Sir William Jeffcott (1800 – 22 October 1855) was an Anglo-Irish barrister, a judge 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 ...

for the District of Port Phillip and

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

of Prince of Wales Island,

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Background

Born in Ireland, he obtained a bachelor of arts from

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

and in 1828 he was called to the Irish Bar. In 1836 his brother

John Jeffcott Sir John William Jeffcott (1796 – 12 December 1837) was the first judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia. He also served as Chief Justice of Sierra Leone Colony, Sierra Leone. Biography Jeffcott was born in County Kerry, Kerry, Ireland ...

became the first

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

of the

Supreme Court of South Australia The Supreme Court of South Australia is the superior court of the Australian state of South Australia. The Supreme Court is the highest South Australian court in the Australian court hierarchy. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in ...

. In June 1843, Jeffcott migrated to the

Colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

Judge

On 24 June 1843 John Willis was notified that he had been amoved by

Governor Gipps Sir George Gipps (23 December 1790 – 28 February 1847) was the Governor of the British colony of New South Wales for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship oversaw a tumultuous period where the rights to land were bitterly conte ...

as the judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales for the District of Port Phillip and Jeffcott was promptly appointed to replace him. In February 1844 Willis appealed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. Jeffcott was concerned that if Willis was found to have been invalidly removed then his own appointment may also have been invalid. Of particular concern was that if he imposed the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

then he may be guilty of murder. It has been doubted whether Jeffcott's concerns were well founded, given the long standing protection of de facto officers. Jeffoctt resigned in December 1844 and was replaced by

Roger Therry Sir Roger Therry (22 April 1800 – 17 May 1874) was an Irish-Australian jurist and member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Biography Therry was born in Cork, County Cork, Ireland and educated at Clongowes College and Trinity Colleg ...

Recorder

Jeffcott returned to practice at the Irish Bar. In 1850 he was appointed Recorder of Prince of Wales Island, Malacca and Singapore, to replace

Sir Christopher Rawlinson Sir Christopher Rawlinson (10 July 1806 – 28 March 1888) was an English colonial judge who was Chief Justice of Madras and the first vice-chancellor of the University of Madras. Rawlinson was born at Combe, Hampshire, the second son of polic ...

who had been appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Madras. Jeffcott died from

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

on 23 October 1855 and is buried in Penang.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffcott 1800 births 1855 deaths Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Knights Bachelor Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Colony of New South Wales judges Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Straits Settlements judges British colonial judges in Asia 19th-century Australian judges Deaths from dysentery Lawyers from County Kerry People from Tralee

Background

Judge

Recorder

See also

References