The role of the law in the foundation and settlement of the colony of New South Wales prior to 1828 : in relation to the aboriginal inhabitants.

Abstract

For Australian legal historians the early years of the colony of New South Wales have been a fruitful field of research and interest. Extensive treatments of the foundation of the law and constitution include works of A.C.V. Melbourne (Early Constitutional Development in Australia), Dr. C.H. Currey ("Chapters on the Legal History of New South Wales, 1788-1863"), and Dr. S.H.Z. Woinarski ("The History of Legal Institutions in Victoria"), together with the recent publications of Professors A.C. Castles (An Introduction to Australian Legal History), and L.A. Whitfield (Founders of the Law in Australia). More specialised treatments of particular topics include those in other works of Dr. Currey (The Brothers Bent, Sir Francis Forbes), and works by Mr. J.M. Bennett (A History of the Supreme Court of New South Vales, "The Vice-Admiralty Court of New South Wales", "Equity Law in Colonial New South Wales", A History of the New South Wales Bar, etc.), Mr. K.G. Allars ("The Development of the Legal Profession in New South Wales until 1850), Dr. H.V. Evatt (The Rum Rebellion), Mr. J. Ritchie (Punishment and Profit), Mr. J.K. McLaughlin ("The Magistracy in New South Vales 1738-1850"), and Professor P.N. Grabosky ("Public Order in Sydney: Crime, Dissent and Official Reaction, 1783 to 1973"). In the study of the administration of Police procedure there is the thesis of Dr. A.H. King ("Police Organisation and Administration in the Middle District of New South Vales, 1325-1551").

In addition to the above mentioned works there are numerous articles in learned journals by the same authors and others, such as Professor E. Campbell and Sir Victor Windeyer.

It is not intended that this thesis retrace ground already so thoroughly explored. The purpose of this thesis is two-fold: to consider the degree to which certain legal doctrines and practices developed or adopted in other British colonies and in England were applied in Australia in duplication of the manner in which they were applied in their place of origin or development; and to consider the operation of those doctrines and practices in the particular social context of contact between British settlers and Australian Aborigines. ‘Whereas two recent works by Mr. B. Bridges ("Aboriginal and White Relations in New South Wales, 1788-1855") and Mr. C.D. Rowley (The Destruction of Aboriginal Society) have also examined the nature of this contact, the viewpoint of those works was substantially different. In this thesis the official treatment of the aborigines is related both to the experience in other colonies and to the law as it was administered otherwise in the colony throughout the first forty one years of the colony.