CHAPTER VII. 



THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE EXECUTIVE AND THE JUDICIARY. 



AUTHORITIES. Despatches, etc., in Record Office (especially for the years 

 1814, 1815, 1816). Colonial Office (especially for the years 1815, 1816). Svdney 

 Gazette. P.P., 1819, VII. Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol. VII. 



IN 1809 the Secretary of State expressed the opinion that, how- 

 ever suitable the judicial arrangements of the Colony had been 

 to its infancy, they had already been outgrown. He therefore 

 instructed both Macquarie and Ellis Bent to report on the 

 changed conditions and the alterations which they considered 

 advisable in the Charter of Justice. Macquarie was ready at that 

 period to accept Bent's lead in such matters, and it is therefore 

 to Bent's letters that most importance attaches. Writing to 

 Lord Liverpool 1 on the ipth October, i8ii, 2 Bent described in 

 detail the judicial needs of the settlement, laying stress on five 

 main points. In the first place, he advised that Criminal and 

 Civil Courts should be established in Van Diemen's Land. A 

 Deputy Judge- Advocate had been appointed for that settlement 

 and had been paid a salary since 1803, but had never received 

 any patent of justice or commission, and consequently had never 

 held a court. 3 The New South Wales judicature served very 

 inadequately for the whole settlement. 



Turning then to New South Wales, he dealt with the de- 

 fects of the Civil Court. In the two years during which he had 

 been in the Colony, 1,008 cases had come before him, involving 

 sums amounting to 184,500. The costs of these suits had 



1 Castlereagh was Secretary of State until October, 1809, and was followed 

 by Liverpool, who held office until June, 1812. 



a See H.R., VII. 



3 According to Rusden, History of Australia, vol. i., p. 503, Collins, Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, considered the commission of the De- 

 puty Judge- Advocate related only to Port Phillip. He says that he had been 

 appointed to act in that district, where an attempt at settlement was made in 1803. 



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