Sir Alfred Stephen was an Australian judge and chief justice of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

.

Stephen was born at St Christopher in the West Indies. His father, John Stephen (1771-1833), was related to Henry John Stephen, Sir James Stephen and Sir James FitzJames Stephen, all men of great distinction in England. John became a barrister and was solicitor-general at St Christopher before his appointment as solicitor-general of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 in January 1824. He arrived at 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...

 on 7 August 1824 and in September 1825 was made an acting judge of the supreme court. On 13 March 1826 his appointment as judge was confirmed. He resigned his position at the end of 1832 on account of ill-health and died on 21 December 1833.

Alfred, was educated at the Charterhouse

Charterhouse School

Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...

 school and Honiton grammar school in Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

shire. He returned to St Christopher for some years and then went to London to study law. In November 1823 he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, and in the following year sailed for Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

. He arrived at Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

 on 24 January 1825 and on 9 May was made solicitor-general, and 10 days later, crown solicitor. He allied himself with Governor Arthur

Arthur Phillip

Admiral Arthur Phillip RN was a British admiral and colonial administrator. Phillip was appointed Governor of New South Wales, the first European colony on the Australian continent, and was the founder of the settlement which is now the city of Sydney.-Early life and naval career:Arthur Phillip...

 in the latter's struggle with Joseph Tice Gellibrand, the attorney-general, and Stephen's resignation of his position in August 1825, and his charges against his brother officer's professional and public conduct, really brought the matter to a head. Stephen always took an extremely high-minded attitude about his own conduct in this matter. The incident is discussed at length in R. W. Giblin's Early History of Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

, vol. II, p. 467, et seq.

In 1829 Stephen discovered a fatal error in land titles throughout the Australian colonies. The matter was rectified by royal warrant and the issuing of fresh titles in 1830. In January 1833 Stephen was gazetted attorney-general and showed great industry and ability in the position. He was forced to resign in 1837, his health having suffered much from overwork, but after a holiday he took up private practice with great success. On 30 April 1839 he was appointed as acting-judge of the supreme court of New South Wales and he arrived in Sydney on 7 May. In 1841, when judge Willis

John Walpole Willis

John Walpole Willis was an English-born judge, and a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.- Early life :...

 went to Port Phillip, Stephen became a puisne judge and from 1839 to 1844 he was also a judge of the administrative court.

He published in 1843 his Introduction to the Practice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and on 7 October 1844 he was appointed acting chief justice. His appointment as chief justice was confirmed in a dispatch from Lord Stanley dated 30 April 1845. He was to hold the position until 1873 and during that period not only carried out his judicial duties but advised the government on many complicated questions which arose in the legislature. In August 1852 he recommended that the second chamber under the new constitution should be partly nominated and partly elected. In May 1856 he was appointed president of the legislative council and held the position until January 1857. He was able to give the council the benefit of his experience by framing legislation dealing with land titles, the legal profession, and the administration of justice. He continued to hold his seat until November 1858 when judges were precluded from sitting in parliament.

In February 1860 he obtained 12 months leave of absence and visited Europe. On his return he gave much consideration to the question of criminal law, and was principally responsible for a criminal law amendment bill which, first brought before parliament in 1872, did not, however, actually become law until 1883. He resigned his chief justiceship in 1873. He had administered the government between the departure of the Earl of Belmore in February 1872 and the arrival of Sir Hercules Robinson in June. He was appointed lieutenant-governor in 1875 and several times administered the government. He was a member of the legislative council for many years from 1875, taking an active part in the debates, and from 1880 he was president of the trustees of the national gallery. In 1883, with A. Oliver, he published Criminal Law Manual, comprising the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1883, and towards the end of his life interested himself in the amending of the law of divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

. Among his writings on the subject was an article in the Contemporary Review for June 1891 in reply to one by W. E. Gladstone in the North American Review.

Stephen resigned from the legislative council in 1891 and lived in retirement. He was still comparatively vigorous when he passed his ninetieth birthday in August 1892 and never completely took to his bed. He faded quietly out of life on 15 October 1894, his intellect bright and clear to the last. He married Virginia, daughter of Matthew Consett, who died in 1837, and Eleanor daughter of the Rev. William Bedford, who died in 1886. There were nine children of each marriage and at the time of Stephen's death he had 66 grandchildren. He was knighted in 1846 and was a made a CB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 in 1862, KCMG in 1874, GCMG in 1884, and privy councillor in 1893.

Of Stephen's sons, Alfred Hewlett Stephen, born in 1826, entered the Church and in 1869 became a canon of St David's cathedral, Sydney. Another, Sir Matthew Henry Stephen (1828-1920), became a puisne judge of the supreme court of New South Wales in 1887. Other sons held prominent positions in Sydney. Of his grandsons, Edward Milner Stephen was appointed a supreme court judge at Sydney in 1929 and Brigadier-general Robert Campbell Stephen, served with distinction in the 1914-18 war. A great grandson, Lieutenant Adrian Consett Stephen, killed in the same war, showed much promise as a writer. His Four Plays and An Australian in the R.F.A. were published posthumously in 1918.