial Secretary refused to uphold the verdict and Hulme soon returned to Hong Kong.
In November 1846, in the case of Compton, Hulme refused to uphold a verdict of guilty against Mr Compton for instigating a riot in Canton handed down by the British
consular court in
Canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative division terminology
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and ent ...
. Mr Compton, an English merchant, was fined HK$200 for causing a riot by kicking over a Chinese stall and beating its owner with his stick, and appealed to the Supreme Court of Hong Kong. Hulme was highly critical of the way in which the case was handled. Sir John Davis, the Governor of Hong Kong wrote to Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, stating: "Some fresh ordinance will inevitably be required to prevent such mischievous interference in international cases."
In February 1857, Hulme presided at the trial of ten Chinese men who had been charged in connection to a mass poisoning of Europeans in Hong Kong known as the
Esing Bakery incident
The Esing Bakery incident,Also spelled ESing, E-sing, or E Sing. also known as the Ah Lum affair, was a food contamination scandal in the early history of British Hong Kong. On 15 January 1857, during the Second Opium War, several hundred Euro ...
. The Attorney General,
Thomas Chisholm Anstey
Thomas Chisholm Anstey (1816 – 12 August 1873) was an English lawyer and one of the first Catholic parliamentarians in the nineteenth century. He served as Attorney General of Hong Kong for 4 years. He also wrote pamphlets on legal and politi ...
, argued that the principal suspect, Cheong Ah-lum, should be hanged regardless of his innocence because it was "better to hang the wrong man than confess that British sagacity and activity have failed to discover the real criminals". Hulme replied that "hanging the wrong man will not further the ends of justice", and later accepted the jury's acquittal of Cheong.
Hulme became very unwell to the end of his term of office and often would only commence court sitting at noon or 1pm. He was put under pressure to retire, but insisted that he be given a pension. He left Hong Kong on leave in early 1859 and in England was offered a handsome pension of £1,500 per annum which he accepted.
Death
Hulme died soon after his retirement, on 1 March 1861 in
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, England.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hulme, John Walter
1805 births
1861 deaths
Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong
British Hong Kong judges