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Sir Alfred Stephen and the Jury Question in Van Diemen's Land

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Sir Alfred Stephen and the Jury Question in Van Diemen's Land Sir Alfred Stephen and the Jury Question in Van Diemen's Land The Quest for Trial by Jury Just as a child grows and develops into an adult, it cannot but be in- fluenced by background, environment and social conditioning. So it was with the young Van Diemen's Land. Initially, there was the Eng- lish political, social and economic inheritance, which had a great ef- fect on the form of government adopted. Like an authoritarian parent stood the Imperial Parliament, but at the same time, offering some latitude for Van Diemen's Land to engage in some liberal develop- ment. Like a child, Van Diemen's Land offered little resistance. There was a Governor, a judiciary of sorts, and an administrative bu- reaucracy with control over Van Diemen's Land by way of legislation of the Imperial Parliament, such as that of 182 3, 182 8 and 1842. This control led to Van Diemen's Land becoming firmly under the grip of Mother England. The colony now consisted of free settlers, convicts and emancipists, and a few Aboriginals. The colonists must have coined the Nike catch phrase 'Just Do It (for yourself)!' for they sought to enhance their own success and to empower themselves. This was consistent with the attitude of imperialist conquerors throughout the old British Em- pire: to get what they could for themselves in the way of wealth, con- trol and power. There is no better example of this than Governor George Arthur, a career civil servant who amassed a fortune as a landowner and trader, not only in Van Diemen's Land but in other colonies where he saw service. Following the Imperial Parliament, the government of the colony consisted of two houses,' but it was the Legislative Council, con- * BEc (Syd), MEc (Syd), LLB(Hons) (UTS), DipLabRel & the Law (Syd), SJD peakin); Senior Lecturer, Division of Law, Macquarie University. I am indebted to the anonymous referee for constructive comments that hopefully have been incorporated. My sincere thanks to Professor Bruce Kercher for his assistance and guidance in the writing of this paper. Any errors are of my own making. O Law School, University of Tasmania 2002 80 University of Tasmania Law Review Vol21 No 1 2002 trolled by an autocratic Governor, which empowered itself in such a way that reform was stifled, and set the boundaries for the develop- ment of Van Diemen's Land. Governor Arthur certainly was a strong, autocratic Governor, and was ideally placed to use such a framework. Neal2 argues that the rule of law meant that Governors must act pursuant to pre-existing rules and Governors were also bound by such rules. The rule of law to Arthur was simplistic. He was the represen- tative of the Motherland and all its institutions. Those institutions and their rules were to be upheld at all costs, and anyone who stood in the way of this was isolated one way or another. A highly opinionated man with definite views, even after retirement,3 he was convinced that transportation was a 'good thing': it provided for the convict a chance to reflect and reform; to Van Diemen's Land, it provided a steady, stable labour force essential to its prosperity and development; and to the Motherland, it provided benefits in the form of removal of criminals and growth of her empire. Towards the end of Arthur's period in Van Diemen's Land we find that even trenchant critics like Robert Lathrop Murray and Henry Melville became Arthur supporters, and were united in their thinking that Arthur did what was needed for the good of the colony, and that he was a highly efficient and devoted G~vernor.~This devotion was not in vain, for he left an estate of about £50 000, which he saw as just reward for his years of service to the Motherland and preservation of the British Em~ire.~ Another important element in Neal's concept of the rule of law was the necessity to have a legal forum where brisk and robust argument could be used to apply laws in adjudicating disputes before their peers.6 As the colony increased its numbers of free settlers and emancipists, there developed opposition by the citizens to autocratic government. This meant there was a need for independence of the judiciary and trial by jury. Of course, one of the problems with trial by jury was that it was often difficult to find enough free citizens who were able Of course, one could argue that Van Diemen's Land followed New South Wales. * David Neal, The Rule of Law in a Penal Colony (1991) 66. A G L Shaw, Sir George Arthur, Bart, 1784-1854: Superintendent of British Honduras, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land and of Upper Canada, Governor of the Bombay Presidency (1980) 92-3. Ibid 176. Ibid283-4. Neal, above n 2,67. Sir Alfred Stephen and the Jury Question in Van Diemen's Land to serve as jurymen. Until this could occur, the colony could never be democratic and free. Consequently, there developed a view in the colony that until they had achieved trial by jury their rights could never be equivalent to those of the Englishman. Yet all the while, the number of free colonists was increasing, so the push for democracy increased proportionally to the number of free colonists. The push for juries found a strong ally in the shape of Sir Alfred Ste- phen,' who was Attorney-General during the time of Governor Ar- thur. Stephen was a career colonial lawyer, just as Arthur was a career Governor. He spent about 70 of his 92 years in the Australian colo- nies and is remembered as an 'able and conscientious judge7.*Stephen was influenced by the views of Jeremy Bentham, whose theories had begun to transform English law around 1800, in a wave of reform known as the Benthamite movement.9 Bentham's ideas formed the basis for a movement whose aims were to transform economic, relig- ious and political institutions, as well as the law itself. In the Austra- lian colonies his ideas were not wide-ranging, rather, individuals such as Alfred Stephen took up his theories. In legal questions, Alfred Stephen was a utilitarian. Like Bentham, he believed that the law had a function in society: 'to promote the wel- fare of all classes [of society] ... Without on the other hand disre- garding the wishes of any class'.'O The major part of Stephen's life was spent trying to increase the efficiency of legal institutions and the rationality of various laws so that 'welfare' or happiness in society would be increased. Alfred Stephen's work in Van Diemen's Land demonstrates a true allegiance to these principles. In Van Diemen's Land, the jury question was used as a general unit- ing platform in empowering forces against the Governor. Inevitably, Alfred Stephen was born in 1802 and came to Van Diemen's Land on 24 January 182 5, and was appointed Solicitor-General on 9 May 1825. Ten days later he was elevated to Crown Solicitor on a salary of £300 per annum. He became Attorney- General on 6May 1832 on a salary of £900 per annum, and an ex-officio member of the Legislative Council. He was always a strong advocate of law reform and trial by jury and on 5 November 1834 he saw the passage of the 3uly An 1834. He was made a judge of the New South Wales Supreme Court on 14 May 1839 and Chief Justice on 2 June 1845. He was also a capable administrator and law reformer and chaired the Law Reform Commission from 1870 to 1872. He was knighted in 1846. For a detailed biography, see Awtralian Dictionary of Biography (1976) vol 6, 180-7. Sydney Morning Herald, 16 October 1894. See Appendix for an outline of Jeremy Bentham's ideas. lo Letter from Alfred Stephen to Lieutenant-Governor Arthur, 12 May 1837, in Stephen's Letter Book IV(A 673, Mitchell Library). 82 University of Tasmania Law Review Vol21 No 1 2002 the Chief Justice, whether by accident or design, also became em- broiled in such manoeuvres in his impossible attempts to remain im- partial, bearing in mind that he also was viewed as a representative of the Governor. This article, while considering the development of juries in Van Diemen's Land as a general theme, also looks at the part played by Sir Alfred Stephen, who was initially appointed to the post of Solici- tor-General as a young barrister, and who became Attorney-General in 1832 and later Chief Justice of New South Wales in 1844. Developments in New South Wales and its Significance for Van Diemen's Land New South Wales The changes in New South Wales provided a model for Van Diemen's Land, so it is therefore important to examine the develop- ment of the jury system in New South Wales in the 1820s and 1830s. Trial by jury was introduced in the process of setting up Courts of General and Quarter Sessions,ll and endorsed by Chief Justice Forbes in the case of R v Magistrates of Sydney,12 where it was held that both grand and petit juries were an essential part of the indict- ment process and trial of freemen at Quarter Sessions, unless legisla- tion deemed otherwise. At the end of 1825, Governor Brisbane had reported to the Secretary of State, Bathurst, 'that by the community at large the mode of trial by jury was considered as a great improvement'.l3 Secretary of State Bathurst realised that trial by jury could no longer be postponed and wrote to Governor Darling in 1826 that he in- tended to make a change in the judicial system.14 He told the Gover- l1 A C V Melbourne, Early Constitutional Development in Aurtralia: New South Wales 1788-18f6, Queenrland 18f9-1922 (1963) 122.
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