The Chief Justice of Tasmania is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania

Supreme Court of Tasmania

The Supreme Court of Tasmania is the highest State court in the Australian State of Tasmania. In the Australian court hierarchy, the Supreme Court of Tasmania is in the middle level, and is able to both receive appeals from lower courts, and able to be appealed from.The ordinary sittings of the...

 and the highest ranking judicial officer in the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n state 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...

. The Chief Justice is both the judicial head of the Supreme Court as well as the administrative head. He or she is responsible for arranging the business of the court and establishing its rules and procedures.

The current Chief Justice is Ewan Crawford

Ewan Crawford

Ewan Charles Crawford is an Australian judge and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania.Crawford was born in Launceston to parents Sir George and Lady Crawford. He went to Launceston Church Grammar School....

, who was appointed by Governor Peter Underwood in 2008.

List of Chief Justices of Tasmania

Name	Term as Chief Justice
Sir John Pedder John Pedder Sir John Lewes Pedder was a judge, politician and first Chief Justice of Van Diemen's Land .Pedder was born in London, the eldest son of John Pedder, a barrister. Pedder junior was educated at Charterhouse and the Middle Temple from 1818 where he was called to the bar in 1820. Then he entered...	4 March 1824 - 4 May 1854
Sir Valentine Fleming Valentine Fleming (judge) Sir Valentine Fleming was a Chief Justice of Tasmania.Fleming was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England, the second son of Captain Valentine Fleming of Tuam, County Galway and his wife Catherine, a daughter of John Hunter Gowan II. Fleming was educated at Bangor and Trinity College,...	7 August 1854 - 31 December 1869
Sir Francis Smith Francis Smith (Australian politician) Sir Francis Villeneuve Smith was a British lawyer, judge and politician, who was the fourth Premier of Tasmania from 12 May 1857 until 1 November 1860....	8 August 1870 - 7 February 1885
Sir William Lambert Dobson William Lambert Dobson Sir William Lambert Dobson KCMG was a politician and Chief Justice of Tasmania, .-Early life:Dobson was born at Carr Hill, Gateshead, Durham, England, the elder son of John Dobson, a solicitor at Gateshead, and his first wife Mary Ann, née Atkinson...	7 February 1885 - 17 March 1898
Sir John Stokell Dodds John Stokell Dodds Sir John Stokell Dodds KCMG, was an Australian politician and Chief Justice of Tasmania.-Early life:Dodds was born in Durham, England, the son of William Dodds and his wife Annie, née Shute. The family moved to Hobart, Tasmania, arriving in 1853. His father died soon afterwards and Dodds was...	29 October 1898 - 26 June 1914
Sir Herbert Nicholls	1 July 1914 - 31 October 1937
Sir Harold Crisp	21 December 1937 - 14 April 1940
Sir John Morris	15 April 1940 - 3 July 1956
Sir Stanley Burbury Stanley Burbury Sir Stanley Charles Burbury, KCMG, KCVO, KBE was an Australian jurist. He was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania, and the first Australian-born person appointed as Governor of Tasmania 1973-1982.-Biography:...	28 August 1956 - 29 October 1973
Sir Guy Green	30 October 1973 - 1 September 1995
William Cox William Cox (governor) William John Ellis Cox, AC, RFD, ED, QC was Governor of Tasmania from 15 December 2004 to 2 April 2008, prior to which he was the state's Chief Justice and Lieutenant Governor....	4 September 1995 - 1 December 2004
Peter Underwood	2 December 2004 - 28 March 2008
Ewan Crawford Ewan Crawford Ewan Charles Crawford is an Australian judge and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania.Crawford was born in Launceston to parents Sir George and Lady Crawford. He went to Launceston Church Grammar School....	24 April 2008 -