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Sir Julian Emanuel Salomons (formerly Solomons) (4 November 1835 – 6 April 1909) was a barrister, royal commissioner, Solicitor General, Chief Justice and member of parliament. He was the only Chief Justice of New South Wales to be appointed and resign before he was ever sworn into office. Salomons was said to be short of stature and somewhat handicapped by defective eyesight. However, he had great industry, great powers of analysis, a keen intellect and unbounded energy and pertinacity. His wit and readiness were proverbial, and he was afraid of no judge.


Early years

Salomons was born Julian Emanuel Solomons on 4 November 1835 at
Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family ...
,
Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
in England, the only son of Emanuel Solomons, a merchant in Birmingham. He arrived in Sydney on 4 September 1853, aged 16 years, on board the ''Atalanta''. He was employed as a stockbroker's clerk and as an assistant in a book shop. In 1855 he was appointed the secretary of the Great Synagogue at Sydney. After passing the preliminary examination of the Barristers Admission Board (now the
Legal Profession Admission Board The Legal Profession Admission Board is the statutory authority responsible for the admission of lawyers in New South Wales. It was formerly two separate boards; the Barristers Admission Board and the Solicitors Admission Board. Th''Legal Profess ...
) in 1857, he returned to England in 1858 where he entered
Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wa ...
and was called to the bar on 26 January 1861. He returned to Sydney and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar on 8 July 1861 and then returned to England to marry his cousin, Louisa Solomons, at Lower Edmonton,
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbourin ...
, England, on 17 December 1862. Salomons was Jewish and an active member of the Jewish community.


Legal career

He returned to Sydney after his marriage and managed a successful practice as a barrister. He first made a reputation in criminal cases. He had great industry, great powers of analysis, a keen intellect and unbounded energy and pertinacity. However, his passion for work probably led to a decline in his health and he made frequent trips to Europe to recover from these bouts. One of the significant cases he was involved with was the case of Louis Bertrand who was sentenced to death on a charge of murder. Bertrand came to be known as the "Mad Dentist of Wynyard Square". Bertrand had tried to kill Henry Kinder, the husband of his mistress Ellen Kinder on a number of occasions. Bertrand finally shot him, but his shot failed to kill. However, his actions persuaded his mistress to poison Kinder. This was successful. In 1866 Bertrand was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. His mistress was discharged on account of a lack of evidence. Salomons was instructed after the trial and was able to persuade the Full Court 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 ...
that Bertrand should have a new trial. The decision was tied with two judges for a new trial and two judges against. One judge subsequently retracted his judgment resulting in a win for Salomons. Rather bullishly, Salomons after winning the appeal went further to argue that the judge could not retract his judgment in law. Luckily for his client, the court held that it could and the order for retrial stood. However, the court's decision for a new trial was subsequently overturned on appeal to the Privy Council on the basis that the Supreme Court could not make such an order. The Governor of New South Wales commuted Bertrand's sentence to imprisonment for life, serving 28 years. He was appointed a
Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...
in February 1881.


Royal commissioner

In 1870 Salomons was a member of the Law Reform Commission. The purpose of a law reform commission is to make recommendations on updating and changing laws. On 16 August 1881 he was appointed a royal commissioner to inquire into the affairs of the Milburn Creek Copper Mining Co Ltd. Salomons reported on 3 November 1881 that 'there was an appropriation by the trustees themselves, not only without the consent or knowledge of their co-shareholders, but under circumstances of concealment and false statement, evidencing a consciousness on their part, that such appropriation was unauthorised and unjustifiable'. The report was to lead to
Ezekiel Baker Ezekiel Baker (17581836) was a master gunsmith from Whitechapel, London, who became known for his design of the Baker rifle in 1800. Baker was apprenticed to gunsmith Henry Nock and opened a gunshop of his own at 24 Whitechapel Road, London in ...
, a member of parliament and one of the trustees, being expelled from Parliament.


First parliamentary career

Salomons unsuccessfully ran for parliament for the seat of East Sydney in December 1869. He was appointed Solicitor General on 18 December 1869 in the Second Robertson ministry, and a member of the Cabinet, despite not being a member of parliament. He continued in the role in the fifth Cowper ministry from January 1870. He was appointed as a member of the
New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in t ...
, taking his seat on 11 August 1870 and becoming the Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council on the same day. The Cowper government fell in December 1870 and Salomons resigned from the council on 14 February 1871.


Appointment as chief justice

Salomons advocacy had earned him a huge reputation. When Chief Justice Sir James Martin died, the position was first offered to
William Bede Dalley William Bede Dalley (5 July 1831 – 28 October 1888) was an Australian politician and barrister and the first Australian appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. He was a leading lay representative and champion of the Catholic co ...
and then Frederick Matthew Darley. Both refused. Salomons was then offered the position. After some hesitation, Salomons accepted notwithstanding that it involved a substantial reduction in income. His appointment attracted controversy in some quarters and it was reputed that the other judges of the court were against his appointment. Biographer
Percival Serle Percival Serle (18 July 1871 – 16 December 1951) was an Australian biographer and bibliographer. Early life Serle was born in Elsternwick, Victoria to English parents who had migrated as children and for many years worked in a life assurance ...
states that Salomons's response to criticism was that his "appointment appears to be so wholly unjustifiable o Justice William Windeyer ">William_Windeyer.html" ;"title="o Justice William Windeyer">o Justice William Windeyer as to have led to the utterance by him of such expressions and opinions … as to make any intercourse in the future between him and me quite impossible". Serle states that each of the judges of the court denied making any such statements. He had general support with most newspapers and from the legal profession. Nevertheless, he decided on 19 November 1886 to resign the position before actually taking the oath of office. He was therefore gazetted as chief justice for only six days, having resigned twelve days after being offered the position.


Second parliamentary career

He was appointed a second time as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council on 7 March 1887, holding office for over 11 years until 20 February 1899. During that term, he was Vice-President of the Executive Council (New South Wales)">Vice-President of the Executive Council The Vice-President of the Executive Council is the minister in the Government of Australia who acts as the presiding officer of meetings of the Federal Executive Council when the Governor-General is absent. The Vice-President of the Executive ...
and Representative of the Government in the Legislative Council twice, both for nearly a year between 7 March 1887 and 16 January 1889 and then again between 23 October 1891 and 26 January 1893. He was knighted in 1891 during this second vice-presidency. It was during this second term that it is thought that Salomons gave the longest speech in the history of the council. He spoke for approximately eight hours on the Federation Bill. His speech carried over two days on both 28 and 29 July 1897. The Federation Bill was an important issue in the history of the colony of New South Wales as it led to the birth of the nation of Australia.


Famous quotes

Salomons was reported to have an unusual talent for wit. After the federation of the Australian colonies, the newly established High Court of Australia was said to be routinely overturning decisions of the various Supreme Courts around Australia. Salomons suggested, after appearing before the Supreme Court that the judges of the court should append the following to all Supreme Court judgments: "We are unanimously of the opinion that judgment ought to be entered for (let us say) the plaintiff, but to save the trouble and expense to the parties of an appeal to the High Court, we order judgment to be entered for the defendant." On the question of Sir
Samuel Griffith Sir Samuel Walker Griffith, (21 June 1845 – 9 August 1920) was an Australian judge and politician who served as the inaugural Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1903 to 1919. He also served a term as Chief Justice of Queensland and ...
's English translation of
Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His '' Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...
which had received numerous unflattering reviews, it was reported that when Griffith presented a copy to Salomons, the latter asked Griffith to autograph the fly leaf, explaining that "I should not like anyone to think that I had borrowed the book, even less should I like anyone to think that I had bought it". Salomons was a supporter of religion being a moderator of human behaviour. He endowed a local public school on the basis that religion was taught as a subject and was upset when it was not. In an address on Australian Federation, he said that having an "education without religion is like putting a sword into the hands of a savage".


Later life

Salomons was the Agent-General for New South Wales at London between 1899 and April 1900, returning to Sydney the following month. He was also appointed standing counsel for the Commonwealth government in New South Wales in 1903 and all but practically retired from legal practice in 1907. He made a few appearances in court after 1907. He was also a Trustee of Art Gallery of New South Wales and a member of Barristers Admission Board. He died after a short illness on 6 April 1909 of a cerebral haemorrhage in his own home "Sherbourne" in
Woollahra Woollahra is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is located 5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollah ...
, Sydney. He was buried in the Hebrew portion of Rookwood cemetery in Sydney's west.


See also

* List of judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales


References

  {{DEFAULTSORT:Salomons, Julian Emanuel Chief Justices of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Solicitors General for New South Wales 1835 births 1909 deaths Australian Jews Australian Knights Bachelor Lawyers awarded knighthoods People from Edgbaston Colony of New South Wales judges Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Australian King's Counsel 19th-century Australian politicians 19th-century Australian judges Agents-General for New South Wales