The Honourable Sir Julian Emanuel Salomons (formerly Solomons) (4 November 1836 – 6 April 1909) was a barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

, royal commissioner, solicitor-general, chief justice

Chief Justice

The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

 and member of parliament. He was the only chief justice in 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 at Edgbaston

Edgbaston

Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....

, Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, on 4 November 1836 as Julian Emanuel Solomons. He came to Australia aged 16 years on board the Atalanta on 4 September 1853. He was employed in a book shop and as a stockbroker's clerk. In 1855 he was appointed the secretary of the Great Synagogue

Great Synagogue (Sydney)

The Great Synagogue is a large synagogue in Sydney, Australia. It is located in Elizabeth Street opposite Hyde Park and extends back to Castlereagh Street.-Description and history:...

 at Sydney.

After passing the preliminary examination of the Barristers Admission Board (now the Legal Profession Admission Board

Legal Profession Admission Board (NSW)

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...

) in 1857, he returned to England in 1858 where he entered Gray's Inn

Gray's Inn

The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

 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

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

, England, on 17 December 1862.

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 eventually convince the Full Court of the Supreme Court of New South Wales

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...

 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

Privy council

A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, 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 monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...

 on the basis that the Supreme Court could not make such an order. The New South Wales Governor commuted Bertrand's sentence to life.

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 March 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 Alexander Baker, a member of parliament and one of the trustees, being expelled from Parliament.

First parliamentary career

Salomons unsuccessfully ran for parliament in 1869 and instead became solicitor-general in December of that year. He held that position for nearly a year until Sir Charles Cowper

Charles Cowper

Sir Charles Cowper, KCMG was an Australian politician and the Premier of New South Wales on five different occasions from 1856 to 1870....

 took over from Sir John Robertson as premier.
He was appointed as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council

New South Wales Legislative Council

The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...

, a position he held for six months, before resigning on 14 February 1871.

Appointment as chief justice

Salomons advocacy had earned him a huge reputation. When Chief Justice Sir James Martin

James Martin (Australian politician)

Sir James Martin, KCB, QC was three times Premier of New South Wales, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 1873 to 1886.-Early career:...

 died, the position was first offered to William Bede Dalley

William Bede Dalley

William Bede Dalley was an Australian politician and barrister and the first Australian appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom...

 and then Frederick Matthew Darley

Frederick Matthew Darley

Sir Frederick Matthew Darley GCMG PC was the sixth Chief Justice of New South Wales, an eminent barrister, a member of the New South Wales Parliament, a Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales, and a member of the British Privy Council.-Early years:Darley was born in Ireland, the first child of...

. 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

Percival Serle was an Australian biographer and bibliographer.Serle was born in Victoria and for many years worked in a life assurance office before becoming chief clerk and accountant at the University of Melbourne...

 states that Salomons's response to criticism was that his "appointment appears to be so wholly unjustifiable [to 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 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 the 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

High Court of Australia

The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...

 was said to be routinely overturning decisions of the various Supreme Courts around Australia. Salomons suggested in argument 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

Samuel Griffith

Sir Samuel Walker Griffith GCMG QC, was an Australian politician, Premier of Queensland, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia and a principal author of the Constitution of Australia.-Early life:...

's English translation of Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri

Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...

 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". Although he was Jewish, he believed that "any one of the branches of the great Christian religion …, although they may differ in their theological forms, is better than no religion".

Later life

Salomons acted as the agent-general for New South Wales at London between 1899 and 1900. 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

Art Gallery of New South Wales

The Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...

 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, New South Wales

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 Woollahra. The Municipality of Woollahra takes its name from the...

, Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. He was buried in the Hebrew portion of Rookwood cemetery in Sydney's west.